SCS Asia tackles environmental issues

ASIA has one of the fastest growing cosmetic & personal care market in the world, but the region’s cosmetic companies and ingredient firms are lagging in terms of sustainability. Increasingly, however, these firms are coming under pressure to reduce their environmental footprint.

The  Asia-Pacific edition of the Sustainable Cosmetics Summit  intends to address some of these challenges including:

   ■   What practical steps can Asian companies take to lower their environmental impacts?

   ■   What can be done in terms of raw materials, formulations, production processes, packaging and distribution?

   ■   What are some of the best-practices in footprint measurement and reduction?

At the Sustainable Cosmetics Summit Asia at the Excelsior Hong Kong from November 10-11, key stakeholders  will discuss environmental impacts in the context of sustainability metrics, natural ingredients and marketing best-practices.

“Many Asian companies are lagging in terms of sustainability because they are not addressing their environmental footprints,” notes Amarjit Sahota, president of the summit organizer Organic Monitor.

For the first time, the Asian edition will address the various ways cosmetic brands and ingredient firms can take practical measures to reduce their environmental footprints.

Kurt Nuebling, CEO and co-founder of sustainable cosmetics firm Primavera Life, will kick off the conference with an opening keynote on green innovations. With some cosmetic brands shying away from sustainability because of concerns about higher costs and low innovation, Mr. Nuebling will explain how sustainability can spur creativity. In another seminar, he will give details on how Primavera has built a carbon positive facility in southern Germany.

Leading cosmetic firms and retailers will also share their experiences with sustainability at the summit. Sa Sa, a chain of over 270 cosmetics retailers in Asia, will give its perspectives on CSR and corporate governance in retail sales operation. In another paper, a multinational cosmetics firm will highlight the major ecological and social challenges it faces in the Asian region.

In a dedicated workshop, the various factors influencing the environmental footprint of cosmetic products will be explored including the impact of ingredients, manufacturing, distribution, consumption to post-use. Various metrics will be given for each stage of a cosmetic product’s life-cycle, and with the use of case studies, advice and guidance will be given to cosmetic and ingredient firms looking to lower their environmental footprints to become more sustainable enterprises. Among other categories and issues to be tackled at the summit are:

Baby care Robin Brown, CEO and founder of Erbaviva, will discuss the difficulties in building distribution in the disparate Asian region. Baby care is one of the fastest growing categories in the Asian natural and organic personal care products market,  with concerns about synthetic chemicals in products driving market growth.

Formulating with natural & organic ingredients In a dedicated workshop and conference session. Sweden’s Oriflame, which has developed a first line of certified natural and fair trade cosmetics, will explore the pitfalls and opportunities provided by certification. The Swedish company is expanding sales of its Ecobeauty line to about 100 countries.

One of the major formulation issues associated with natural & organic cosmetics is preservatives, specifically replacing parabens. Judi Beerling of Organic Monitor will conduct a workshop on the major green preservative options.

Ingredient fraud Rising prices of natural raw materials have led to a number of incidents of mislabelling and adulteration in Asia. Using tea tree oil as a case study, details will be given on analytical techniques to authenticate cosmetic ingredients. Other papers will cover green emulsifiers and surfactants, natural actives and skin whitening ingredients.