Collaborate to innovate

Published: 22-May-2014

A proposed Formulation Centre will help the UK’s C&T industry to work with other sectors to find solutions to current challenges, says Darren Ragheb

You need to be a subscriber to read this article.
Click here to find out more.

The cosmetics industry faces a number of formulation challenges right now and these will only become more significant in the coming years. A proposed Formulation Centre in the UK will help the industry to work with other companies and academics to find collaborative solutions to these problems.

Perhaps the biggest challenge facing the industry is sustainability. This is a huge issue for the big FMCG companies and the broader industry. Unilever, for example, is planning to halve the environmental footprint of its products between 2012 and 2020.

This means new functionality, such as soaps that offer antimicrobial benefits, or which clean with less water or at a lower temperature. It also means more sustainable ingredients, such as replacing crude oil based feedstocks with bio based ones.

Regulation brings constant challenges too. Ingredients are occasionally banned or fall out of favour. The European cosmetics industry, for example, has recently advised that the preservative methylisothiazolinone should no longer be used in leave-on skin care cosmetic products.

Consumer demand is also an ongoing challenge. Companies are constantly searching for the next molecule that will bring a novel function – a better clean, a skin rejuvenation effect – and therefore a big commercial return. Similarly, the desire for products with natural credentials is driving formulators to research alternatives to synthetic ingredients.

Not yet a Subscriber?

This is a small extract of the full article which is available ONLY to premium content subscribers. Click below to get premium content on Cosmetics Business.

Subscribe now Already a subscriber? Sign in here.

You may also like