L’Oréal Canada: Centring Circularity in the Beauty Industry

Just like nature’s ecosystems, humans and our economic systems are intrinsically linked to all the interconnecting facets. That’s why circularity can’t happen in a silo — we need to take an approach from the top down and look to all stakeholders to make real change happen.

We spoke with Maya Colombani, Chief of Sustainability & Human Rights, in collaboration with Patricia Miotto, Communications & Engagement Manager, Sustainability & Human Rights, at L’Oréal Canada, about how this beauty giant is centring circularity, from its formulas to merchandising and its customers to suppliers.

What inspired your organization to engage in circular economy initiatives?

The idea that the world has infinite resources does not hold anymore. For now, materials that are cycled back into the global economy after the end of their useful life account for 7.2% of all material inputs into the economy. This means that more than 90% of materials are either wasted, lost, or remain unavailable for reuse for years.

We must evolve from the current “take-make-waste” linear economic model to a circular “reduce-replace-reuse-recycle” model, transforming what is today our waste into new resources is our goal. 

With leadership comes responsibility, and L’Oréal is resolutely committed to adopting the circular economy model. We have the responsibility to contribute to our society by respecting planetary boundaries and promoting social justice.

Sustainability, including circularity, should be the centre of our business as the top priority, at the centre of all the decisions that we make, in order to engage the whole value chain and the full ecosystem.

Thanks to our deep business transformation, we are the only company in the world that has for nine consecutive years been recognized by CDP on its annual “A” list, which rates on climate change, waste management, and forest preservation. 

We have also been awarded a platinum medal from EcoVadis, thus appearing in the top 1% of companies assessed (out of 100,000 companies), rewarded on four major themes: environment, ethics, social and human rights, and responsible purchasing. 

To do so we have a strong governance with a chief sustainability officer as part of the executive committee reporting directly to the president, as well as a sustainability committee, with 32 experts from all across the value chain. 

What do you consider to be your biggest circularity success? Can you share any stories of the impact your work has had that have surprised you?

We want to be a laboratory for good, by transforming our business inside and outside, with our ecosystem and with a 360 transformation. We integrate circularity inside our own business, and we stretch it to the full ecosystem. 

From research and development of ingredients to product packaging, we are rethinking our actions and interactions to make circularity the centre of our ecosystem. 

In every step of our value chain, we act to reduce, replace, reuse, and recycle. We create new sustainable beauty routines accessible to all and raise awareness to help our consumers to make more informed choices. 

Circularity starts from the inside. In terms of circular innovation in our product offerings, we promote eco-design product innovation in all of our portfolio, with 99% eco-design products. 

We also promote circularity and responsible packaging: 100% Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified, 85% polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recycled (2023). We will launch the new sustainable bottle for L’Oréal Paris with 27% less plastic, 100% recycled plastic, and 56 tonnes of plastic saved. By 2030, we target to have 100% recycled or bio-sourced.

Additionally, we are shifting traditional products to refills. Currently, we lead the luxury market, with an average of 72% less plastic versus products, 45% less glass, and 66% less metal.

Furthermore, we’re progressing the optimization of packaging by reducing the weight of boxes and instruction sheets, continuously increasing the use of recycled plastic, maximizing recyclability, and mobilizing consumers by proposing, when possible, refillable containers versus single-use packaging.

Last but not least, we promote circularity and responsible formulas, today with 65% of natural ingredients in our products, and by 2030, we’ll reach 95% with green science, 100% sustainably sourced.

Among many initiatives, the sourcing of plant-based ingredients promotes regenerative agricultural practices that ideally require reduced surfaces.

However, we also go beyond with a 98.5% responsible eco-design merchandising.

When it comes to circularity, there’s a recycling process on all our sites. The downtown offices, distribution centre, and factory are certified Ici on Recycle by Recyc-Québec. In fact, our headquarters, distribution centre, and factory all run on 100% renewable energy. We also promote sustainable infrastructure with LEED Platinum Certification for our downtown offices.

Going forward, we are planning our Waterloop Factory for 2026, not wasting water in any steps of the production process.

How do you feel that transitioning to the circular economy will benefit Canada and the world?

The circular economy will focus on reusing and recycling products and slow down the use of natural resources. It will reduce landscape and habitat disruption and help to limit biodiversity loss. It is an opportunity to create a positive movement to engage our full ecosystem into circularity in order to scale up our impact.

