Practical Efforts to Reduce the Environmental Impact of the Cosmetics Industry

Abstract

Heightened concerns regarding global environmental problems have led consumers to make strong demands for the incorporation of sustainability into any product development or economic activity. Indeed environmental issues must be considered the most important task of businesses today, and failure to address these issues is now recognized as a major business risk to any company. In addition, various investment institutions and environmental NGOs demand that businesses disclose certain information relating to environmental issues based on the life cycle assessment (LCA) method. This paper reports on some of the practical efforts being made to reduce the environmental impact of the cosmetics industry and includes case studies that highlight LCA.