Circular beauty: How can personal care brands deliver a waste-free future?
26 Apr 2023 | Personal Care Insights
In this PersonalCareInsights webinar, we revealed clean beauty innovations, discussed the impact of the latest industry regulations and shared how personal care brands can smartly contribute to the circular economy.
Watch this webinar as we presented exclusive global data from Innova Market Insights and spoke with experts from Givaudan, Arkive and the European Environmental Bureau.
Good morning, good afternoon, depending on where you are listening from.
And welcome to today's Personal Care Insights hosted webinar.
I'm Elizabeth Green, a senior journalist for CNS Media and the moderator for today's webinar entitled Circular Beauty, How can Personal Care Brands Deliver a Waste-free Future?
So, let's dive into the topic.
Achieving a circular economy is one of the top goals of our industry.
R&D, technology, and cross-sectoral partnerships are driving innovation.
Such as upcycling, active ingredients from waste, and repurposing byproducts from food and packaging materials.
According to market researcher Anova Market Insights, ethical claims on packaging show lots of opportunities for innovation.
There has been a 51% increase in personal care launches tracked with an ethical packaging claim between 2018 and 2022.
Notably, there has also been growth in overall sustainable packaging for personal care launches.
As such, 1 in 3 consumers globally note that sustainable beauty for me means sustainable packaging.
Environmental claims are also driving innovation in this space.
Recyclable, biodegradable and responsibly sourced are all claims that are winning over consumers.
According to data from Enova Market Insights, between 2018 and 2022, there has been a 159 average annual growth, at 159% average annual growth in personal care launches tracked with a claim relating to recycled materials.
Regulations for greener and cleaner beauty are placing pressure on industry players to provide sustainable solutions with reduced greenhouse gas emissions along the manufacturing process up until the product's end.
There has also been a significant rise for carbon labeling claims in personal care launches.
Between 2018 and 2022, there has been an average annual growth of 210% in personal care launches tracked with a carbon labeling environmental filter.
Moreover, 49% of consumers globally say it is important to extremely important that packaging can reduce carbon emissions during production.
Consumers globally are also paying more attention to free from claims in the beauty and personal care space.
There is also growth in product launches that do not contain microplastics.
According to Enova Market Insights, there has been a 99% average annual growth in personal care launches tracked with free from microplastic claims between 2018 and 2022.
Interestingly, 26% of consumers globally are looking for free from certain ingredients such as parabens and palm oil when buying personal care and beauty products.
There is also a rise in consumers opting for upcycled ingredients in their personal care products.
1 in 2 global consumers agree or strongly agree that they would like to see more personal care products using upcycled ingredients.
So, with these demands for a greener transition, how can the personal care industry play a part in a waste-free future using a circular approach?
Our speakers today will take you through this exciting and innovative space.
Our first speaker is Melanie Duprat, Active Beauty's category manager for Natural extracts and Avidan.
Melanie has several years of experience in the cosmetics industry and will be acting as our industry voice for this webinar, outlining Givedan's business perspective and how the company uses a circular approach across its platforms.
Our next speaker is Eleanor Limberide Setimo, Policy Manager for the Zero Mercury Campaign at the European Environmental Bureau and International coordinator for the Zero Mercury Working Group, an international network of over 110 NGOs from 55 countries.
She has over 20 years' experience working at EU and global levels, assisting governments enact mercury reduction policies.
Eleanor will also offer insights from an NGO's perspective and share details on the health and environmental issues of mercury in cosmetics.
Our 3rd and final speaker today is Snem Tonker, founder and CEO of Archive, a brand that tackles waste from unconsumed beauty products.
Sinem has 15 years of experience in supply chain management under her belt and 5 years in technology.
She will offer a brand perspective and outline the challenges and solutions to a waste-free future.
So, with introductions complete, I will hand it over to Givedan's Melanie.
Melanie, the floor is yours.
Thank you very much.
So it's a great opportunity to talk about this very interesting topic, circular beauty, and, my main point today is to show you the supplier, the ingredient supplier point of view and to show you how, we can tackle this topic with our botanical and biotech solutions.
Unfortunately I would say I have to start explaining a certain, let's say element of context, and we all know that we went through a very hard period for years now.
