Some brands are stepping in to address this issue by offering refill options – which is great if you’re talking bath, body and haircare, where it’s just a simple case of purchasing a pouch and then decanting it back into the original bottle back at home. (Diptyque, Kerastase and Ouai are just a few luxury brands offering these pouches while stores including L’Occitane and Kiehl’s have in-store refill stations.)
But with skincare – especially brands with “natural” claims – refillable often doesn’t work, thanks to the challenge of keeping ingredients in highly active formulas and avoiding the risk of developing bacteria.
An in-store refill station at L’Occitane. But not all beauty products can be decanted back into the original bottle.
“We need to ensure our ingredients remain safe from contamination because we avoid artificial preservatives,” says Tony Rechtman, chief executive of Total Beauty Network, which produces the natural makeup and skincare brand Inika Organic. “Our Organic Liquid Foundation, for example, requires airless packaging. Refill it and you’d let contaminants in.”
It’s a pain point for the brand, but where it does use plastic, it pays penance through a Plastic Neutral initiative. Meaning: “If we use five tonnes of PCR plastic, we will aim to collect five tonnes of plastic by the end of 2022 and recycle it, by working with Plastic Forests.”
Plastic Forests repurposes the plastic into fence posts that are then distributed by BlazeAid, a volunteer organisation that rebuilds in Australian communities affected by drought, fire and floods.
“It’s not perfect, but it’s a start,” says Rechtman.
TerraCycle ANZ boss Jean Bailliard commends Sukin for its transparency and commitment to becoming more sustainable.
Jean Bailliard is the general manager of TerraCycle Australia New Zealand, a global social enterprise that has programs in place to help consumers recycle all the empties that are never going to be accepted in kerbside collections.
Bailliard says most brands admit they’re not perfect and even if they can’t find a solution right now, they can still act ethically. “They just need to be transparent about the issues they’re facing and talk about their plans. Sukin is a great example of this. As a company, it is incredibly transparent and states it wants to be more sustainable but still has a long way to go. Its recycling program is one step in that process.”
Over the past few years, TerraCycle has been working with brands such as David Jones, Mecca and Maybelline (via Priceline), encouraging their customers to drop off their used bottles and packaging in store. This is then sent to TerraCycle’s warehouses, where it is sorted by waste stream, cleaned and converted into new raw materials that are used in anything “from outdoor furniture to decking to plastic shipping pallets”.
Recycling plastic is not a new concept but in the beauty industry’s case, it’s particularly complicated.
Bailliard says consumers will pay a premium for recyclable products (a TerraCycle survey last year found 90 per cent of consumers were willing) but feels the way forward is for brands to keep innovating.
“Toothpaste, for example, is a tough one, but what about looking at dry-powder formulas you mix with water? Consumers also need to … consider new practices like paying a deposit for a product in a reusable container, which is refunded when you return the packaging, which is then professionally cleaned, refilled and returned to the shelf.
Chanel’s No. 1 nine-piece skincare, makeup and fragrance range is packaged in recyclable, lighter-weight glass with non-plastic lids.
“We’ve done this with our Loop program, which has been hugely successful worldwide and seen us partner with stores like Tesco in the UK and brands like Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Hopefully, we can establish Loop in Australia over the next few years.”
French fashion houses are also taking (smallish) strides to do their bit, recognising perhaps that every little effort adds up.
If a Dior or Hermès refillable lipstick doesn’t do it for you, consider instead Chanel’s just-launched No. 1 nine-piece skincare, makeup and fragrance range crafted from recyclable lighter-weight glass. It comes without explanatory leaflets (a QR code tells you everything you need to know instead) and lids composed of 90 per cent bio-sourced materials that include camellia-seed shells and wood shavings.
Some may see this latest launch as little more than glam greenwashing, but for others, it’s proof that aesthetics and ethics can go hand in hand. Baby steps, remember?
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