Green chemistry, green chemistry: this concept, paradoxical at first sight (how could chemistry be "green"?), is more and more trendy, and could be an obligatory step for the entire industry, including the cosmetic one. The 31st Morning Meetings on Cosmetics was dedicated to this topic, and Michelle Vincent, a journalist and a consultant, opened the way for a better understanding of the green chemistry.
The Morning Meetings on Cosmetics, organized by Sylvain-Romain Cotte ( SRC Consulting ), bring together professionals of the cosmetic world, every month, to exchange on a topical item, while sharing a breakfast. Green chemistry was the theme of this 31st session.
Chemistry began by being basically … chemistry, even coal- and petro-chemistry when talking about carbon-based chemistry. This was a time when the available resources on the planet, the environmental pollutions due to the processes, were not at all considered.
However, the energy crisis is looming: resources have dwindled (a guess is that there is oil for the next 40 years, and gas for the next 60 years, with the current consumption level); petro-chemical resources are more and more expensive … At the same time, the understanding that our environment shall absolutely be protected has risen parallel to an increasing worry about the potential risks of some chemicals to our health.
After the first "Earth Summit Conference", in 1972, the "Pollution Prevention Act", enforced in the USA in 1990, and some effects of the environmental militancy, time has come to think about a "green", or "renewable" chemistry.
Add to this the European REACH Regulation (the aim of which is to …
