Beauty giant L’Oréal, carbon recycling company LanzaTech and broad energy company Total have joined forces to unveil a cosmetic plastic bottle made from recycled industrial carbon emissions.
The sustainable packaging — the first of its kind — demonstrates the commitment of the three partners to circular economy practices.
The plastic is made in three steps. First, LanzaTech captures industrial carbon emissions and converts them into ethanol through a complex biological process.
Second, Total uses an innovative dehydration process, developed in partnership with IFP Axens, to convert the ethanol into ethylene and polymerise it into polyethylene. The polyethylene has the same technical characteristic as its fossil fuel counterpart. L’Oréal then uses the polyethylene to produce the plastic bottle packaging.
L’Oréal, LanzaTech and Total are now exploring options to scale up production of the new sustainable plastic material. The partners hope that other companies will join them in adopting the innovative sustainable packaging into their supply chains.
LanzaTech CEO Jennifer Holmgren commented, “This partnership is based on a shared goal of creating a cleaner planet for everyone. We are grateful to both L’Oréal and Total for their commitment to reducing the carbon intensity of their activities. Together, we can reduce the carbon footprint of packaging by converting carbon emissions into useful products, making single-use carbon a thing of the past.”
Total Senior Vice President Polymers Valérie Golf added, “This partnership is an excellent example of collaboration between industrial firms in developing the plastics of the future produced from recycled carbon and meets a strong demand from our customers. The development of this new pathway of valuing industrial carbon emissions also contributes to the Group’s commitment to get to net zero in Europe by 2050.”
“L’Oréal is constantly improving the environmental footprint of its packaging,” commented L’Oréal Packaging & Development Director Jacques Playe. “With this innovation converting carbon emissions into polyethylene, we aim to develop new sustainable packaging solution. We have the ambition to use this sustainable material in our bottle of shampoo and conditioner by 2024 and we hope other companies will join us in using this breakthrough innovation.”
