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Beauty companies 'ignoring green agenda on packaging', study claims

Haircare brand Aveda's packaging has been singled out as the beauty industry's most environmentally friendly in a report that claims much of the sector is ignoring the green agenda on packaging.

Organic Monitor, a London-based research organisation, said that while beauty firms were making progress on improving their sustainability in some areas but been slow to respond to the environmental pressure on packaging.

In particular, it highlighted progress in product formulation and product life-cycle assessments.

"Some companies are focusing on water, carbon and other resource usage. With packaging having such a high footprint, it seems to be the stepchild when beauty firms look at sustainability," the report said.

However, it said that for packaging, Aveda was the frontrunner in putting the emphasis on packaging in its sustainability agenda.

The report claimed that Aveda was the biggest user of post-consumer recovered plastic in the beauty sector, with up to 80% of its materials being recycled, and has recycled 37m polypropylene caps through its 'Recycle Caps with Aveda' campaign in the US.

Other companies such as Neal's Yard Remedies, Method and Nude Skincare garnered praise from the study.

However, it concluded that the beauty industry had done less than other areas such as the food and retail sector to reduce the environmental impact of its packaging.