We encourage our suppliers to offer new solutions promoting circularity. For example, we recycle all industrial pallets with our supplier, IPS Greenergy, we recycle our merchandising with our supplier, Array, and we give a second life to all our stretch wrap with our supplier, Carrousel.

We commit with our suppliers toward zero deforestation through the 100% FSC certification.

We have embedded sustainability throughout our value chain and today, the L’Oréal Professional division is going even further with the launch of the Hairstylists for the Future program. This initiative in partnership with the NGO Green Circle Salons will continue to transform the hairstyling industry and embark hairstylists around the world on a sustainable journey.

Green Circle Salons is the industry’s first sustainable salon solution dedicated to fighting beauty waste. This award-winning program empowers salons to offset their emissions and recover up to 95% of their beauty waste. In 2024, we reached 800 salons in all of Canada with this program. 

What are some of the challenges you typically face working in the circular economy space?

To engage even more of the full ecosystem to gain scale, meaning all the suppliers, our consumers, and our retailers, and to make the circular economy the new normal, we need to go further and expand new technologies as we do with our partnership with start-up Carbios which promotes circularity and biotechnology. 

As part of their commitment to promoting the circular economy through innovative plastic recycling solutions, L’Oréal and Carbios have signed an agreement to jointly found a five-year consortium to bring the bio-recycling technology designed and developed by Carbios to market on an industrial scale. The partnership is open to industries from other sectors looking to develop new plastic bio-recycling solutions.

Carbios has developed an enzymatic bio-recycling process for plastics that breaks polymers down to the basic components (monomers) originally used to create them. Once separated and purified, the monomers can be used again to create virgin plastic, without losing any value through the recycling process. This biological process is free of the constraints facing conventional recycling techniques and is the first step to developing a new way of managing the plastic life cycle — in line with the circular economy.   

L’Oréal and the other manufacturers in the consortium will benefit from the development of this Carbios innovation and will be first in line to receive the first available units. L’Oréal will use this new technology during the design phase for new packaging, thereby promoting the circular economy.   

We also partnered with the NGO EcoSchools to promote sustainability in Canadian schools. EcoSchools Canada offers a certification program for elementary through secondary schools, nurturing environmental learning and climate action. Their innovative and bilingual certification program is free for publicly funded schools; it helps to incentivize, track, and reward environmental actions that reduce energy and waste; and it raises awareness and incorporates environmental learning into the curriculum.

In terms of partnership, we support their objective of growing their awareness amongst teachers and parents in Canada. We also worked with teacher influencers to create content for EcoSchools on TikTok. Thanks to our partnership, EcoSchools, reached 39,000 users versus 13,000 the year previous.

Are there any upcoming initiatives or projects related to the circular economy you’d like to share?

We promote circularity through disruptive start-ups that create solutions. L’Oréal dedicated €50 million in funds with Canadian partner, Cycle Capital, and Demeter to support start-ups with solutions to recycling or creating new materials that promote the circular economy. Through this fund, two start-ups, Evoco and Aplantex, have been supported and accelerated for their solutions to promote circularity.

Evoco, a disruptive Canadian company, is transforming the material landscape with its innovative bio-based solutions. Their shared vision highlights the importance of collaboration in addressing one of the largest contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions: materials. 

Aplantex’s industrial green biotech platform aims to mass-produce locally and throughout the year, in a controlled environment, the phytochemical ingredients in demand by the cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and agrifood industries. The process uses renewable hydroelectric power, generates no waste, and the phytoreplicators capture and assimilate up to 40 % of their dry weight in atmospheric carbon dioxide. Aplantex thus joins the circular economy frontrunners.

What can people do to help spread the word about or take action toward advancing the circular economy in Canada? How can they support your mission?

The circular economy needs a deep culture shift in terms of internal process and EcoConception but also the full commitment of the people that belong to the company. It’s fundamental to change our mindset from linear to circular in each decision we take, in each department, from the top until the operational frontline.

The change will be, of course, progressive, but the point is to not give up on each improvement. Creating a movement for good and upskilling the full ecosystem is necessary to scale up a positive impact on the circular economy.

The circular economy is a long journey but the only way to respect the limited resources on earth. It’s a unique opportunity to be creative, reinvent our business, and process collectively.

This story was featured in the Circular Economy Magazine: