L’Oréal USA reports advancements in sustainability business practices

L'Oréal USA has reported significant advancements in implementing sustainability across its business practices.

Among the milestones achieved include reduction in carbon emissions by 84%, water usage by 52%, and waste per finished product by 43%, as well as 100% renewable electricity in its manufacturing plants.

Improvements were also made in the design of its packaging.

The firm is currently operating solar projects in Arkansas and Kentucky, as well as wind turbines in Texas and an eco-design tool across its operations to evaluate each product's environmental impact. L'Oréal has assessed more than 40,000 formulas using this tool.

Named Sharing Beauty With All, the sustainability programme has helped the company reduce carbon emissions worldwide by 67% from a 2005 baseline, while simultaneously enhancing production by 29%.

L'Oréal's chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) Jean-Paul Agon said: "We have achieved and even exceeded our target of a 60% reduction in CO² emissions, four years ahead of schedule. This is the result of an immense amount of work by all the teams concerned.

“It also sends out a strong signal, we are continuing to dissociate our growth from our environmental impact."

As part of its carbon reduction initiatives, L'Oréal has installed a total of 17 renewable energy projects in the US. The company's 686,000ft² Florence plant includes 4,140 solar panels, which provide 1.42MW of power and save 1,324t of CO² per year, while the 450,000ft² North Little Rock facility has 3,600 solar panels offering 1.2MW of renewable energy and minimise carbon emissions by 556t per year.

All these advancements are part of the firm's programme to achieve carbon reduction by 2020.

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Image: L'Oréal products with recyclable packaging. Photo: courtesy of L’Oréal.