Increasing the Sustainability of Fragrances

Fragrances are essential to culture and society worldwide, vital in daily life, self-care, healing, and religion. Consumers expect appealing scents in toiletries, cosmetics, and perfumes, with fragrance production and demand staying much the same for centuries.
 
Recently, though, consumers have started insisting on more humane, eco-friendly, and sustainable ingredients and production processes. While many manufacturers still rely on unethical and non-sustainable components, approaches, and packaging, greener companies are stepping up.
 
These producers are heeding the call to protect the environment and satisfy increasing consumer demands for healthier, cleaner labels. They supply ethical fragrances using pure, natural, and sustainable ingredients in eco-conscious packaging.
 
Fragrance Sustainability
The beauty industry generates around 120 billion packaging units annually1. These manufacturing processes contribute to volatile organic compounds, excess waste, and over-farming. A move towards greater sustainability is critical.
 
An emphasis on sustainability embraces more than avoiding harmful chemicals. To be sustainable, all fragrance ingredients must be environmentally sound and have ethical practices and supply chains. Packaging should be reusable, refillable, biodegradable, or recyclable.
 
Future-forward perfume development incorporates creativity and sourcing ethics while maintaining a high-quality fragrance that diffuses perfectly, smells beautiful and unique, and has staying power. Additionally, conscious consumers favor plant-based, cruelty-free formulae using organic botanicals. Fresh mindsets and innovations include embracing green chemistry principles for life-like yet more supportable synthetics and cross-industry upcycling.
 
Sustainable Packaging
While perfume packaging should protect and market products, it must also cause as little harm as possible during manufacturing and post-purchase. Materials such as paper and cardboard are sustainable and biodegradable, while creative companies are upcycling textile waste into bioplastic caps and disposable paper cups into paper fiber.
 
Ideally, once produced, refillable containers can be reusable. Pioneers and early adopters offering refillable fragrance luxury include Armani, Guerlain, Mugler, Jean Paul Gaultier, Chloé, Hermès, and L’Oréal.
 
These desirable bottles and sprays are beautiful and sustainable. According to L’Oréal, using their My Way 50ml bottle and 150ml refill bottle yields a 64% reduction in the perfume’s carbon emissions. It also represents a 32% reduction in cardboard, 55% in glass, 64% in plastic, and 75% in metal use2.
 
Traceability and transparency help drive trial and loyalty, so manufacturers such as Bastille Parfums add QR codes to packaging so consumers can trace and track ingredients and supply chains.
 
Sustainable Production
Sustainable scent production incorporates thoughtful ingredient sourcing and formulation, greener manufacturing, and less wasteful and harmful packaging and logistics. Less waste also means producing less. Smaller production runs are less damaging and more easily controlled. They can work through incorporating limited launches, for instance, Ffern, and made-to-order approaches, from Deya and Maya Njie.

Social responsibility is also prioritized, protecting, uplifting, and upskilling farmers and pickers. When sourcing ingredients and materials, companies can look for appropriate ethical accreditations. These include the cruelty-free Leaping Bunny, Fair Labor Fairtrade, Positive Luxury Butterfly Mark, or the B Corp symbol denoting high standards for users and the environment. Other valuable certifications include Fair for Life and ECOCERT.
 
At the same time, no governing body oversees production. Instead, manufacturers must work diligently and closely with their suppliers to ensure compliance. Meticulous monitoring can be time-consuming, complicated, and expensive, but sharing responsibility to ensure purity and sustainability adds value and longevity to brand equity while safeguarding and boosting local communities.
 
In support, reputable ingredient producers such as Advanced Biotech offer purity, sustainability, advanced extraction processes, and complete documentation with EU certification. They supply 100% natural, plant-based, and often organic aroma components.
 
Explore Sustainable Aromatics From Advanced Biotech
Browse Advanced Biotech’s extensive and concentrated collection of natural aromatics to intensify your scent profiles. Select from our fruit and botanical-derived essential oils, isolates, absolutes, and other fragrance extracts. Contact us today to request samples, place your order, or discuss unique requirements.


1 https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/beauty/fragrance/a39813170/sustainable-perfumes/
2 https://www.voguescandinavia.com/articles/sustainability-within-fragrances-how-to-ensure-your-favourite-scent-and-the-planet-will-last-longer