L’Oréal unveils 100% rPET cosmetic bottle from Carbios’ enzymatic recycling tech

05 Jul 2021 --- L’Oréal has unveiled a cosmetic bottle made entirely from recycled plastic using Carbios’ enzymatic technology. The company aims to produce the bottles by 2025, with the Biotherm brand chosen for the first launch. 

“We have been working with Carbios since 2017 to develop this first bottle made from PET derived from enzymatic recycling technology, an alternative to mechanical recycling,” says Jacques Playe, packaging and development director at L’Oréal.

“These bottles are in a pilot phase and we will soon be in a position to create the packaging of the future with our partners. This is a promising solution for years to come.” 

Last month, Nestlé unveiled prototypes for its Perrier water bottles also based on Carbios’ novel recycling technology, which uses enzymes to convert PET into new, virgin-grade quality plastic.

Infinite recycling potential
Carbios’ recycling technology is suitable for all types of PET, whether clear, colored, opaque or multilayer, making these plastics infinitely recyclable. 

“Biotherm has put environmentally sustainable packaging and waste reduction at the center of its strategy. We are happy to be the first beauty brand to realize a completely recycled bottle using plastic from Carbios’ disruptive technology,” says Giulio Bergamaschi, global brand president at Biotherm.

L’Oréal will start producing the bottles in 2025, with Biotherm chosen for the first launch.

Previously, Biotherm sought to reduce packaging waste by piloting its first refillable skin care bottle for the Life Plankton Elixir Blue Fountain serum. 

Recycling consortium
In 2017, L’Oréal set up a consortium with Carbios for developing new plastics recycling solutions and industrializing enzymatic technology. Since then, Nestlé Waters, PepsiCo and Suntory Beverage & Food Europe have joined the consortium. 

Two years later, L’Oréal invested in Carbios via its venture capital fund BOLD (Business Opportunities for L’Oréal Development). 

With “L’Oréal for the Future,” L’Oréal’s new sustainability program for 2030, the company aims to make 100 percent of its plastic packaging refillable, reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025. 

By 2030, 100 percent of its plastic packaging will be derived from recycled or bio-sourced materials, and the company will no longer use any petrochemical virgin plastics.

Moreover, all of the ingredients used in its formulas and all bio-sourced materials will be traceable and come from sustainable sources by 2030. 

Building on collaboration
To achieve these objectives, L’Oréal is working with a number of strategic partners, including global beauty packaging company Albéa. The partners achieved a reported global first by packaging Anthelios sunscreen in a cardboard tube.

Moreover, L’Oréal is collaborating with LanzaTech and Total, producing a polyethylene cosmetic bottle made from recycled industrial carbon emissions in 2020. 

L’Oreal also launched a recycling scheme called “Make-up Not Make Waste.” The company’s Maybelline brand is setting up recycling points across UK retail stores for its make-up products in partnership with TerraCycle.

By Kristiana Lalou

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