Eco boost: Five recent developments in sustainable beauty across APAC

1 – Just add water: Singapore start-up launches hand soap tablets to bring low-cost sustainability to consumers​

Singaporean company Reuuse believes its reconstituted format is the ideal solution to provide consumers sustainable hand soap products​ at an affordable price point.

Founder Vino Kanna told CosmeticsDesign-Asia​ that the idea for Reuuse was born from the frustration he experienced buying conventional liquid hand soaps during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I realised I was buying hand soap more often and I just saw so much plastic getting wasted. Even with refill pouches, that’s wasted plastic and worse they are messy to refill.”​

Inspired by portable hand washing soap sheets design for travel and outdoors, the company started the development of soaps in a tablet format which activated with water.

2– Blue gold: Waterless beauty the next eco-trend as consumer look for ‘next step’ in sustainability – Green + Bare

A newly launched Australian green beauty brand is aiming to develop a whole range of waterless beauty products​ to tap into what it believes is the next wave in the sustainable beauty movement.

Green + Bare was launched in November 2020 by founder Janelle Changuion, who has a background in graphic design.

The brand carries a range of clay masks, floral waters and plant oils that are manufactured in Australia.

Its star products are its clay masks, which come in five varieties. The masks use natural ingredients such as purple Brazilian clay and hibiscus. They are sold in a powder form that users can mix with water and make into a paste before applying on their skin.

3 – Long-term goals: Bondi Sands committed to forging more sustainable path in the next three years

Australian self-tanning and skin care brand Bondi Sands has outlined how it aims to become a leader in the sustainable beauty arena​ by focusing on packaging, ingredients and CSR.

Founded in Australia, Bondi Sands first launched in August 2012 and is currently is available in markets such as the US and UK in addition to its home market.

In the past two years, the company has been working on taking a more sustainable approach to its business.

“We started looking at going into this direction probably two years ago now. For most of our products, the packaging is made out of multiple parts – like springs and such. We started to become very aware of our own footprint. We saw it as an opportunity as well, not just to create a product that was sustainable, but create a product that would work better,”​ said founder and CEO Blair James.

4 – ‘Reverse recycling’: Korea actions new scheme to aid goal of recycling 10% of cosmetic packaging by 2025

Korea Cosmetic Association (KCA) and Korea Packaging Recycling Cooperative (KPRC) have announced a new recycling program for companies to achieve goal of recycling 10%​ of cosmetic packaging by 2025.

The Reverse Recycling Scheme of Cosmetic Containers is a joint business agreement inked by KCA, KPRC and the South Korean Ministry of Environment (MoE).

It stipulates that cosmetic manufacturers or importers that have glass bottles, PET bottles, or other synthetic resin packaging materials, can apply to join the reverse recycling scheme with KPRC.

With this recovery campaign, the authorities aim to recycle 10% of cosmetic packaging by 2025. In 2019, only 0.56% of packaging was recycled in Korea.

5 – Hyper-empowerment: Fawn & Co expects diverse business to thrive on the back of bespoke, circular beauty trends

Singapore-based Fawn & Co is expecting interest in personalisation and sustainability to drive the growth​ of its beauty education and retail businesses in 2021.

Fawn & Co was founded in July 2019 by Hann Chia, a former investment banker and a Formula Botanica graduate.

The company was initially developed to focus on cosmetic research and development but has since spawned two subsidiaries. The first is Fawn Labs, the firm’s education arm which conducts the Clean Beauty with Fawn Labs workshop.

“At first, we conducted workshops with small groups of people and some companies. That ended up taking a life of its own and it’s developed into a fully-fledged workshop business,”​ said Chia.