The French firm’s green packaging initiative concentrates on responsibly sourcing environmentally-friendly materials, reducing waste and weight, and replacing old materials.
This has presented problems for the company’s L’Oréal Paris brand as it struggled to eliminate PVC from its packaging; however, in recent years it has taken initiatives such as replacing it with other materials that conserve its formulas in satisfactory conditions.
“L'Oréal Paris tries to simplify the packaging of our cosmetics and toiletry products, whilst placing the safety of our consumers above all other concerns,” says the brand.
“It is important to remember our concern for customers' safety. Our products are ultimately used in bathrooms and sometimes on children. If a glass product were to fall or break, it could cause injury; plastic packaging does not present this type of risk.”
Product packaging has an important function in protecting the product. As cosmetics products are destined to come into contact with the outer parts of the body, their packaging must give them protection and innocuousness on a micro-biological and allergic level.
Pressure to be sustainable
On top of this, cosmetics companies are coming under increasing pressure to be sustainable and green packaging is a big part of this.
As previously mentioned, L’Oréal has taken steps to replace old materials with materials that are recycled or come from renewable resources, and it is initiatives such as these that have helped the Paris-headquartered company reduce its products' impact on the environment.
“Additionally, plastic packaging can be incinerated. With filters in place to treat emissions, the incineration of plastic packaging does not pose an atmospheric problem,” L’Oréal continues.
“It is also worth noting that transporting plastic packaging is both more economically and environmentally efficient than transporting glass; there is less impact on the environment due to a lighter transport requirement, resulting in lower energy use.”