It's not a surprise we went through the COVID-19 and then the war, and why I'm talking and why I'm starting my speech with these two points is because these two elements and environmental context has very impact, a lot of impact on consumer and on the market.
And this really increased what is called the clean beauty, but that mean concretely in the consumer point of view.
All these environmental contexts have changed the consumer habits.
There were more, let's say, self-centered.
They increased their use of natural products and they increased the use of hygiene products, decreasing makeup, for example, and there were more and more, let's say, familiar with labels like Ecocert, Creative Free, and paid a lot more attention on the inky list.
And on the other side of the market, of course this has a lot of impact on the supply chain, the availability of raw materials and the pressure on prices.
And as it's not only this, we went through a lot throughout this a lot of let's say bad things on the planet, the droughts, the fires, the attack on the animals, etc.
So indeed why I'm talking about all these elements of context because on one side, You have this increasing demand of the consumer for natural products, this very increasing of appetite for this type of product.
On the other side, there is an increasing impact on the environment because of human activities, because of the human, the way we are consuming products and the way also we are consuming cosmetic products.
So in a certain way we are completely facing a kind of opposition between the expectation of consumer needs.
And consumer appetite for natural products.
On the other side we have this group of people say that we have to protect biodiversity, we have to protect the environment, we have to protect the planet.
So here I agreed to show you how we can still gather this expectation, this appetite of naturality, and to be sure that we are the first ones to protect the environment because as a supplier of raw materials you can imagine that we are really beginning of the supply chain.
So it's a kind of duty to protect also the biodiversity.
And this is pretty much the the topic today to say that circularity is and could be one of the solutions.
I'm not saying it's the only one, but circularity could be one of the solutions.
And in juvenile beauty we have two, let's say different ways of seeing circularity beauty at industrial level and we will see how we tackle this with our biotech center of excellence in France and another way it's more related to the raw materials themselves.
So what is, what about the circularity in terms of industrial level?
So here you have a very good example of how we can work in a very smart way when you are in an industry, you need what you need raw material, you need biomass.
So here is, for example, is you are in the middle of the field and we are using all the bed roots around the field.
And then when we are an industry, you need water, so all the extra water we use, we just, we put it on the field to nourish, I would say the soil again.
When you're in industry, you need energy, and we use the energy produced by another company near to our own company.
And when you are a company and an industry you are making CO2 and we have another company who who buys the extra CO2 that we produce so you can see that all the circularity moves and flows that around our center of excellence in front in the middle of this picture.
So just to show you that in a very smart way we can realize and we can let's say tackle this issue of.
And the environment that we can face off now and just to be work on the smart way.
And on the other side when we are talking also about circularity, of course the first word that come up in mind is this notion of upcycling.
So we have defined another program which is called circularity circular beauty, and we have defined three different pillars.
One is upcycling, so we use site stream as a raw material.
We also use byproducts, and we also use non-plant parts of non-used part of the plant.
Why?
Because we realized that indeed.
We can also start at the really beginning and started to use Site stream as the raw material.
And to give you a very, let's say a concrete example because you know Givedon is a company that produces also fragments.
So we are here a very good example of the synergy with our fragrance colleague and what we can do in the cosmetic industry.
Here is the example of pattula.
So patchouli, you know, is a very famous ingredient for the fragrance.
So here you have the first, process of the, the patchouli to make the the iconic fragrance.
And then after the first extraction we use exhausted.
Let's say plant to make a second extraction to create our own ingredients for the cosmetic industry.
So here is really instead of taking more from the nature, taking more from the biodiversity, we just use or reuse or use waste.
It's up to you, , raw materials, so it's really something that we're still moving forward and we still use again and again.
And we have the chance to have plenty of raw materials.
So for me it was really, really important to show you today, this second example at a raw material, point of view.
Thank you.
Thank you, Melanie.
That was a very interesting presentation and a good example of the circular approach.
Now, next, I'll hand it over to Elena at the European Environmental Bureau.
Thank you very much for inviting me to this webinar.
Today, I'm going to introduce the issue of trade of hazardous mercury-added cosmetics and their impact on the environment and health, so, a little bit of a different angle from what has just been introduced.
Let me first say a few words about mercury.
Mercury and its compounds are toxic to human health and the environment, especially to the developing nervous system.
