Beauty’s sustainable leaders revealed at industry awards

The Sustainable Beauty Awards’ winners for 2017 were announced last week at the Sustainable Cosmetics Summit in Paris, with major names including Neal’s Yard Remedies and Aveda recognised.

The awards, organised by Ecovia Intelligence, aim to recognise organisations within the beauty industry who are pushing the boundaries of what sustainability means and how it is carried out.

From over 100 entries, a winner and runner-up were selected for each award category, explain the organisers. The jury comprised executives from an ingredient firm, natural food retailer, formulation company, natural cosmetics association, media agency, and research firm.

And the winners are...

Green Formulations

  • Alteya Organics (Bulgaria) is winner with its Rose Jasminium product range. The certified organic skin care range is based on the Bulgarian Rose, grown according to organic practices in the Rose Valley.
  • Trilogy Natural Products (New Zealand) is runner-up with its range of certified organic rosehip oil products.
  • Other finalists were Luxe Botanics (Singapore), Organic Island (Australia), and Planted in Beauty by Well Within (Canada).

Sustainable Packaging

  • Sulapac (Finland) is winner with its innovative range of premium packaging made from sustainable materials. The packaging is made from renewable wood chips taken from sustainable managed forests, as well as other biodegradable materials.
  • Hair O’ Right (Taiwan) is the runner-up with its novel packaging for its hair care range. The plastic bottles are made from packaging waste, having carbon footprint of about 75% less than conventional bottles.
  • Finalists in this award category were Biolage RAW of L’Oréal (France) and O-PAC Eco-Pac (Italy).

Sustainable Ingredient

  • Neal’s Yard Remedies (UK) is winner with its Frankincense Boswellia Sacra Resin Extract. The new anti-ageing organic skincare ingredient is made from waste material: spent resin from the distillation of frankincense essential oils in Oman.
  • H&H Group Co. (Taiwan) is runner-up with Sadorfons ®. The active ingredient is extracted from organic Sapindus Mukorossi fruit in the Himalayas, and used in skin care applications.
  • Other finalists in this category were Biolie (France) with Greentense, Inolex (USA) with SustOleo MCT, and Merck (Germany) with RonaCare RenouMer.

Sustainability Pioneer

  • AAK (Sweden) is the winner for its sustainable sourcing programmes for shea butter. It works directly with over 115,000 women to collect shea nuts in West Africa, creating a significant social impact, as well as environmental benefits.
  • Neal’s Yard Remedies (UK) is runner-up. It was the first UK company with an extensive range of certified organic beauty products, and the premier high street retailer to become carbon neutral.
  • Hair O’ Right (Taiwan), Serdex (France), and Trilogy Natural Products (New Zealand) were finalists.

Sustainability Leadership

  • Aveda (USA) is winner with its wide range of sustainability initiatives, covering natural ingredient sourcing, green energy, sustainable packaging, waste management, and corporate philanthropy.
  • Hair O’ Right (Taiwan) is runner-up. The carbon neutral company has a green manufacturing facility, novel sustainable packaging, uses natural ingredients, and involved in various CSR initiatives.
  • Other finalists were i+m Naturkosmetik (Germany) and Laboratoires Expanscience (France).