Encouraging sustainable behaviour and consumption the focus of European summit
Personal care players have long been looking for more environmentally friendly options and strategies to make the industry more sustainable, but in the world of consumer goods, this can be difficult as a lot relies on the consumer, as once a product is bought, it is out of the manufacturer’s hands.
Or is it?
On 24-26th November 2014, the Organic Monitor-organised summit will discuss ways to encourage sustainable purchases and responsible consumption of cosmetics and personal care products.
This will see marketing and customer behaviour studied in the context of green cosmetics and environmental impacts, and how to broaden consumer appeal for natural and organic cosmetics.
Although the natural & organic cosmetics market has shown high growth, the market share remains low, according to the London based research firm. Natural & organic products comprise just 3% of European cosmetic sales because of concentration of demand; a small consumer base is responsible for most purchases.
As such, Organic Monitor want to use the summit to ask thequestion: what can be done to encourage responsible consumption?
Summit
Dr Michael Braungart, co-founder of McDonough Braungart Design and professor at the University of Applied Science, will give the opening keynote, exploring the announcement from many cosmetic firms’ sustainability plans, and stating the limitations of setting targets to reduce environmental impacts.
According to Braungart, cosmetic and personal care firms need to innovate with product design if they are to use resources more efficiently.
The summit will also give industry best-practices in the context of the Brundtlandt Commission three pillars of sustainability.
Alexandra Palt, CSR & Sustainability Director of L’Oreal, will give details of its Shared Beauty For All sustainability plan; how does the cosmetics giant plan to reach 1 billion new consumers by 2020 whilst reducing its environmental footprint by 60%?
The green ingredients session will also give an update on the growing palette of green materials, placing emphasis on new technologies.
Finally, a new workshop will tackle the major technical issues associated with green functional personal care products, as Judi Beerling will give practical advice to product developers and formulators in this interactive workshop.
For more information, please click here.