Microbial metabolism of deposited mercury can create a methylmercury, which is the most toxic form, and it can bioaccumulate, it's persistent, and it can also biomagnify, and we can find it in the fish.
It's, it can also, methylmercury can cause, , adverse effects on the developing brain as it readily passes both the placental and the blood-brain barrier.
Also, inhalation of elemental mercury vapor may lead to tremors, insomnia, memory loss, neuromuscular changes, and headaches.
As you can see on the mercury cycle on the right, we can also see the sources of the mercury.
This can be natural, but also this can be man-made, which are the main, also sources of, of mercury in the environment.
And they can be coming out of the manufacturing of mercury-added products, such as cosmetics in, in this case and also processes, but also from unintentional releases and emissions such as the coal-fired power plants because we can find mercury in the coal.
There you can see that mercury will go into the atmosphere, deposit in the fish, affect the fish themselves, and then go into the food chain which will end up on our plate.
Then, the skin lightening products now, it's a, a symbol of societies grappling with internalized colorism.
It's been found that products helping people to lighten their skin often contain mercury, which can act as a bleaching agent.
Many people, especially women, use these products every day, but in many cases, in most cases, these consumers are not aware that these creams may contain mercury, as in most cases, manufacturers, they don't list the mercury as an ingredient.
So people will also not know that prolonged exposure to mercury can be very dangerous to their health, and recently, it has been reported that a young woman in Minnesota lost part of her vision because of the cream that was using had high level of mercury.
Beyond the, the health effects, however, mercury and cosmetics can also contaminate homes.
It can be released to the environment when rinse off, and also during manufacturing, and they can also evaporate and contaminate indoor air.
To tackle this, the issue of mercury, the WHO, the World Health Organization, has been recommending the phase out of such products and also recommends that people should love actually their skin as it is.
The global community to that end has adopted the Minamata Convention of Mercury, which bans the manufacture and trade of cosmetics with more than one PPM of mercury.
Now, from our side, the Zero Mercury Working Group has been looking at the markets for potentially mercury-added creams since 2017.
We have tested almost 800 products until now, which can also be found on our database.
In the last years, the focus has been on creams available from online platforms.
As also you can see on the slide, we continue to find high mercury products with thousands of PBMs around the world and on different platforms, including in the EU and the US where regulations have been in place for a long time.
So, while the global convention and also the, the national policies are in place, mercury-added skin lightening products continue to be manufactured and can still be found on the ground and online.
The, the e-commerce is a continuously growing market, also as we heard earlier, and our findings appear not to deter online platforms.
So while some platforms have been reacting to our findings and they have been removing, the dangerous products or put filters to, sort of screen or control such products.
Still, these same brands were found to contain mercury levels of, in several sampling occasions in physical shops and on commerce platforms, so they, they appear again.
So online platforms and non-compliance eventually leads to dangerous products, waste of resources, also harm to the environment and also creates an uneven playing field.
Eventually, the enforcement measures taken by the, the governments, may not be complete enough, and these are the challenges that we see, both on, on online sales and also on the ground.
So what is our, our, our takeaway?
We can see that, skin lightening products, it's a very challenging issue.
It's quite different to other, mercury-added products.
Tens of, there are, because there are also tens of thousands of informal third-party sellers.
It's a decentralized and illegal activity.
It's the producers are hard to identify.
This, the awareness is insufficient and global coordinated efforts would be necessary.
Also, as we already said, such products are still found on online platforms and shops, and there is where the manufacturers and the online platforms will have a really important role to play.
And they need to take on the responsibilities and the enforcement will need to be strengthened, with collaboration, internally within the country, domestically and also regionally and international level.
This will be something very important to end this, toxic cycle.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Elena.
Very very interesting point you covered from an environmental and health aspect.
Next, I will hand it over to CEm at Archive.
Cinem, over to you.
Thank you so much for handing over.
I will first explain briefly who I am and, briefly what archive is.
And then I would love to deep dive about what we see as a business, what the changes and opportunities are today, what we can do with today's challenges, and how we create those opportunities to become circular, and what we can repurpose cosmetic waste of today.
So I am SM Tunser.
I am the CEO of Archive, where we build circularity for the cosmetic industry, because we believe that, there's a lot of waste in the cosmetic industry.
Archive is an end of life partner to the world's leading beauty brands.
