A Look Inside our Consumer-Centric Sustainable Packaging Strategy

At Amyris, we’ve expanded our capabilities and created a portfolio of award-winning brands that offer sustainable products with unprecedented formula efficacy. In my role as Vice President, Packaging Innovation & Sustainability, I’m excited about our newly created holistic strategy that drives toward our ambitious sustainable packaging goals.

Sustainability is at the core of what we do. We’ve implemented a packaging strategy that allows us to organize our various initiatives around the 4R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Replace; we follow that specific order so we can prioritize our efforts accordingly:

• Reduce: this is a fundamental pillar for us as we look to right-size our packaging, eliminate unnecessary components, make them lightweight whenever possible, and strategically source our components to minimize transportation.
• Reuse: we seek to minimize the environmental footprint of our packaging by launching new products that are refillable. For example, Rose Inc has several amazing products available that are refillable, including: Micellar Make-Up Remover,  Cream Blush Cheek and Lip Color,  Solar Radiance Hydrating Cream Highlighter  and  Satin Lip Color Rich Refillable Lipstick.

• Recycle: we’re committed to reducing the amount of virgin plastic (plastic that is typically made using natural gas or crude oil and doesn’t include recycled materials) and will add Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) materials by up to 50% by 2030. We’re also evaluating partnerships to promote return programs for items that are hard to recycle. This gives packaging a “second life” and reduces waste. The bottle for Biossance’s beloved  100% Squalane Oil is made completely from PCR material! Other examples of PCR materials  are the pumps used for JVN Embody Volumizing Shampoo, Nurture Hydrating Conditioner, and cap for the Complete Air Dry Cream.

• Replace: we’ve analyzed alternatives to virgin plastic materials and have successfully launched packaging made from ocean plastic or bio-resins formulated from sugarcane. We’re also targeting for our paperboard folding cartons to be 100% FSC certified by 2025. This certification ensures that products come from responsibly managed forests that provide environmental, social, and economic benefits.

Our packaging team is committed to providing the best experience to our consumers with the highest level of transparency. We aim to have 100% of our Packaging formats to be Recyclable, Refillable, or made from Recycled or Bio-sourced materials by 2030!

We’ve been very thoughtful and methodical about rolling out our strategy. Our decisions will be data driven: We will assess the full life cycle of our products (from material selection to end-of-life) and share this data with our consumers to provide them with the transparency they demand and deserve.

Sustainability is a journey—we don’t all have the same starting point but should land solutions that really make a difference for customers and the planet. What will be the key to success? The continued engagement and motivation of the teams at Amyris, our dedication to accelerate this transformation, and ongoing transparency and education for our consumers!

Ludovic LeCaro is Vice President, Packaging Innovation & Sustainability at Amyris. He holds over two decades of experience in Packaging Development, Innovation and Sustainability, and has supported the cosmetics industry through new product launches across multiple beauty categories including make-up, skincare, haircare, and hair styling. While at L’Oréal, Ludovic supported local and international global brands distributed in mass, luxury, and professional markets. His experience at Shiseido allowed him to collaborate globally with Japanese designers and develop new products. At Amyris, he’s spearheading the expansion of our packaging capabilities and implementing a sustainability strategy with ambitious goals for 2025 and 2030.