EP66. What is Circular Beauty?

The hot topic in the beauty industry right now is circular beauty. I'm sure you've heard of the term circularity before, where the resources used to make beauty products are effectively kept in a loop to design out waste. So when I started researching circular beauty for this podcast episode, I found myself left feeling very disappointed as all of the beauty publications I came across focused solely on packaging. Whenever they talked about the concept of circularity, the now, of course, packaging is hugely important, but it isn't the only component involved with making a circular beauty product. We also need to talk about ingredients, manufacturing processes, eco design, water, energy by products, the lot. So today's Green Beauty Conversations episode takes us back to basics, explores what the term circular beauty actually means, and gives you the four main principles of circularity.

Foreign.

Welcome to Green Beauty Conversations, the podcast that challenges you to think about how you buy, use, make and sell your natural beauty formulations. We tackle topics that will make you think and encourage debate about green beauty with your friends, followers or customers. I'm your host, Lorraine Dallmeyer. I'm a chartered environmentalist, biologist and the CEO of award winning online organic cosmetic formulation school, Formula Botanica. We have thousands and thousands of students in over 175 countries around the world who study with us to become organic beauty formulators and entrepreneurs. Visit our website@formulabotanica.com to try our free online formulation course. So today we're providing you with the four principles of circular beauty and and looking at what the beauty industry needs to do in order to embrace circularity. I'm joined today by my colleague Anna Green, who is Formula Botanica's membership coordinator. And we both put our thinking caps on to create a definition that all of us in the beauty industry can actually use, which applies to all of our beauty products. Welcome to the podcast again, Anna, how are you doing today?

Yes, I'm great, thank you, Lorraine. I'm very excited about this topic because I think it's going to be a really important one to cover and yeah, really lots of great information to get through.

Yeah, I'm excited too. It's going to be a great one.

Fantastic. Well, Lorraine, should we start at the beginning? Can you let us know what is circular beauty?

So just a small question to start with, basically. I think it's fantastic that we're having this chat because I haven't seen anyone else really fully define circular beauty in a way that I think is comprehensive enough yet. I really hope that we're going to help people with this definition. I think the place to start is that the concept of circular beauty beauty is based on the circular economy or cradle to cradle principles, where beauty products are viewed as having a life cycle in a loop. Most of us have heard of the cradle to grave concept, but this circular beauty is cradle to cradle, where resources effectively stay in circulation and waste that doesn't allow for material recovery is then viewed as unacceptable. In our view, circular beauty is based on four principles.

So.

So I'm going to run you through them. Principle one is that we work with nature. So that means that we firstly minimize the use of natural resources overall, so that formulations are made with ingredients that are not over harvested or that are not grown unsustainably. Then we use natural resources that benefit the environment. So an example would be sequestering carbon through algae production for cosmetics. And there are a few such ingredients coming out on the market which very interesting and certainly ones we must watch. So principle two is that we then keep resources in use as much as possible. And that means, for instance, upcycled ingredients or using ingredient byproducts or reusing water energy packaging. So with cosmetic products we can keep a lot of resources in use. Packaging is a great example when we actually use it because it can be reusable, refillable. Obviously we can't keep the cosmetic ingredients themselves in the formulations in use, which is why making a truly circular product will most likely always be challenging when it comes to the formulation itself. Because cosmetic ingredients are generally either washed down the drain or absorbed by the skin, or evaporated or sloughed off with dead skin cells or scraped into the trash where they'll decompose if we don't actually use the products themselves. So those ingredients typically can't be kept in a closed loop system. But arguably beauty brands could sell formulations in lower quantities that don't need to be reapplied so much so then we're keeping resources more out of circulation rather than creating a closed loop system which might be a bit more of a struggle there. That's principle two. Principle three is that we then design out waste externalities. That means we avoid waste wherever possible. We all can think of plenty of examples where this applies to beauty products. We can sell formulations in no packaging or refillable packaging, so we avoid creating packaging waste. Or we minimise waste associated with the extraction of natural ingredients by looking at which plants can yield the maximum output for the minimum minimum environmental impact. We can also consider eco designer formulations, particularly when they're flushed down the drain or are not biodegradable. And ultimately, of course, as I just said, we need to minimize consumption of beauty products in the first place, so that we design out waste externalities by actually reducing the consumption itself. And this of course, ties in with the podcast we did recently on the Age of Essentials or the Age of Skinimalism. And then finally, principle four is that we regenerate natural capital. So if you want to keep using natural resources in your beauty products, you should be trying to create net environmental gains so you constantly have those resources to put in there. And I think this is probably the point where the beauty industry struggles the most, because it's simply not really been on the radar screen of the majority of beauty brands. Even now, the discussion is still mainly around how can we do less harm, rather than showing actual leadership in sustainability and circularity. So that's my potted overview of the four principles of circular beauty. Work with nature, keep resources in use as much as possible, design out waste externalities and regenerate natural capital, which is quite a lot to take in and obviously it's even harder to do in practice. And we're going to explore that a bit more in the podcast. So I was wondering, Anna, do you have any examples of brands that are starting to use these principles of circular beauty?