We connect overstock with purpose-driven consumers.
Just too good to go products what we say, expiration date that is almost reaching or products that are normally thrown out because it has been touched the shelf, so been in a store.
Our mission is to rescue 1 billion products by 2030 and build the world's first data-driven platform for end of life management where beauty brands can resell, repurpose, and donate surplus inventory.
When we look at today's challenges, where, of course, a lot of these problems are actually not one on one scene on the pages of our big corporations, it took us a while to actually get the numbers, really directly from the brands.
Or actually to do the research ourselves based upon your reports finding out that we actually destroyed 2.6 trillion value of materials in fast moving consumer goods thrown away across the globe each year, where 80% of consumers these days and mostly millennials expect the brands to be transparent in their marketing and talk about their sustainability impact.
At the moment we as consumers or we as businesses haven't adopted a more sustainable lifestyle yet because we think it's too expensive or we think it's too innovative.
But also we don't have enough information.
Like we don't understand where the waste is coming from and how we can help as a consumer or as a business to become more efficient in life or with the way how we actually operate today.
What really actually makes businesses become more lucrative, or that consumers or businesses, even B2B wise, respect each other more and more is really if we start working on waste reduction, and really if we become more sustainable in packaging, but also ingredients, and if we really work towards a circular industry.
These researchers are all done by ourselves based upon new reports, but also it's coming from McKinsey, Nielsen and Deloitte in the last years because the numbers are getting a little bit out in the public.
But of course there are still with these numbers many challenges.
How do we actually reach to that to that circularity goal with overstock, actually there are just a few solutions.
A product has always been created to sell.
So we within Archive, we believe that not to go directly into recycling or repurposing and create extra CO2, that reselling is actually an important factor.
Instead of trying to get rid of it in negative ways, because in the end this also creates customer acquisition.
What we also really believe is in time of inflation, where poverty is increasing, where people are being made fun of when they go to school because girls don't have hygienic products that they can clean themselves with, that donation is really important in these times.
If we destroy per brand €650 million of retail value just to protect our retail prices, we don't think that this is fair in the time.
So donations or PR purposes are great for overstock in these 2023 times.
At last but not least, after we tried to resell it, we donated it for good causes, but we still have overstock, which is still a lot, believe me.
We look into repurposing.
And until today, this was not possible because products, in the beauty space are always small products.
Think about the lipstick, and think about the waste, what you see in front of you.
There are no people that will go and pick up those, lipsticks and put the plastics with the plastics and the ingredients with the ingredients.
Because the focus will always be, get the glass out of it because it's worth a lot of value.
Get the biggest components out of that waste, and let's try to make something out of it.
But within archive, we don't believe that this is a sustainable option.
So with Oxford University, Cambridge, and the Vee University, when we were reselling and donating the the products, we were also inventing how to repurpose it.
And of course what you want to focus on is what are the biggest cosmetic waste streams actually coming from that waste and of course we have the outside of the products which we all talk about here.
We are talking about plastics that they are so terrible.
We are talking about that things are ending up everywhere, but the reality is that these packages are the most easiest to recycle and to distribute to.
Back to raw materials, 85% of the CO2, what we are throwing out, so the 40% of stock that we yearly throw out of our overall production, 85% of that what we are throwing out is actually full ingredients, which for me is actually a crime against humanity because 60% of it is also water, while water is at the moment becoming a shortage as a as a resource.
Now, we cannot rescue everything of those consumer segments and the products that are produced, but in our material database, we could identify a few streams that were already actually occupying the biggest part of the streams, where we also could make something lucrative out of it, which was actually with particular separation techniques.
The number one what we could get out of the cosmetic waste were oils.
And from those oils, we've done a deep dive.
There's always fragrances like ethanol, that we can use for distillating or cleaning the products again.
But at the moment, for us, the most lucrative were the oils.
And for the repurposing part, we've been focusing on making new products out of it, which is fuels, which created high margins and low risk.
We focused on candles to do a feedback loop back into the supply chains from the remaining oils.
We could just make candles out of it.
We could also make soaps out of those oils, but we could see competition over there, and there was a hygiene risk involved with otherwise wasted streams.
So we decided to only focus on the products that actually is not creating a lot of challenges at the moment.
