How to Tell if Your Fave Beauty Brand Really is Sustainable
By Lucy Kuper
Sustainable beauty is having a moment, with many brands jumping on the clean beauty bandwagon, offering ‘ethical’ and ‘sustainable’ products, or selling an eco-conscious image to customers. But in an industry that is rife with greenwashing, how can we really tell if a beauty brand is sustainable? Below, Biologi’s Co-Founder Lucy Kuper details everything we need to know when it comes to sustainable beauty.
WHAT DOES SUSTAINABLE BEAUTY REALLY MEAN?
In a nutshell, sustainable beauty means that a brand has implemented practices and policies that prioritise environmental, social, and economic sustainability. This can include a range of things, which is often where the confusion comes because brands often announce themselves to be sustainable without really practicing what they’re preaching.
The unfortunate truth is that greenwashing is very common in the beauty industry. What that means is that brands often make misleading or false claims about their environmental and sustainability efforts. This then misleads customers into thinking they are making a more sustainable choice and at the same time will undermine the efforts made of brands who are genuinely eco-conscious.
To be a sustainable beauty brand, a brand must make a concerted effort to reduce their environmental impact, promote ethical and fair-trade practices, while also ensuring the wellbeing and safety of their employees and customers.
WHAT MAKES A SUSTAINABLE BEAUTY BRAND?
There are many ways a brand can make efforts to be sustainable, with the main ways below:
A sustainable beauty brand will prioritise ethically sourcing its ingredients. This means using ingredients that are sustainably harvested, organic, or fair-trade. It also means that the brand should be fully aware of all the steps in their supply chain, ensuring that any suppliers or manufacturers are also sourcing their ingredients ethically. At Biologi, we control our entire production process from plant to bottle. This often means dealing with suppliers close to home where we have built strong relationships with communities who harvest our ingredients (as well as creating ethical wholesaler arrangements with legitimate companies whose product is harvested by those living in the Aboriginal communities). For us it’s incredibly important to work closely with these communities and ensure ethical and sustainable practices. While it’s often common for skincare brands to have several links in a supply chain, we source our product directly from the wholesaler (cutting out all the middlemen who would normally make a profit during this process). This also ensures we know where our ingredients are coming from (to maintain safe practices with our suppliers and ensure purity of ingredients). This means customers can always rest assured knowing that Biologi products use single ingredients of a pure plant extract and have not been diluted along the way.
The brand will use non-toxic and natural ingredients that are safe for you and the environment such as Biologi’s serums which are so natural you can drink them! This is a really important point because this particular area is where we often come across a lot of greenwashing in the beauty industry. Brands will often use the term ‘natural’ quite loosely, yet given the grey area around what that really means, it may still contain harmful ingredients.
The brand uses eco-friendly packaging materials that can be recycled, are home compostable or can be reused. Some brands may also offer refillable, reusable packaging, or completely waste free packaging. When it comes to eco-friendly packaging, be careful of sneaky greenwashing tricks brands might implement, such as using green as their hero packaging colour, which often sends a ‘green’ message to the consumer. Also be mindful of the ‘why’ when it comes to packaging and prioritise brands who are making all the changes that are possible. For Biologi, we have continually searched for a more environmentally friendly alternative to our packaging. Given the nature of our serums, we are limited to the current plastic offering which is crucial for our serums to contain their activity in the bottle (with the exception of our oils Br Rosehip Oil and By Blackberry Seed Oil which is housed in a glass bottle). However, to reduce our environmental impact, we have launched Biologi Bottle Swap, Powered by TerraCycle. This program gives customers the ability to return their empty Biologi bottles for recycling in return for a 15% discount on their next order. By sending the waste to TerraCycle, Biologi and its customers will eliminate the need for it to end up as litter, in a landfill or incineration facility. Instead, new materials and products will be made with the collected bottles, reducing the need to extract new materials from the planet.
The brand will be transparent about their practices because they have nothing to hide. A sustainable beauty brand will be transparent about its sustainability practices and will openly share information about its sourcing, manufacturing, and packaging processes. If you’re not sure, you can always ask the brand directly because if they are truly being sustainable, they will have nothing to hide from you.
A sustainable beauty brand will support fair labour practices and ensure the safety and wellbeing of workers. This also includes those people who work for their suppliers – they should be fully aware of working standards and will not work with companies who don’t endorse ethical practices.
They will also educate customers about sustainability and encourage them to make more conscious choices. Look for brands that are actively involved in educating the masses on sustainable practices, as well as supporting sustainable initiatives or giving back to the community in some way.
HOW CAN WE TELL IF WE ARE BEING GREENWASHED?
Thoroughly check the ingredient list
To determine if a beauty brand is non-toxic, you may need to thoroughly read the ingredients list. Be wary of products that claim to be "green" or "eco-friendly" but still contain ingredients that are harmful to the environment or your health. Make sure to read the ingredient list and research any unfamiliar ingredients. Don’t just go on face value and buy into what it says on the front of the packaging, instead, check the back of the label for toxic ingredients such as parabens, phthalates, sulfates, formaldehyde, mineral oil, synthetic fragrances, and synthetic colours. If these are present, the product may not be non-toxic. How can a brand say they are non-toxic if they are? Well, some greenwashing tactics may include using the phrase ‘free from’ specific ingredients on the front of the packaging, which essentially takes your focus off what is really in the product. Just cause it’s ‘free from’ one or two harmful ingredients, doesn’t mean it’s free from all of them. You can also do research online into the brand, check customer reviews or even look for certifications.
Watch out for vague claims
Brands may use vague terms such as "planet-friendly" or "sustainable" without providing any evidence or explanation of how their products meet these criteria. Always look for specific details and transparency from companies, which often means you may need to do further research online.
Steer clear of misleading claims
Unfortunately, there are many words in this industry that sound good, but when you delve deeper, are being used to mislead the customer. An example of this is the phrase “naturally derived” – sounds great right?! Well unfortunately this often just means it once came from a natural source but has since gone through a range of processes which would now deem it not natural.
Consider the brand's track record
Look into the brand’s environmental and social responsibility practices beyond their product offerings. Do they have a history of supporting sustainability and ethical practices? In all cases, it’s important to be sceptical of any brand’s that may be making claims yet have a history of dodgy behaviour when it comes to sustainability. By doing your research you can make more informed decisions about the products you choose to use.