World Environment Day: To Love the Planet with L'Oreal

To celebrate World Environment Day, L'Oréal (Hong Kong) and global beauty and personal care retailer Watsons plan to collect 250,000 empty bottles within one year of the campaign’s launch. As of December 2021, L'Oréal (China) has recycled more than 150 tons of empty bottles in China.

---

To celebrate World Environment Day on June 5, L'Oreal (Hong Kong), Watsons, a global beauty and personal care retailer, and V Cycle, a Hong Kong-based environmental company, jointly launched the "Continue Beauty" recycling program. Empty bottles of cosmetics and skin care products of all brands can be recycled at 170 Watsons stores in Hong Kong, China, and consumers can also send these empty bottles to more than 100 independent stores and department store counters of L'Oreal (Hong Kong).

After all the empty bottles are collected, V Cycle will sort them, decomposes them, and then converts them into new materials. It is reported that the goal of the program is to collect 250,000 empty bottles within a year since the launch of the campaign.

Having been developing deeply in China for 25 years, green and sustainable development has always been a vital part of the L'Oreal Group's strategy. In 2015, L'Oréal (China)'s Tianmei factory in Yichang became the first carbon-neutral factory of the L'Oréal Group in China by using hydroelectric power. In 2019, the Suzhou Shangmei factory achieved carbon neutrality by using solar, wind, and biomass energy to power and heat the factory. In addition, L'Oréal (China) adheres to the principle that China needs local procurement in China, and successively uses green power in multiple operating sites. As of 2019, L'Oréal (China) has achieved the goal of "carbon neutrality" for all operating facilities including factories, distribution centers, R&D centers, and offices.

It is reported that all products and packaging of L'Oreal (China) involve 1,600 kinds of plant-based materials, and the raw materials are taken from more than 100 countries and about 350 different plant species. In order to protect biodiversity, L'Oreal (China) continuously improves the conversion rate of raw materials through new biotechnology, fermentation, green chemistry principles, etc., and insists on R&D innovation to increase the proportion of renewable ingredients in products.

In addition, L'Oreal (China) brand also adopts sustainable alternative packaging, and plans to achieve 100% plastic packaging by 2025. And all the plastic packaging will be secondary filled, reusable, recyclable, or made into fertilizer; Meanwhile, since 2018, L'Oreal (China) has launched empty bottle recycling projects in more than 400 brand stores in China. By December 2021, the total amount of empty bottle recycling has exceeded 150 tons.

In 2022, L'Oreal (China) released the "Beauty OneHealth Project" plan. In order to realize the implementation of the plan, L'Oreal (China) adopted a "green science" approach to comprehensively transform product raw materials, active ingredients and formula combinations, and is committed to creating beauty products that respect the environment. Today, 59% of L'Oréal's raw ingredients come from renewable plant sources, and 80% are readily biodegradable.

To facilitate the sustainable transformation of L’Oréal (China)’s upstream and downstream value chains, L’Oréal (China) will also start cooperation with 100 suppliers in China this year, sharing L’Oréal Group’s experience in energy conservation and emission reduction, and invite representatives from other companies, energy management or renewable energy experts on solutions to reduce carbon emissions. At the same time, L'Oréal Group will also invite consumers to participate in sustainable actions, such as recycling packaging, to help consumers build awareness.