In addition, of course, we also work on the streams like plastics, glasses, which is also quite lucrative, but we are the first one in the world that is actually creating the fuels now out of the otherwise wasted oils coming from cosmetic waste.
And we believe that you can be 100% circular actually with all the streams, but there is also, you need to tackle by impact, and these are the first steps for archive to start the circular flow from the cosmetic waste.
And that's it for us at the moment.
Fantastic.
Thank you, Sim, for your presentation.
This is Elizabeth Green once again from Personal Care Insights, and I'll now host a Q&A session with our listeners and all three of our speakers today.
Now some great questions have already been sent in, so thank you in advance to our listeners.
The first question we have is, what are the main challenges you are facing as you move toward a circular economy?
And how can these challenges be overcome?
Maybe Snam, you'd like to answer this question first?
Yeah, thank you, Elizabeth, for the question.
So we started 2.5 years with the journey about how to start circularity, and my first beliefs were to build a circular learning system to put the waste in the system, see what data comes out of it, and how can I repurpose it in a very data-driven manner.
Finding out that repurposing was actually not possible, and that governmentally, in the Netherlands, for example, we were promoting circularity, but at the same time we were doing product destruction for Europe.
So yeah, where do the challenges start?
The challenges for us in terms of circularity started that big brands didn't want to talk about the waste or share their data about the ingredients.
The other topic was that the laws were in contradiction.
So one side we needed to report about how we are building circularity, but on the other side they were working against us as , and big corporations were lobbying.
For example, if you block plastics, but then because you were L'Oreal, you were allowed to still do that because, yeah, you can suddenly stop your production.
The other big challenge was that everything was innovation, so it's easy to say you are a startup, go and raise money, but at the same time you have a commitment to actually report to your investors that you're making money.
And if I have the idea of being fully circular of cosmetic ways, but actually 75% of my product is non-existing yet, so not sellable.
That means that I will not make money for the upcoming time.
And I even had to lie to my investors a little bit that I was only a marketplace in the beginning to secretly collect that data and secretly put some grants from subsidies to actually keep on developing how we can 100% repurpose the waste at the moment that is coming from cosmetic brands.
So if I have to say challenges, there are definitely many, but you need to be a person that enjoys those puzzles and those challenges and try to keep on tackling them, because I believe that we are the pioneers that are working on this, and the future will definitely be greener, and we just need each other to keep on pushing these innovative topics to be better.
Mhm, definitely, thank you, Sinnam, that's really interesting.
Now, our next question is for Melanie at Ghivadan.
Now Melanie, what do you see as the best long-term strategies for a waste-free future and why?
Yes, indeed it's a very, let's say a a global question and very interesting one indeed.
From the long term strategy, as you can imagine, even if we're talking about circularity, it takes time to put it to put in place or set up, you know, everything, so one of the long term strategies for as a supplier of ingredients, for example, could be really the increasing of the synergy between the food and the.
The cosmetic and fragrance industry because as you can imagine we use the same raw materials so there probably there is more to do on this on this part and to investigate more internally how we can reuse or use the raw material in different different ways and I'm pretty sure that if we move forward in this direction we could really increase this notion of circularity.
And as I explained, as the main purpose is really to let's say change the way we are consuming products or at least to reduce the human impact on the planet.
So for me, one of the main interesting paths, it would be really to work more between different industries and to focus on this on this point for me to say that the best long term strategy that we can have.
Yes, definitely.
Thank you, Melanie, that's super interesting.
Now, our next question from a listener is to what extent should cosmetics containing and sustainable materials be banned?
Now this isn't for anyone in particular, so maybe I'll open the floor out and anyone can take this question.
Ladies, over to you.
Maybe I can.
No, sorry, please, please go ahead.
No, no, it was just a thanks just to say that I will have maybe a comment on this question is that there is no formal definition of sustainability for me it's not so easy to answer in the sense of for someone, you know, to be more sustainable, it's to be more organic, it to be more cycling, it to be more biodegradable, so.
It's something that when we're saying unsustainable material for me it's a little bit, let's say cloudy.
The thing that I can say it's just that maybe we can increase different way of.
Let's say of protecting the planet, for example, the development of the biotech technology, so to reuse the biotech solution, so very innovation could be a way to let's say to have more sustainable ingredients, but to say to ban sustainable materials for me it's quite complicated that sometimes you cannot replace the molecule or something, so.
