The word sustainability is being generously thrown around like confetti nowadays. I get why though. It suits a lot of brands across categories to be seen as environment-loving. You know, in this day and age where we are bulldozing down trees, flora and maybe even fauna in the name of progress, buying products that reduce our carbon footprint offer a semblance of redemption. Perfunctory sure, but we try.
Of course, every time we make the switch to an environment-friendly beauty brand or make more sustainable choice, we talk about it ad nauseam. It’s a lot like being vegan, I guess. That being said, there are many beauty brands that are making an effort to ensure that their packaging isn’t wreaking havoc with the environment.
The beauty industry has been notoriously callous when it comes to protecting nature. A few decades ago it was discovered that plastic beads used in scrubs was causing microplastic pollution that was alarming. Quickly beauty brands decided to ditch these green-hating scrubs. While things aren’t seemingly as bad now, perhaps it’s time to celebrate environment-friendly beauty brands that are doing their bit to be nicer to nature. A lot of them with their packaging and that’s what we are talking about today.
Of course, when I went scouring for these brands, I wanted to look at those that are doing more than just adding green leaves to their packaging. And I was pleasantly surprised to note that a lot of beauty brands are now going green, at every stage of the product life cycle. Here are some that caught my attention.
Juicy Chemistry
Juicy Chemistry uses recyclable PET bottles, glass bottles, glass tubs, and biodegradable packaging for its products, which is great. But what I really liked was that if you gather 5 of their product empties, you can send it back to the brand and they reward customers with redeemable points.
L’Occitane
As a beauty brand, L’Occitane gets my vote for giving me products that smell divine. Of course, that’s not the point of this story. The brand now has a Big Little Things recycling program where you use up their products, cut open the tubes etc to scoop out the last, elusive bits and then drop off the empties at any store. Once their beauty advisor checks the products out, you get a digital stamp and you can redeem these for more heavenly smelling goodies. I am sold.
Forest Essentials
I imagine that it would be incumbent on a brand called Forest Essentials do be environment-friendly. And they are. Each of their stores has a collection facility where you can drop off the empties from the brand. These are then repurposed into various products including ropes, boat sails, fibrefill for winter jackets etc. This is a recycle program I can fully get behind.
Earth Rhythm
What caught my eye with Earth Rhythm is their deep dive into being environmentally-friendly. Their packaging almost entirely consists of tin, paper, wood and glass. Their newly packaged products use Post Consumer Resin which is recycled plastic that is ready to be used again, it is a 100% sugarcane derived bioplastic. They have also ditched bubblewrap in their packaging for honeycomb papers, a more nature-loving alternative.
mCaffeine
If you are a lover of all things coffee, I am sure you’ve heard of this brand. The brand uses coffee in all its products, so you smell like a delicious version of the beverage. What’s more impressive is that the brand has been committed to the cause of loving the environment and has earned plastic credits by offsetting equal kilograms of plastic. They also use 80 percent glass material and 20 percent of recyclable plastic material for their products.
Neemli Naturals
I was looking at this brand with expectation, given that they have the word natural in their name. Interesting because they do have an upcycling program. At Neemli, the bottles and containers are made of glass and the outer packaging is made from recycled paper. To show consumers how to make upcycling more fun, Neemli Naturals has teamed up with Skrap, an environment sustainability firm that helps brands adopt sustainable practices and invest in zero waste solutions.
MAC Cosmetics
Makeup packaging can be unwieldy and lots of recycling centres don’t accept product empties. To tackle this, MAC Cosmetics introduced its Back to MAC program where you can take back the product empties to a MAC outlet. When you give them 6 product empties, they give you a free lipstick. Environment love and a sexy pout? Sign me up.
Oh, I also chatted with Anusha Dandekar about her beauty brand, you can read that here.
