Chanel, Coty, Avon Join Sustainable Packaging Cosmetics Roundtable

  Major cosmetics companies Chanel, Coty, Avon, L’Oreal Group, Mast Global and Estee Lauder are inaugural members of an initiative created by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ Institute for Sustainability that aims to find ways to work with suppliers, retailers and customers to advance sustainable packaging.

The Sustainable Packaging Roundtable, which kicked off last month, will be chaired by John Delfausse, Estée Lauder’s vice president of packaging, GreenerPackaging reported.  The roundtable also plans to address how to drive and measure progress in sustainability.

Cosmetics companies are becoming more aware of the importance of sustainable packaging within their corporate social responsibility initiatives, Delfausse said. Companies involved with the roundtable agree packaging must emphasize the design, reuse and recover model rather than the traditional reduce, reuse and recycle approach, Delfausse said.

The Sustainable Cosmetics Summit, held in New York in May, highlighted some of the issues the roundtable plans to address, specifically the need to increase adoption rates of sustainable packaging and improve measurement techniques for the environmental impact of products. Several speakers at the summit noted that although companies are conducting life cycle analysis of their products, varying methodology, lack of standardized data and the challenge of evaluating cosmetic formulations can prevent accurate measurement,  CosmeticsBusiness reported.

The summit held a sustainable packaging session, which examined environmentally friendly packaging options. The summit also held two interactive workshops on sustainable packaging solutions and paraben-free cosmetic formulation.

The roundtable has identified material sourcing, manufacturing practices and product stewardship as critical elements to achieving its ultimate goal to promote economic and environmental health through supply chain collaboration.

Earlier this month, Estee Lauder was among several major brand names that agreed to adopt the How2Recycle Label, a voluntary recycling label developed by GreenBlue’s Sustainable Packaging Coalition. The How2Recycle Label, which is based on the UK’s On-Pack Recycling Label, aims to reduce consumer confusion in the US.

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