Sustainable beauty has become an industry standard. Here, CEW Beauty News presents brands who are raising the bar in sustainability in innovative and impactful ways.

 

Lush

Lush opened Naked, a packaging-free store in Manchester, England earlier this year, following other Naked stores in Milan and Berlin. In addition to Naked shower gels, solid deodorants and facial cleansers, Lush offers pots made from regenerative materials, such as cork oak sourced from the south of Portugal. These are 100 percent natural and biodegradable. The cork is harvested by stripping bark off trees, which grows back when it’s ready to be harvested again, encouraging natural wildlife to flourish. There are also no labels in Naked stores. The #LushLabs app is an innovative AI product recognition tool that compensates for the lack of labeling and packaging: customers scan a product with their phone and see information needed to inform making a purchase, including price, ingredients and product usage. Lush also invites NGOs and activist groups that work on reducing waste and plastic pollution into its Naked stores in order to continue the education for both the retailer and its eco-conscious customers.

C16 Biosciences

Palm oil is the world’s most widely consumed vegetable oil, and a common beauty and food ingredient, with the global palm oil industry expected to be worth $88 billion by 2022. However, this comes with irreversible damage to the environment as the oil is sourced in plantations and tropical forests, causing deforestation in areas such as Costa Rica and Indonesia. Boston-based startup C16 Bioscience’s mission is to create a sustainable and viable alternative to palm oil, by using yeast that grows in tap water, and giving it a feedstock or carbon source to multiple. The company’s technology breeds the lab-grown palm oil in bioreactors (devices that support biologically active environments), with the additional bonus that its palm oil is also 20 percent cheaper. C16 Biosciences has already begun partnerships with beauty and food distributors that together spend $1.2 billion on palm oil annually.

Herbal Essences

Herbal Essences announced its partnership with TerraCycle to create recyclable shampoo and conditioner bottles made of 25 percent beach plastic earlier this year, making three of the brand’s bio:renew collections – White Grapefruit & Mosa Mint, Argan Oil and Coconut Milk – available in the limited-edition beach plastic bottles. The plastic is collected from the coastlines in Canada, Panama and other polluted spots around the world. Beyond this limited edition collection, Herbal Essences is continuing to partner with TerraCycle in a nationwide take-back program to ensure that every Herbal Essences bottle can be recycled and not end up in the ocean. Parent company Procter & Gamble sponsors The Ocean Project to protect the oceans. Every year, upwards of eight million tons of plastic waste ends up in rivers, lakes and oceans, harming the plant and wildlife that make up these environments.

LOLI

LOLI, or Living Organic Loving Ingredients, pledges Zero Waste Beauty. As such, one of the brand’s key priorities is to repurpose organic food supply waste. LOLI’s Plum Elixir, an antioxidant-rich moisturizer, is sustainably ‘upcycled’ from the kernel of the French Ente plum which is discarded during the manufacturing process when making plum juice or pitted prunes. LOLI turns the kernel into a food-grade oil that is totally vegan, and packed with vitamins A, C and E, as well as essential fatty acids that help protect against free radicals. Plum oil is reportedly more potent than marula oil. For the face, it can be used as a serum or in place of a moisturizer, or under makeup as a primer. For the hair, Plum Elixir smooths frizz, adds shine and defines curls.

 

EC30

EC30, whose tag line is enlightened clean, is a newly launched brand by Procter & Gamble that comprises liquid-free personal care and home care products, including cleansing bars for the face, body and hair. EC30 states that a single liquid-free swatch works as well as heavy, water-based products. To activate the products, consumers remove a swatch from the packaging and add water. For example, the hand soap swatch dissolves and transforms into foam when water is added. EC30’s products are also 80 percent lighter, take up 70 percent less space, and cause 75 percent fewer shipping emissions. EC30 eliminates unnecessary chemicals, fillers, preservatives, suspension aids and emulsifiers from its products. The brand’s packaging is recyclable and biodegradable. Procter & Gamble reportedly spent 10 years developing EC30 (named after the location where the brand was conceived) with its team of scientists and engineers.

 

One Ocean Beauty

One Ocean Beauty, founded by industry veteran and former Burberry Beauty executive, Marcella Cacci, harnesses ‘blue biotechnology’, which involves reproducing marine extracts from algae, kelp and seaweed in the lab rather than harvesting them from the ocean. The collection contains key marine microorganisms and single cells with anti-aging properties that have been sourced from the world’s marine environments and sustainably produced. The collection is free from GMOs, parabens, sulfates, phthalates, PEGs, nanoparticles, mineral oil and synthetic fragrance. Because there is no harvesting or extraction process, One Ocean Beauty preserves the marine environment and protecting its biodiversity. Conservation of the world’s oceans is firmly embedded in the brand’s DNA: One Ocean Beauty has donated $250,000 to Oceana, the largest global non-profit focused on ocean conservation.