L’Oreal Thailand opens green distribution centre

As L’Oreal Thailand opens its green distribution centre at TPARK Bangna, the sustainability-driven facility is Asia’s first LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) silver level green distribution centre, reported business publication The Nation.

With APAC consumers placing high importance on purchasing products that are both sustainable, effective and valuable, L’Oreal makes a contribution towards its sustainability commitment for 2020.

“With this new distribution centre, we are driving our ‘Sharing Beauty With All’ vision under the pillar of ‘producing sustainably,’ by reducing our environmental footprint while bringing beauty to more new consumers,” said Nathalie Gerschtein Keraudy, Managing Director, L’Oreal Thailand.

Resource-friendly storage

Buildings are awarded LEED certification by the United States Green Building Council once they have demonstrated that they are resource efficient. This can be achieved through using less energy and water throughout the centre, as well as reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Built in collaboration with TPARK, a serviced rental factories provider, the centre covers 21,036 square metres and will lower its environmental footprint by making a number of savings, along with improving the air quality and increased natural airflow within the building.

The global beauty business will use low lighting power density in its Thai subsidiary to save 43% more energy.

Its distribution centre will also focus on decreasing the indoor water consumption by 40% and lower the water usage in the landscape environment by 60% through using plants that require fewer resources.

L’Oreal upped its sustainability initiative before the centre was opened by ensuring that 30% of the material used to construct the facility was recycled and local-based. In addition, up to 75% of the total waste was used during construction.

Broadening horizons

The French beauty giant has a 10-year lease on the facility, which cost a total of THB 500 mn (€13.4 mn) to build.

As well as supporting L’Oreal Group’s mission to lower its environmental footprint by 60% from the 2005 baseline to continue its commitment to sustainability commitment, the build helps L’Oreal achieve its distribution channel growth and help further development in Thailand.

The distribution centre will store L’Oreal Thailand’s products across four divisions including consumer products division, L’Oreal luxe division, professional products division and active cosmetic division.