Sustainable development is not just the responsibility of product manufacturers. All players throughout the chain have a role to play, from raw material suppliers to formulators, from carriers to distributors, down to consumers. And one of the challenges the cosmetics industry is facing today is to work on how to better integrate product users into its sustainability strategy.
Up until now, sustainable development in the cosmetics sector had been much focused on its three pillars: the environment, society, economics. It used to be more about reducing the carbon footprint, waste, or resource consumption (mainly water and energy), ethically sourcing ingredients, sharing profits with local producers, using green chemistry processes… Of course, all these themes were evoked and developed again at the Sustainable Cosmetics Summit hosted by Organic Monitor from November 24-26, 2014 in Paris.
However, a new paradigm, which was already dealt with at the 28th IFSCC Congress last October, is emerging strongly and drawing much attention from the sector: the impact of the consumption phase of products and the role of users. And here are two major questions: how can users be integrated into a sustainable strategy? How can their behaviours be changed to improve the environmental profile of cosmetic products?
Measuring for better assessing
Quantis is an international consulting firm specialized in sustainable development and Life Cycle Assessment. Samuel Vionnet, of the Swiss branch, works in collaboration with the European Commission on the ‘Single Market for Green Products’ initiative, whose objective is to standardize measurements and communication on the environmental impact of products, and promote …
