Albea recognizes World Environment Day, says it has been focusing on lowering environmental impact for over 15 years, also says Gilles Swyngedauw has been elected chair of European Committee for Standardization’s packaging and environment sub-commission

In parallel with actions taken by citizens and governments, we feel like companies must be agents of change. As a leading packaging manufacturer, we have been focusing our efforts on lowering the environmental impact of our industrial activity for over 15 years. Our teams are continuously working on innovative solutions to develop safe and circular packaging. We contribute to a more circular beauty industry with ambitious objectives and strong partnerships, such as with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the New Plastics Economy since 2018. Concretely, this commits us to making 100% of our packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025. 

Change is led by people and we are proud that Gilles Swyngedauw, Vice-President of CSR & Product Sustainability at Albéa Cosmetics & Fragrance, has recently been elected economy as President of the Packaging and Environment commission at the European Committee for Standardization. This organization is officially recognized by the European Union and by the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) as being responsible for developing and defining voluntary standards at European level. More specifically, the Packaging and Environment commission focuses on reducing plastic pollution of packaging on land and water, in line with European commitments on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment. 

As a responsible company, our teams make it a point to act locally, around the 35 sites where we operate worldwide. For instance, Albéa Washington has become a waste-free facility. “We collect trash through specific receptacles: production waste as well as glass, and aluminum go to dedicated recycling streams while organic waste goes to composting. Everything else is sent to an incinerator that catches the ashes and compresses them into fuel pellets. This way, no waste goes into landfill, nor into the atmosphere.” explained Diana Gutierrez, HR Director at Albéa Tubes North America. 

There are many ways to beat plastic pollution, and at Orchard Custom Beauty (IBG) in Mississauga, Canada, team members went on a Waste Walk on Earth Day and succeeded in collecting 36 bags in a few hours only. Our colleagues also collected their beauty product waste through TerraCycle. This innovative recycling company specializes in hard-to-recycle materials and transform them into raw material for manufacturing companies.