Group items tagged

Swiss chemical giant Clariant today announced the launch of Nipaguard® Zero - a powerful line of optimized preservative blends for cosmetics that contain no parabens, yet deliver a comparable performance.

A searchable website that allows the public to see which cosmetic products have been reported to contain toxic chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive harm is now online. Users can search the California Safe Cosmetics Program (CSCP) Product Database by product name, company name or chemical ingredient. As of November 2013, about 475 companies had submitted product information on roughly 30,000 products to the California Department of Public Health-run program.

Greenpeace ranked the world's 30 largest cosmetic and personal care brands according to the strength of their commitments to eliminate microbeads from their products. Companies among the top-3 included Beiersdorf (joint first), Colgate-Palmolive (joint first), L Brands (joint first), Henkel (joint first), Clarins (joint second), Unilever (joint second), Reckitt Benckiser (joint third), L'Oréal Groupe (joint third), and others.

Starting Oct. 1, California's Safer Consumer Products law (also called the Green Chemistry Initiative) goes into effect, with the goal of making hundreds of commonplace consumer items safer -- from shampoos and cosmetics to cleaning supplies and food packaging.

Cosmetics company Revlon announced plans to remove two preservatives and a formaldehyde-releasing chemical as ingredients in its products. The announcement is in response to a petition signed by over 100,000 people.

After prioritizing their own strategies for years, the giant retailers are advocating industry-driven leadership group for sustainable cosmetics and personal care products. 

For a growing number of companies, fighting climate change is a zero-sum game. In late September, several organizations associated with nonprofit sustainability outfit The B Team declared a "net zero by 2050" (PDF) aspiration pertaining to greenhouse gas emissions. Among them: consumer products giant Unilever; apparel company Kering; Chinese construction company Broad Group; African telecommunications carrier Econet; Brazilian cosmetics manufacturer Natura; and British-born investment group Virgin - a geographically diverse group that underscores the global nature of climate challenges.

Over 125 cosmetics and personal care products from 14 brands such as Beautycounter, Rejuva MInerals, and MyChelle Dermaceuticals have earned the Environmental Working Group (EWG)'s new verification. The EWG VERIFIED™ program aims to help customers quickly and easily identify products that meet strict ingredient standards and are "produced with the best manufacturing practices."

Cosmetics brand Garnier launched an awareness campaign in the U.S. to promote the importance of properly recycling beauty product packaging in bathrooms, in partnership with DoSomething.org. The initiative aims to divert 10 million beauty products from the landfill by the end of 2017.

Avon will phase out the antibacterial chemical triclosan from all of its products. Triclosan has been identified as a potential hormone disruptor

Environmental health non-profit Environmental Working Group launched a verification standard to help consumers identify personal care products and cosmetics that avoid the use of toxic and potentially harmful chemicals.

Last month we announced a major step forward with respect to "free-from" products: We will remove parabens, phthalates and the most prevalent formaldehyde donors (preservative ingredients that can release formaldehyde over time) across nearly 600 of our beauty and personal care products from our CVS Health, Beauty 360, Essence of Beauty and Blade store brands.

It started as a dialogue about "ingredients of concern" in cosmetics and other personal care products, orchestrated by rival retailers Target and Walmart. Three years later, that ongoing conversation - facilitated by the Sustainability Consortium and Forum for the Future, and representing 18 industry stakeholders - has produced an ambitious series of recommendations that guide principles of sustainability for this class of consumer goods and how these metrics should be disclosed.

President Obama signed a bill on Monday that will phase out the manufacturing of face wash, toothpaste and shampoo containing plastic microbeads by July 1, 2017, and the sale of such beauty products by July 1, 2018.

Personal care products containing microbeads will be banned from Canada beginning Jan. 1. A statement from Environmental Defence Canada lauds the ban and sees it as a proactive move, as other nations around the world consider similar regulations.

Beauty brands Coty, L'Oreal, Groupe Clarins and Groupe Rocher have partnered on an initiative to increase sustainability in the beauty supply chain. The Responsible Beauty Initiative will be overseen by supply chain sustainability ratings agency EcoVadis and will encourage businesses to enhance and share sustainable practices.