L’Oréal has set some of the beauty industry’s most ambitious targets for circularity, but turning those commitments into reality across a global brand portfolio is a complex task. From integrating post-consumer recycled materials into existing production lines to scaling refill systems and preparing for evolving regulatory frameworks, the company is navigating both technical and operational challenges.
In this Q&A, Dave Wolbach, head of development and packaging at L’Oréal North America, shares how the company is approaching design for recyclability, collaborating with suppliers to enable closed-loop systems, and building the infrastructure needed to make circular beauty viable at scale.
CDU: L’Oréal has made significant commitments toward circularity and sustainable packaging. From a manufacturing and design perspective, what have been the biggest challenges and successes in operationalizing circular beauty across such a large and diverse brand portfolio?
Dave Wolbach: Operationalizing circularity at the scale of L’Oréal is both a complex puzzle and an incredible opportunity. From a design perspective, our primary focus is delivering on what we call “dual excellence”: ensuring that sustainable solutions don’t just meet environmental goals but also elevate the brand image and consumer expectations across every segment—from mass market to luxury.
We must ensure that a sustainable package is never perceived as degraded compared to its predecessor. Instead, through innovation, we aim for it to be an improvement in both performance and eco-desirability.
On the manufacturing side, the complexity is immense. Our supply chains and production lines manage a vast multitude of formats, materials, and finishes. Transitioning these to circular models requires a high degree of technical agility.
In terms of success, I am incredibly proud of our widespread adoption of recycled materials. As of 2025, we have achieved 87.5% recycled PET globally, and across all plastics, we are at 50.14%.
These aren’t just numbers; it’s proof of the agility of our engineers who have successfully adapted our manufacturing processes to work with the unique properties of Post-Consumer Recycled materials. Our growth in refill systems and our strategic partnerships with innovators like Sulapac and PureCycle further demonstrate that we are not just following trends—we are building the infrastructure for the future of beauty.
CDU: Design for recyclability is often cited as a cornerstone of the circular economy. How does L’Oréal balance recyclability with performance, aesthetics, and brand differentiation—particularly for high-volume brands like Maybelline and NYX versus more premium lines like Kiehl’s?
Dave Wolbach: We don’t look at these challenges brand-by-brand in a vacuum. Instead, we tackle the big rocks of the circular economy through global task forces focused on specific technical challenges.
For example, we have dedicated teams working on recyclable pumps for brands like CeraVe, developing mono-material flexibles, and pioneering lower-impact finishing and decoration techniques.
By solving these technical hurdles at a group level, we create a toolbox of sustainable solutions. This allows a brand like Maybelline to choose a high-volume, recyclable solution that fits its fast-paced aesthetic, while a brand like Kiehl’s can adopt a refillable or premium recycled format that aligns with its apothecary heritage. The goal is to provide the technology so that brand identity and sustainability are never in conflict.
CDU: Material innovation is moving fast—from bio-based resins to advanced mono-materials and refill systems. Which technologies or materials do you believe hold the most promise for scalable implementation in the next 3–5 years?
Dave Wolbach: The holy grail for us right now is the move towards design-for-recycling, and mono-material packaging —simplifying the material profile of a package so it can be easily processed by existing recycling streams. But if I had to name one primary focus, it’s refills.
Refills, refills, refills!
The beauty of this movement is that it isn’t one-size-fits-all. It ranges from luxury fragrance fountains, where the consumer enjoys a bespoke in-store experience, to refill-at-home pouches for household staples like CeraVe.
In addition, we are moving beyond just providing options; reuse at scale is coming. We believe commercial reuse is becoming a fundamental operational necessity.
Over the next few years, we will see these systems evolve from innovative pilots into high-volume, intuitive infrastructures that are widely adopted by consumers and required by global markets.
CDU: Circularity isn’t only about end-of-life solutions, but also upstream collaboration. How is L’Oréal engaging with packaging suppliers and raw material partners to co-develop sustainable solutions that can be produced at scale?
Dave Wolbach: Upstream collaboration is vital. We are currently partnering with raw material suppliers who can take our own products, using advanced recycling technologies, and turn them back into safe, virgin-like cosmetic-grade materials.
This closed-loop approach is the ultimate goal of circularity. We are preparing to launch some major innovations resulting from these partnerships in 2026. Stay tuned—it’s going to be a game-changer for the industry.
CDU: Regulatory frameworks and retailer expectations around sustainability are evolving rapidly worldwide. How is L’Oréal’s packaging strategy adapting to align with Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and upcoming U.S. and global sustainability reporting requirements?
Dave Wolbach: L’Oréal fully supports the principles of Extended Producer Responsibility. We see these regulations not as a hurdle, but as an alignment with the path we were already on.
Our strategy is built on the 3Rs: Reduce, Replace, and Recycle.
Because circularity was baked into our L’Oréal for the Future commitments long before EPR became law in many jurisdictions, we feel very well-positioned. We have set ambitious, quantified targets for material reduction and replacement.
Compliance is the baseline; our goal is to continue leading the industry by showing that a sustainable strategy is a resilient business strategy.
CDU: Looking ahead, how do you envision the next generation of packaging professionals and designers shaping the industry’s transition toward circularity? What skill sets or mindsets will be critical to driving sustainable innovation in beauty packaging?
Dave Wolbach: The next generation of designers will need to marry extreme creativity with a very pragmatic sense of eco-desirability. We need professionals who can do more with less without sacrificing the joy and luxury of the beauty experience.
The most critical mindset will be the ability to design for entire lifecycles rather than just the first use. It requires a blend of molecular understanding (what is this material made of?), industrial empathy (how will this be sorted and recycled?), and consumer psychology (how do we make refilling as delightful as buying a new bottle?).
The future belongs to those who view sustainability not as a constraint, but as the ultimate creative brief.
