Beauty suppliers and manufacturers taking steps toward circularity

21-Jan-2020 - Last updated on 02-Jun-2020 at 04:32 GMT

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Several companies in the cosmetics and personal care sector have signed on to support the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in its development of an online tool to help businesses measure and track their progress toward economic circularity.

The new Circulytics tools is in the pilot phase and is being tested and further developed with help from 30+ companies, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation site.

The beauty industry is helping fine tune Circulytics tool

Among the companies supporting the foundation’s development of this new Circulytics tool are beauty packaging supplier Aptar; packaging materials innovator Sulapac; specialty chemical companies BASF, DSM, and Solvay, which supply the industry with ingredients; and the personal care company Unilever.

“Businesses play a key role in the reconciliation of economic success and our planet’s limited resources,” says Feike Sijbesma, CEO of Royal DSM, in a collection of remarks from companies and organizations supporting the development of the foundation’s Circuliytics tool.

“The business case for transitioning toward a more circular economy is becoming increasingly clear,” he says, and, “This transition needs redesigned supply chains and more clear metrics. Circulytics will help bridge that gap and help companies accelerate the shift to a circular economy.”

Unilever CEO Alan Jope also sees value in the sustainability assessment tool: “Moving to a circular economy,” says Jope, “requires businesses to rethink everything they do. As we are making this transition, Circulytics will help us to pinpoint where we have more to do.”

And Solvay sees the new tool as a useful addition to that company’s existing economic circularity initiatives. “This circularity measurement tool is the most comprehensive tool there is to help businesses lead the transition to a circular economy, rethinking the way we use our resources, enhancing collective intelligence and speeding up innovation in material efficiency,” says Ilham Kadri, CEO of Solvay.

“To be really successful and progress faster across all our diverse operations,” she says, “we need data, analysis allowing us to take fact-based decisions. We were honored to work together with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation on the Circulytics tool.”

The Circulytics tool is all about sustainable materials, energy, and water use

The whole project of the new tool is to move global business closer to a circular economic model. “A circular economy is based on the principles of designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use, and regenerating natural systems,” according to the foundation.

Companies must first register and then complete a questionnaire to begin using the new Circularity tool. And, many of the questions seem to be ascertaining the respondent’s current and future strategies for sustainable material use.

Replies are confidential and will be used initially simply to better the Circulytics tool. The foundation does note that, “with additional permissions, companies who have found creative solutions in adopting circular economy principles will be offered the opportunity to become inspiring case studies to celebrate their achievements and inspire others to follow.”

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