Cosmetics is one of the sectors that consumes the most plastic through its packaging, but is also the most mobilized to become a green model thanks to alternative and refillable packaging. It also goes in bulk: we can now buy our shampoos and body lotions in the same way we used to buy our brown rice and chickpeas from the sales counters of hypermarkets or organic stores. Some cosmetic brands have been offering it for a long time and are even pioneers, for example Coslys, which since 2013 has very advantageously implemented filling systems in organic and health food stores for large families.
Being called the Body Shop and founded by an early environmentalist, Englishwoman Anita Roddick, is a service we must provide to our community. All of the brand’s French boutiques are therefore equipped with charging stations for twelve of its best-selling products, including ginger shampoo and almond milk shower cream. It is also a profession business concept Parisian The Naked Shop. ” These are exemplary initiatives, but they have long remained marginal and are carried by a generation of activist consumers », comments strategic “planner” Pascal Humbert.
Paradoxically, it is precisely luxury that has given impetus to this anti-waste by making it attractive. In the wake of pioneering brands like Le Domaine or My Blend, Sweden’s L:a Bruket makes you want to stretch your wallet with its ultra-design stores and indulge in its wild herb and Baltic seaweed recipes. Zurich-based Soeder has set up filling stations for its Swiss Alps soaps in all its stores in major European cities. The very first of its kind in France has just been installed at Merci in Paris. These systems account for 50% of the brand’s turnover.
A way to raise awareness about pollution
According to the NPD Group, we buy twice as much in bulk every year, but that’s not enough for manufacturers going through the green conversion. “ There are brakesexplains Caroline Bouin, manager of impact experiments at Expanscience Laboratories. Especially on price, hygiene, practicality and a few places, while according to the Agec law, by 2030, shops with an area of more than 400 square meters will have to dedicate 20% of their area to bulk, and that “in 2040, single-use plastics will have to be banned. » This is why, instead of counting their market shares, five dermopharmaceutical groups have joined forces to establish the Pharma-Recharge consortium, which equips pharmacies with an ecological fountain unit designed for the preferred treatment of French for eight of their brands. : Mustela, Garancia, Ducray, La Rosée, Klorane…
The instructions for use are simple: you do not put your fingers into the cream or oil, take the bottle, place it on the fountain, choose the amount that is automatically poured. We then collect the sealed container and stick its label on it under the close supervision of the owner. ” Customers were surprised at first, but once they tried it, they were convinced explains Pierre Moatti, who runs the Carré Opéra pharmacy. It’s intergenerational. They all come and it’s an attractive way to raise awareness of the diversity of pollution. » While waiting for June 16 at World Replenishment DayWorld Plastic Prevention Day.