A sustainable life cycle for cosmetics: From design and development to post-use phase

Abstract

The cosmetics industry is increasingly concerned with the environmental, social and economic impacts of the manufacture and use of its products. Sustainability in cosmetics is first addressed in the design phase, which influences all the subsequent phases. During selection and sourcing of raw materials, sustainability can be increased by substituting conventional ingredients by sustainable alternatives, use of fair-trade ingredients, synthesis of ingredients using green chemistry, upcycling of agro-food industry byproducts into added value ingredients, and development of waterless products to decrease water footprint. Sustainability during manufacture involves implementing innovative factories which reuse water and energy, for example. Furthermore, companies are also educating the consumer on how to sustainably use cosmetics. In the post-consumer phase, recycling, reusing or refilling the used packaging is preferred to landfill disposal. Finally, companies must also address the carbon footprint arising from the several distribution phases. Here, we review the main strategies used by cosmetic companies to increase sustainability throughout the life cycle of their products. Real-life examples are presented, from multinational companies addressing sustainability at all levels, to smaller brands focusing in a single life cycle phase. We mainly focus on the environmental domain of sustainability, although social and economic problems are also tackled.

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