Yeah, there's a few examples of brands bringing in these principles to their business models. One of the key areas this is happening, you've already talked about it a little bit, is packaging, for example, by refilling and reusing rather than simply disposing of packaging. Our friend Jo Chidley, who is the founder of indie brand Beauty Kitchen, was an early adopter of reusable packaging. And they have a return, refill and repeat scheme where you can return your packaging and have it refilled by sending either via post or getting refills in certain high street stores. They also use some of these algae ingredients that you talked about that sequester carbon. So that's very, you know, two different ways that their brand personally certainly is embracing circular beauty. Loop is another interesting refill scheme that is rolling out across the US and the UK as well as other areas of the world. And Loop covers a variety of different household products, but it does also include beauty and personal care. And the way it works is that you purchase your items in their store and you pay a deposit for the packaging, and when you finish your items, you return them to Loop and you get a whole new product, but they reuse that packaging. That packaging keeps going and keeps going. So it's circular for the packaging. In our Community. We have many graduates and brands that are asking their customers to return their packaging. And it's a topic that we hear our graduates talking about quite a bit, you know, especially if they're using materials like glass that you know can be sterilized and reused. And another area where brands are starting to incorporate these principles of circularity is with the second point that you outlined, it's keeping resources in use as much as possible. So you recently interviewed Anna Brightman of the brand upcircle on the podcast, and they are a really great example of brands using upcycled ingredients. So ingredients that are byproducts from other industries, such as the juicing industry, or ingredients that would otherwise go to waste, such as coffee grounds. And it's a really interesting podcast. If you haven't listened to that one already, I really highly recommend that you go back and have a listen. One of the members of the Formula Botanica community, Svetlana, who studied with us, she has founded Solidame and her brand focuses on solid formulations with minimal packaging. All her products are also waterless and long lasting. So she's doing some really interesting things in this area too. My final example isn't necessarily about a beauty brand, but rather an ingredient supplier. In our membership site, the Lab at Formula Botanica, we created a mini training on the topic of emulsions. And we heard from ingredient supplier Sepic about the fantastic work that they're doing with their Montanov range of emulsifiers. When they do the ingredient reaction for these emulsifiers, there is a residual biomass resulting from that manufacturing process that they then use in two different ways to generate electricity. And also they're working with a local farm to use it as a fertilizer. So they've completely closed the loop on that particular area of waste. And that's just from one ingredient. So you can imagine across the whole ingredient cycle what you could do if you know, every single supplier was doing this. So, as you can see, there's lots of different ways in which people are trying to close the loop all the way through, from the manufacture of ingredients themselves to the final packaging used by brands.

Wow. It's really exciting to hear how much is going on. And, you know, it's very easy to think, oh, the beauty industry has such a long way to go, and it does. But then you hear of these pioneers who are really pushing things forward and you realize that actually we can make change and we can make it quite rapidly. I know that a lot of people are really inspired by the brands you've mentioned. I know I am as well. And I can only wait and see what else they come up with because it's truly exciting to hear. So, following on from that, let's talk a little bit about circular versus linear, because I think in order to understand what circular is, we also need to understand what sort of linear economy we're in at the moment. So can you give us a bit of an understanding of what the difference is between circular and linear economies?

