In a new campaign, L’Oréal encourages consumers to save between 60% and 82% of plastic per refill by adopting its refillable hair care, skincare, and fragrance packaging formats.
According to L’Oréal, 78% of consumers express an interest in purchasing more sustainable products, but ‘many’ are not aware of the refillable options available or their environmental implications.
As such, its multi-brand, multi-category, multi-channel #JoinTheRefillMovement campaign hopes to draw attention to the corporation’s refill range and its reported benefits.
When we spoke to Sustainability Program Lead Erik Troost back in August 2023, he highlighted the role of refill in L’Oréal’s current and future sustainability strategy. Stating that refill pouches could reduce plastic usage by up to 80% and packaging intensity by up to 70%, he posited that developing more product refills and recharges could achieve both benefits simultaneously.
Now the company raises the example of its Lancôme La Vie Est Belle Elixir fragrance, with one 100ml refill said to save 73% glass, 66% plastic, and 61% cardboard compared to two 50ml bottles.
Other options provided across its product range include refill pouches for the L’Oréal Paris Elvive hair care line; one pouch is thought to use 60% less plastic than two 250ml shampoo bottles.
Subsidiary Garnier has packed its Ultra Doux hair care brand in refillable bottles since 2022; these are described as lighter but more stable than single-use solutions, featuring a removable cap and wider neck for easier filling.
Compared to a conventional 250ml bottle, Garnier’s refill pouches are believed to use 71% less plastic (a previous Life Cycle Assessment conducted with Ultra Doux refills placed the figure at 60%). Together with the refillable bottle, some sources assert plastic savings of up to 80%.
The pouches are reportedly made from mono-material plastic, which is hoped to make them easier to recycle where the relevant infrastructure exists. It has also distributed a refill pack that replaces the traditional cap with a cut-out opening, designed to make the pouch lighter and reduce plastic consumption.
These developments come in response to the Ultra Doux Life Cycle Assessment’s findings that 80% of a shampoo product’s carbon footprint comes from its use inside the home.
Similarly, Kérastase’s 500ml shampoo refills are believed to reduce plastic consumption by up to 82% with each refill; this accompanies its claim that 100% of its retail shampoo bottles are made from 95% plastic and are recyclable as of October 2021.
By 2025, the brand sought to increase the amount of recyclate in its plastic packaging by 60%.
Additionally, one 400ml refill from La Roche Posay – described by L’Oréal as the first widely-produced skincare brand to develop refills – uses 73% less plastic than a 400ml bottle, according to its packaging.
Refills can be inserted directly into the bottles themselves, which are reportedly manufactured from 100% recycled PET across the Elvive line. While this applies to the main body of the bottles, L’Oréal admitted back in 2020 that it had trouble sourcing enough polypropylene recyclate to transition away from virgin plastic bottle caps.
It has since sought to find a solution, including its previous partnership with Texen to develop a 100% polypropylene cap for a Biotherm skincare collection.
L’Oreal adds that its black shampoo and conditioner bottles only utilize pigments that can be identified by NIR technology, and that it prints its labels with metallic-look ink that does not impact their recyclability, meaning they do not need to be removed from the bottle before disposal.
The #JoinTheRefillMovement campaign is comprised of advertising, social media content, and a hashtag intended as a call to action for consumer participation. Major retailer partners are also set to amplify the campaign and highlight the number of refill options available across L’Oréal brands.
Discussing the campaign on LinkedIn, Elodie Bernadi, chief sustainability officer Consumer Product Division at L’Oréal, stated: “Providing an immediate saving of 60% of plastic since the first use, refill has an immediate environmental benefit in all of our consumers’ bathrooms.”
“As the global beauty leader, we have an opportunity, as well as a responsibility to create more circular solutions and set a new industry standard,” continued chief Corporate Responsibility officer Ezgi Barcenas in a press release. “Achieving this vision at scale demands more than innovation – it requires intention and action. That is why we are mobilizing our brands, our business partners, and our consumers to make refills the new norm.”
“This campaign brings together some of our most iconic brands to invite consumers everywhere to #JoinTheRefillMovement,” added chief Corporate Affairs & Engagement officer Blanca Juti. “We’d love consumers around the world to experience how easy and rewarding it is to make the switch to refills and incorporate them into their regular beauty routines.”
Previously, L’Oréal’s sustainability targets for 2025 included a complete transition into reusable, refillable, recyclable, or compostable packaging. 50% of the plastics used to manufacture its packaging were also set to come from recycled or biobased sources.
According to its 2024 Universal Registration Document, only 49% of its packaging met the requirements of its first goal, and only 37% met those of its second. Nevertheless, it emphasized that refills can be bought for its “major ranges of plastic bottles”, and that the company intends to introduce more reusable and refillable formats going forward.
Another sustainability-minded move from L’Oréal saw the company launch a new initiative to guide consumers through the sorting and recycling of cosmetic packaging in simple terms. This is hoped to help promote the circular economy in the beauty and cosmetics sector, as well as underline the power of cross-sector collaboration between different parts of the value chain.
It also joined fellow Sustainable Beauty Coalition members L’Occitane, Boots, John Lewis, and more in a clean-up initiative set to educate consumers on the appropriate ways to recycle empty packaging, guide them to local recycling schemes, and promote reuse and refill solutions. In part, the movement responds to data from bareLUXE suggesting that only 23.4% of consumers have embraced refillable skincare products, despite 79.3% claiming to factor sustainability into their purchasing decisions.
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