The American Institute

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"Cosmetic companies are becoming more aware of the importance of sustainable packaging within their corporate social responsibility initiatives," says John Delfausse current chair of the roundtable. He noted that "the demanding requirements for innovation and performance make sustainable packaging design a challenge in today's competitive environment." 

According to roundtable participants, another challenge is deciding how your company drives and measures progress in sustainability. Darlene Schuster, executive director of the Institute for Sustainability, says her group's involvement in the cosmetics roundtable comes from its experience in getting experts in other industries, from both large and small organizations, "to collaborate on identifying the stakeholders involved and the key factors of sustainability improvement and success." She explained that, as cosmetic companies develop design guidelines and common metrics for measuring sustainability accomplishments, and deal with extended producer responsibilities in product and packaging life-cycles, "there are lessons to be learned from a broad spectrum of industries." 

Delfausse said that Sustainable Packaging Cosmetics Roundtable's (SPCR's) companies realize "the importance of adopting a new vision for packaging; one emphasizing a "design, reuse, and recover' model, rather than the traditional ‘reduce, reuse, and recycle' approach." He added that SPCR's ultimate goal is promoting economic and environmental health through supply chain collaboration. 

Since its initiation, the roundtable has identified responsible material sourcing, responsible manufacturing practices and responsible product stewardship as key elements of achieving that goal. By identifying and working with materials and suppliers that are unique to the cosmetic industry, the roundtable members believe they will be able to realize opportunities for a more sustainable cosmetic industry.