Yeah. So in a linear economy, the focus is on taking natural resources, creating goods and services, and then disposal. People often refer to the disposable nature of goods in today's society, where in large parts of the world products are made to break and to be disposed of rather than to be mended or repaired. In a circular economy, we're looking to close the loops within the system as much as possible, whether that is by minimizing the use of natural resources, using byproducts of the manufacturing process to create additional value, or by reusing resources such as packaging where possible. I think a promising aspect of this circular economic model is that within a circular model, some of the benefits may not just be environmental, but also social and economic as well. So on a social level, the circular economy could provide a boost to the jobs on the market as you create a more valuable product in the process, minimizing waste can be cost effective and ensure that people within the system have access to other resources, as we've already talked about, for example, with the creating of energy from the byproducts. So there's lots of benefits to it. They're very different systems, but lots of benefits.

That's fascinating. And, you know, when you put it like that, you realize that it's such a huge and profound shift that we have to make, because I think all of us have just become used to, let's buy a product and then it will be disposed of at the end of its life cycle. But I certainly hope that a decade from now, maybe we'll listening back to this podcast and we'll go, gosh, haven't. Haven't things changed in that time?

Yeah, absolutely. And we can see changes happening, as we've already said, all the time. So, yeah, there's lots of positive shifts happening. We've still got a long way to go. So, Lorraine, I would like to know, can the beauty industry ever be fully circular?

Such a hard question. I've been mulling this over for months. I just keep sitting here going, yes, no, yes, no. And I think ultimately it is a bit of yes and no. To because, you know, as when I walk through the four principles that I talked about earlier and also, you know what you were just saying, a lot of the beauty industry can be made circular, although I think it will always be challenging for a consumer product to operate in a closed loop because ultimately the product that we create is meant to be used and then disposed of if it hasn't been used. But I think all beauty products can incorporate a combination of elements of eco design, net environmental gain, and this zero waste hierarchy where waste that doesn't have any recovery to it is viewed as unacceptable. And I think because of that, the beauty industry will most likely always have both circular and linear elements to it. But that doesn't mean that it can't continuously aspire to become more circular. And I think if the industry starts to show real leadership in terms of sustainability and consumption, rather than sticking to this do less harm mantra that we've seen everywhere as part of business as usual, not just in the beauty industry, but in every sector for decades and decades, then I think the beauty industry will start to tick a lot more of those circularity boxes. So we know that a circular beauty industry would need to work in a loop in order to achieve this circular concept. So I think beauty brands could sell formulations that can be used in lower quantities and therefore don't need to be reapplied so much, which is of course what we talked about about in our last podcast as well. That way maybe keeping resources more out of circulation rather than creating a closed loop system in its entirety, which I think will be a struggle. So I think it's going to be a combination of yes and no. Can the beauty industry be fully circular? It will be a struggle, but I think it's something we have to aspire to continuously. And I think we can move from fully linear to having circular elements in it, which isn't a very satisfying answer to give because I would love to be able to go, yes, we're almost there, but it's going to require profound change. So what do you think then that some of the, what do you think of some of the barriers that the beauty industry faces when it comes to embracing circularity?

I think one of the main ones is what you just talked about, the complexity of it enclosing, you know, certain loops in the system. And it might require thinking outside of the box a little bit to do it. So, for example, the brand up circle that we talked about earlier, their brand was founded around the idea of reusing waste coffee grounds that they salvaged from coffee shops around London to make them into face and body scrubs. And that process will have entailed some innovation and, you know, a lot of thought on their part to make that formulation safe and stable and doing something that other people hadn't really done before. So there's. There's an element of being a bit of a trailblazer there. Another barrier is the infrastructure. So some of the things we've talked about, such as, you know, generating electricity from waste, that requires infrastructure to be able to do that. You can't just do that without anything in place. You need resources and you need everything set up beforehand. Once you have things set up, however, you know, you can make some of that investment back because you're creating a product that is more valuable. But, you know, you have to have that infrastructure there, and it might not be possible for everybody. Certainly indie brands might struggle with some of those bigger aspects, those more common, complex aspects, but that doesn't mean to say that they can't talk to their suppliers who might be able to be, you know, involved in that kind of activity and that kind of setting up that infrastructure, so their ingredients might already come with that in place. And I think the last barrier, the final one, is that, you know, ultimately some of the things that we're going to have to do will mean doing something that people haven't done before. So it's that element of being the first on the market to do something. Something. And I think, you know, I'd love to see more brand owners sort of really believe in their ideas and follow them through, because I think there's great potential. I think there's people out there with great ideas that haven't quite made them reality yet.