It's I don't know, it's an open question and I let my my colleagues on the phone to to answer but it's.
Yeah, for me it's a complicated one.
Yeah, I would like to follow up.
Oh sorry, is it OK if I follow up, because I, I.
Yeah, I agree.
I agree that the definition of sustainability or sustainable ingredients are in this, in this case quite vague.
It's the same for clean beauty.
I actually don't know what it means, but to be fair, there are a few dimensions we need to look at, and we need to look at vision.
And for me, the vision is, things are going to become shortages, and we need to become more healthy as humans, and Along the journey, when we look at the history, we came from wars where there were shortages, so we needed to have a lot of cars.
So we went into this mass production companies, yeah, back in the days, but back in the days we only bought the black car, for example, but the demand created that we needed to have a lot of different types of products also in beauty.
And at the moment there is just so much products and so many different types of creams and fragrances, where most of it, because we need to produce en masse because humanity is growing, we decided to work with synthetics because it's cheaper, it's, you can make it much more in scale.
Realizing that these ingredients were really not really good for us as a person, as it's also logical that we should not put alcohol on our bodies or like very heavy types of ingredients.
On top of it, we were using a lot of energy to create those ingredients again.
To keep products also, for example, cheap, we use water and those types of things.
So, if I look at, shall we use more sustainable ingredients.
Yes, to have the definition 100%, but definitely look at much more natural ingredients.
What is natural the way to move forward for skill?
I don't know if that's going to be the answer at this stage.
So there are still many innovations to be done, I guess, but I would love to go to a more regenerative.
Business models and a regenerative world.
But yeah, many things need to change to go to that direction as.
To produce products more local, have more natural, etc.
Etc.
Definitely, thanks ladies, is really interesting insights that you're sharing with us.
Now the next question kind of links to the previous question, and it is, should synthetic ingredients be phased out when moving to a waste-free future?
Or can they be made into more can they be made more environmentally sustainable?
See now, maybe he, you have some thoughts on this.
Yes, 100%.
So until now, the topic that I was also explaining a little bit about mass production, synthetics have actually came to the world because of that, partially as.
So there are now these new methods about using much more topics around fungus, bacteria.
These are very fast growing type of ingredients.
That we could replace for the ingredients that we are using for today, for example.
So I think, yeah, we should move away from synthetic because when you do that, when it falls into the floor, it's not that bad as what we do, how we operate today.
But then the reality is again we need to put a little bit in our monies from big corporations into these new innovations into better ingredients.
And along the way, have good practices, just not to replace products randomly and then throw out big batches of products again.
So we need to transform, but transform smartly and efficiently as.
Yeah, definitely.
Transformation is key in this sort of industry, isn't it?
Fantastic.
Yeah, thank you.
Now we have time for a few more questions now as we near toward the end of the session.
Our next question is for Eleanor.
And the question is, heavy metals that are intentionally added to cosmetics are harmful to the environment and users.
But what can be done about trace metals that are found naturally and have not been intentionally added?
Eleanor, I'll open that question up to you.
Yes, thank you very much.
So, at, at the, at the EU level, in the cosmetics regulation, there is no limit for mercury, or other elements in the cosmetics.
So mercury is fully banned, from the cosmetics.
At the global level, there was, this consideration of, potentially, let's say, mercury being a, like a contaminant or a trace element.
And the, a one PPM threshold was set, but now there are, as this continues and also other states, and countries are introducing legislation, again, we see that this threshold is not actually being introduced.
And also from what we see, the, the mercury in the, in the cosmetics will probably come in if it has been used before.
So, if I focus on the, on the mercury as it is persistent, as I mentioned earlier and accumulates and biomagnifies and has this so important, harm and, and effects when it comes in contact to people.
The best would be that there's, it's not there at all.
So even the trace would eventually accumulate because it's just not destroyed.
So, no matter what the, the amount is, it will eventually be added into the environment from wherever it comes from, either from use or manufacture or it will just end up in the environment and just accumulate over there.
So it's best not to have such elements in there.
Thanks.
Thank you, that's really interesting.
Now our next question is probably also best suited to you, Eleanor, as.
And the question is, how can online sales of cosmetics containing metals or unsustainable ingredients be stopped when there are differing regulations per country?
