The French AGEC law, for Anti-Gaspillage and Circular Economy law, was published in the Official Journal of the French Republic on February 11, 2020. During the Perfumes & Cosmetics Congress, held in digital on November 4 and 5, 2020, Hélène Orliac, Director of International, Environmental and Economic Affairs of the FEBEA, presented the main lines of the law and detailed its implications on the cosmetics sector, particularly on its packaging.
The AGEC law is part of the will to act for a rapid and significant ecological transition. It deals with the saving of resources, raw materials, energy, water… but also with the limitation of waste and its reuse, the use of co-products…
“It is a law that is extremely important for the cosmetics sector,” warned Hélène Orliac, “and which provides for many things that impact us. It has 130 articles, 29 of which concern our sector, with major stakes and deadlines that are extremely short.”
This law includes about a hundred measures organised around five main axes.
1. Getting out of plastic, starting with the incorporation of recycled material and, by 2040, banning single-use plastic packaging ;
2. Better inform consumers of the possibilities for recycling and reusing products, and provide them with information on the environmental performance of products.
3. Fight against waste and promote solidarity-based reuse: a measure that should come into force on 31 December 2021.
4. Acting against the programmed obsolescence of products: a point that does not affect cosmetics.
5. Enlarge the responsibility of companies with the creation of new EPR channels (Extended Producer Responsibility) for products that do not have one or the revision …
