Photo source: L’Oréal
Decoupling from fossil fuels: L’Oréal launches packaging made from carbon emissions
Thomas Reiner | 18.12.2020
A solution presented by L’Oréal marks a compelling approach to advance one of the key issues in the implementation of the circular economy: Decoupling from fossil fuels. In collaboration with LanzaTech and Total, L’Oréal has unveiled one of the world’s first packaging made from recaptured carbon emissions and plans to use the bottle for its cosmetic products.
L’Oréal, in collaboration with LanzaTech and Total, has unveiled one of the world’s first packaging made from recaptured and recycled carbon emissions. L’Oréal plans to use the bottle, which is based on a three-step conversion process, for its cosmetic products. The solution presented is an interesting approach to advance one of the key issues in the implementation of the circular economy: Decoupling from fossil fuels.
Capturing carbon emissions and converting them into polyethylene is one of the more recent approaches to decoupling from fossil fuels. The idea has the added charm of not only reducing the creation of new carbon emissions, but capturing carbon emissions that have already been released and neutralizing them in the cycle.
The conversion process takes place in three steps, each of which is the responsibility of one of the companies in the partnership.
- LanzaTech captures industrial carbon emissions and converts them into ethanol using a biological process.
- Total converts the ethanol into ethylene via a dehydration process before polymerizing it into polyethylene. The PE produced is said to have the same technical properties as the fossil version.
- L’Oréal uses this polyethylene to produce cosmetics packaging with the same qualities and properties as the PE bottles used to date.
By 2024, L’Oréal plans to use the “sustainable PE” in its bottles for shampoo and hair conditioners. In doing so, it is expressly hoped that other companies will join in the use of plastic made from industrial carbon extract.
In any case, the solution is a thoroughly interesting approach to advancing one of the key aspects of establishing the circular economy: Decoupling from fossil fuels.