Yeah, those are very, very good points. I mean, complexity, absolutely. Infrastructure, you know, being an indie brand struggling with the larger aspects, which we talked about on the podcast before as well. You know, I think the mainstream beauty industry has a response to responsibility, almost like a utopian responsibility to support others in its industry. But of course, you know, we're all in competition with each other, so that makes it a lot harder then. And ultimately, as you say, change, people don't like change or they struggle with change. Those are big, big things. But I think there is an appetite, and I think people do really want to start moving in the direction of doing the right thing. And I think the indie beauty sector may well actually take some leadership in that as well, which I certainly hope to see anyway.

Yeah, absolutely. So, Lorraine, what are the first steps a beauty brand should take if they want to bring circularity into their business model.

I think the first thing is you really have to want to do this. I recently interviewed May Lindstrom for the podcast, and I think she's going to be the next episode after this one, actually. And I was saying to you before we started recording, I've never met someone who has such a strong North Star that they follow, that they don't deviate from. And I think more beauty brand founders need to think that way, because if this is something you want, then you have to fully embrace it and just keep working at it to make your business better, a little bit better every single day. I think the next thing then is to know the full lifecycle of your beauty products. You have to understand every element of what's required in making it. And when you're a small brand, that can be really, really hard because you don't necessarily know your full supply chain. You might be buying ingredients online that have come from three other ingredient suppliers before that, before they made it to you. But you have to really start delving into that knowledge and really discovering what's happening in your supply chain so that you can map out that life cycle. Then I think you should start to look at how you design your products and your processes, and maybe then even think about redesigning them slightly to minimize input and keep those resources in use. How do you manufacture? Where do your ingredients come from? What sort of packaging are you using? These are all questions you have to ask yourself and challenge yourself on, and you might not be happy with the answers, and it might really frustrate you, because, you know, as Anna was just saying, it's complex, it's change. It might be infrastructure that you don't have, but it is something that we all have to embrace. And beauty brands have to really start thinking about this. Then you should know how much waste your business creates and at which stages it's created. And this may not be something that makes you entirely comfortable to hear, because the packaging that your customers use is effectively still your waste. I know it's gone to your customer by that point, and they're the ones putting it in landfill. They're the ones recycling it, hopefully. But it originated from you. And you should know what your business is responsible for, because then you can start to think about how you minimize that and design out those waste externalities. And you have to keep in mind also that consumers don't necessarily do the things that you want them to do. You know, you might have refillable packaging. That doesn't mean that your customers are doing that. That doesn't mean that they are bringing it back to refill it. They might still be throwing it to landfill. So this is something you do have to consider. And then finally you have to be seeking out environmental gain opportunities, which isn't just done through charitable giving or philanthropy, but actually becomes a core component of how you operate. And that means really going deep, really understanding what the input is into that loop, where it's come from, and how you can work with those resource suppliers to try and actually put something back into planet Earth, I suppose. And these are really big steps and they're challenging and they'll force you to ask yourself really challenging questions and put yourself in quite an uncomfortable position from time to time. But you know, it has to be your North Star if you're truly serious about bringing circularity into your beauty brand. So, big questions, big answers. It doesn't exactly tell you what to do because you're the only one who can do that. The only one as a beauty brand founder who knows what changes you can make and what's happening in your business. But it's a really important conversation and I'm so glad we've had this conversation. Anna, thank you so much for bringing all of your insight to this as well.

Thank you for having me. It's been absolutely fascinating and I hope to hear what everybody else thinks of this topic because I'm sure we could have talked about this for much, much longer. So I can't wait to hear people's opinions.

Thank you. Yeah, I'm sure we will be revisiting this topic several times over on the the podcast. So as Anna said, if you have something you want to add, if you want to come and chat with us, you know, leave us a comment on social media because we love hearing from you. So we'd love to hear from you. How do you feel about the term circular beauty? Is it even achievable for the beauty industry to ever be fully circular? What do you think? The Formula Botanica team and I love hearing from you, so come and tell us your views by leaving us a comment. Thanks for joining Anna and I for this latest episode episode of Green Beauty Conversations. We really hope you enjoyed it. Make sure you subscribe to our podcast on itunes or Spotify and stay tuned for the next episode. Follow Formula Botanica Formula Botanica on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest or LinkedIn. Visit our website at formulabotanica.com and sign up for our free online formulation course today.

Sa. Sam.