That's a really interesting question.
Yes, thank you very much.
This indeed has been our focus and this is a very complicated area, as we said, while the manufacturing of such products needs to stop itself, so this would be the source, we still find these products available online.
And this is because the, also the, the, the definitions and the, the legal obligations of the platforms, basically escape, currently, what are the obligations of shops which are selling on the ground.
So, online platforms should actually be made liable and responsible for the products that they sell because they are not, , they're not sort of a journal as it used to be where you just put your ad and then you are not responsible for what is advertised.
For what is advertised, so online platforms are, are, implicated into the, into the selling of the products.
They can provide sometimes storage area for, for, for these products, so they could even sometimes, be involved on the price, how it is set.
So it's definitely something where they, this, , responsibility and accountability needs to be, taken care of.
So, clear liability rules, should Be established to cover for violations of products, and health and safety laws.
The e-commerce platforms should also be required to screen and vet sellers and their products, so they, as I said, the products, they, they don't mention whether there is a mercury, for example, on the ingredients list.
Also, in, in terms of also the, the discussions that we've been having here with the colleagues, these products, if we look at the packaging, they They look as if, they are nature, natural-based, using fruits or, or other, , natural ingredients, but then, , and then when you look at the ingredients list, it will just seem harmless, but then, unfortunately, we have been finding these very high levels of mercury.
We're talking, , 2030, 40,000 PPM, so we are far from the 1 PPM threshold of, of trace that we were talking earlier.
So, the e-commerce platforms should be also publishing their compliance measures.
The consumers should have access to the same information online as those that they find, in the stores, including the label information.
Also, the online platforms should be required to verify foreign third-party sellers, including the name, the geographic location, either, other data, and these third-party sellers should also be obligated to consent, to the, to the platform and, to wherever this applies, to the home country and also have legal representatives.
So, there are still many, many elements that, that can be done.
And this is an, an area which is sort of covered separately and as I said, this will need to happen from the different governments but also at the global level, so this is something that we are trying to elevate at the level, for example, of the Minamata Convention to the extent that such a convention can push for such a sort of hole or loophole to, to be covered because the effect is, is quite important.
Definitely.
Thank you, Eleanor.
That's super interesting.
Now I think we have time for 1 or 21, maybe 2 more questions now before we have to sort of wrap it up, guys.
And the next question, maybe Melanie at Jivevian can give us some insights on this.
It is, how is the beauty sector ramping up technologies?
That do not contribute to negative environmental impacts.
Melanie, over to you.
Yeah, of course, indeed, one of the, I think the simple answer will be innovation, to be honest, and when I explain innovation, it's really part of for me the center of all the future for.
Our industry and to be innovative in the let's say in the sustainability way is not an easy task as you have seen on the presentation I talk about this notion of circularity in terms of at the industrial level so the way we are producing in this in this facility where we produce uronic acid so it's a really an example of how we can produce this molecule with a very sustainable way.
And another innovation could be also to develop more pure molecule with biotech, you know, for example, we managed to produce a pure natural retinol, so without DHT and DHA.
So this is the way we remove synthetic products to create in the molecule of interest, as you know, retinol is very, let's say famous in the cosmetic industry, so.
For me to see, those the kind of innovation, that really let's say contribute to reduce our, our impact so we have to continue in this direction but you know, for example, to develop this retinol we We work on it for 4 or 5 years so it takes time for sure so but it's at the end it's a very appreciated to have this kind of of of product.
So for me, yes, the supplier level I would say that innovation and move to this more let's say a green chemistry processes or biotechnology and to still be to keep in mind that.
Water is important.
CO2 gas emissions is a tricky point also.
So yeah, and we really won't never, we won't stop indeed to innovate because at the end the final point is really to protect the planet.
Yes, definitely, and I think that's a really interesting and important point to finish on.
Thank you, Melanie.
That's about all we have time for today, so I'd like to thank everyone involved in today's Q&A session and the presentation, both behind the scenes and taking part in the webinar.
I'd also like to thank our listeners for tuning in.
We hope you found this session insightful and valuable to your business.
Shortly, the webinar will be available on demand on Personal CareInsights.com.
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Thank you everyone, and goodbye.
Senior Journalist
Venya Patel
Senior Journalist
