Navigating Sustainability within the Beauty Industry
The beauty industry is one of the most heavily criticized fields, infamous for its environmental impact due to its reliance on plastic packaging and single-use products. With an annual production of 120 billion units of packaging and over 1 billion tons of CO2 emissions just from shipping, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reveals that 33% of landfill waste originates from the beauty industry. Imagine that.
Clean and sustainable beauty has become a growing trend as consumers are increasingly becoming aware of the environmental harms companies/products can cause, leading to many actively seeking to create routines that include cleaner products and match their values. However, it is crucial to keep spreading awareness and to stay informed about sustainability within the beauty industry to avoid falling victim to greenwashing by profit-driven companies.
“The Environmental Impact of Cosmetics” — https://www.treehugger.com
There are two main components when it comes to defining what a sustainable beauty product is — clean ingredients and sustainable packaging. While these are essentially what make a product eco-friendly, it can be difficult considering the time and money it takes to source them. Since the process then becomes longer and takes more labor, prices become a bit high. The challenge here is for companies to learn to balance how to make sustainable products desirable to all.
Acknowledging growing environmental concerns, many brands have already started implementing methods to incorporate sustainability in their products. For example, Milk Makeup has reduced plastic waste up to 60% by promising to become a low-waste brand and using eco-friendly packaging. They also have relaunched previous products to include refillable cartridges, transforming single-use products into reusable alternatives. Additionally, Tula beauty has given their customers the option to get their products delivered using carbon neutral shipping with Cloverly, and a simple way to recycle their used products with TerraCycle. While there are positive changes we are seeing across multiple brands who are prioritizing sustainability, consumers are the ones who ultimately decide the effectiveness of these actions.
When shopping for skincare and makeup, incorporating a sustainable agenda involves checking products for harmful ingredients such as Siloxanes, Ethanolamines, Oxybenzonem, and Mica — these are found in beauty and skincare products, and are not only difficult to ethically source, but are also skin irritants. Another method is to check the symbols on the product packaging to see whether they are cruelty free, vegan, use animal testing, use a green initiative, etc. Some research before your shopping trip can also reveal brands that are known to be sustainable, such as Drunk Elephant, Native, Burt’s Bees, Credo, and Blissoma. That way you can look out for these brands while shopping for an easier way to narrow down your selection.
At the end of the day, there is no right answer or simple method to go about when it comes to sustainability concerns in the beauty industry. Effective solutions take time, and it’s a difficult process for companies who have well established practices to change and become eco-friendly. On top of this, there are instances where clean ingredients don’t always guarantee they are ethically sourced. Recognizing that every company will leave an environmental footprint, it’s important for them to find ways to minimize their negative impact and work towards a positive one instead. It’s also important for consumers to be educated on these topics, so they know how to balance realistic expectations with a sustainable mindset.
