A constant work in progress

Published: 5-May-2010

Forget labels. It\'s time to act as responsible managers of our environment, says Alban Muller.

We live in a world exposed to an overwhelming flow of information which may lead us to lose the focus on what really matters. And what matters is the impact of our decisions on man and on the planet.

Forget labels. It's time to act as responsible managers of our environment, says Alban Muller.

We live in a world exposed to an overwhelming flow of information which may lead us to lose the focus on what really matters. And what matters is the impact of our decisions on man and on the planet.

Today, to manage a company means to manage more than just the product flow. Raw material sourcing is of course important but what truly matters is the global ecological cycle. This has an immediate consequence and we need to revisit all our processes to see how we can improve the way we source, produce, process and package our products.

Our aim should be to communicate around a simple concept that consumers can understand and appreciate and our industry is constantly exploring new ways to improve itself, taking the environmental stakes into consideration.

Taking the environment into consideration means more than just selecting ‘organically grown plants’ or defining ‘acceptable chemicals’ to be blended into ‘organic cosmetics’. It has to do with a constant progress approach towards sustainability, which goes well beyond the present ‘label’ approaches. It also includes social and societal dimensions.

We have to allow our co-workers to grow in their position by giving them opportunities to receive constant education to do their jobs better according to standards. We also have to invest time and effort in selecting sources of new ingredients in different countries while staying equitable and fair in order to better benefit from the various experiences accumulated everywhere and to benefit from biodiversity.

This broader view has probably been forgotten by those who diligently work at completing the ‘ultimate list’. Do we really need to spend so much time on elaborating complex definitions that please specialists but which create confusion in the minds of consumers?

We have accepted the Reach programme which gives us a better view of the impacts of all chemical raw materials, and I think we should now try to capitalise on the expertise gained from this major effort.

To find this global approach has been our goal in the Cosmetic Valley in France, the most important cluster for the production of cosmetics and perfumes in the world. We wanted to show that we had the right views about the emergence of a new economy which is taking all impacts into account, and this is how we created our charter for an ecoresponsible cosmetic.

The Cosmetic Valley works as a vertically integrated system where farmers produce herbs that are transformed locally into actives which in turn are blended into cosmetics, and which are packaged in bottles and jars made in a nearby city. This cluster

federates small and large companies alike and we needed to elaborate a general policy that would enable all the companies to work on global improvement of their products and industrial practices for the sake of future generations.

These improved industrial practices include some changes towards a green chemistry approach, replacing some non-sustainable raw materials with renewable ones, eliminating some solvents and avoiding some chemical reactions.

This has led to revisiting various aspects related to the marketing of the products: which jars should we select? The big double-sided one which looks so large but uses a lot of petroleum-derived plastic or the smaller glass one? Plastic or paper to wrap the purchase?

Our aim was to try and get all the companies to work together towards a common goal rather than creating yet another new label or definition of what natural is, could be, might be or as to how we accepted this or that chemical as part of a new positive list.

We’re also aiming to get more companies to improve their practices rather than creating two opposed parties within the same market: the ‘good natural minded’ and the ‘bad chemical oriented’. We prefer large companies to embark on in-depth improvement programmes as this will impact the environment more positively than if we only get smaller companies to surf on a green marketing gimmick.

We need to remember that historically the ‘label’ approach has been initiated by green-minded farmers wanting to promote organic agriculture, which is still very limited; 2% of farmland in France for instance, the largest agricultural country in Europe. So according to them, in an effort to expand markets for them, all herbal extracts to be used in cosmetics would need to be cultivated according to strict rules (no pesticides, no chemical fertilisers). The problem is that herbal extracts unfortunately only account for a small proportion (0.1% to 5% at the most) in final products, not to mention that the initial plants only account for 10% or 20% of the extract. It has very little relevance in our industry.

Furthermore we have discovered allergens in essential oils, showing that even perfectly natural products, growing under the sun with no chemicals or pesticides, could become debatable as far as safety is concerned.

Unfortunately the complexity of all these issues is such that there will always be an individual case against the ‘it is natural, don’t worry, be happy’ claim.

So the safe route to follow, as an industry which cares for its consumers, is to go further than just confusing the issue of our common future. We need to really do what we are supposed to do – act as responsible managers of our environment, for our sake and for the sake of future generations.

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