Cosmetic Innovation

Time Natura Campus

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An innovative way of making fragances

Use of recycled glass reduces CO2 emissions and provides extensive benefits
 
Besides the beauty of the packaging and of the brand’s signature scents, there is something new in Natura fragrances: since the beginning of 2015, the bottles of the Kaiak, Essencial, Humor and Ekos fragrances have been made with around 20 percent recycled glass. Melissa Ferraz Barbosa, Sustainable Technologies Researcher at Natura, estimates that reduction in CO2 emissions could be over 350 tons a year, by using around 470 tons of recycled glass, which is equivalent to 1.65 million 290 ml bottles.
 
Melissa, the project leader, explains: “The idea was developed at Natura, based on its own sustainable practices and its commitment to the environment. In the beginning, we thought it would be easy to use recycled glass, a material that is commonly used in other sectors, such as beverages, but we soon realized that we would face huge challenges, such as finding used glass suitable for reuse in the cosmetics industry, which requires premium fragments: colorless, clean and with no impurities that could jeopardize the manufacturing process”.
 
Overall, waste sorting in Brazil is not yet well-organized. In addition, there were no records of similar experiences in the country, so leading the way came at a price for Natura. Fabien Brones, Manager of Sustainable Technologies Sciences at Natura, says: “I think there are very few companies able to devote so much long-term effort to such a complex process, to enable this kind of innovation. In a way, we broke the taboo of using recycled glass, and created an opportunity for renovation for the market.”
 
The pre-production phase threw up another major challenge in 2012. “Glass recycling involves extremely complex tests, which are done on a large scale and in high-capacity furnaces that  continually produce up to 70 tons a day, operating at a temperature of 1200ºC”, Melissa adds. Therefore, the costs are very high, and it is virtually impossible to experiment on a small scale. To solve this problem, we formed a partnership with glass manufacturer SGD Brasil. Fabian explains: “We had in-depth talks with this partner, and they accepted the challenge proposed by us, and so did the recycled glass supplier. This proves how important these strategic partnerships are.
 
According to Fabien, it is only through the problems encountered that one can see the real value of the project: “Natura showed the persistence and motivation to make this project viable, together with its partners, by adapting the entire production chain, proving that it is feasible to reuse glass and encourage high quality recycling. We worked with a concept of circular economy, which requires a new perspective from the various players involved, in order to make things happen the way it did”.
 
In the future, Fabien believes Natura will increase its use of recycled glass in new lines of fragrances and other products; but that will take a lot of planning: “The company is committed to using this kind of technology, and the potential for exploration is great. The end of a cycle is also an opportunity to open new doors. The most rewarding thing is to see how enthusiastic people are about a project like this, due to its innovative nature. Our ultimate goal is to reduce environmental impacts, or even pursue positive impacts, which is the latest aspiration for Natura. We are happy to share the results of the project, which are now very clear to the market”, he adds.