Sustainability is an ambiguous concept, and its meaning keeps changing as its definition evolves. When it comes to sustainability in beauty, it is not just enough to use recyclable packaging or using clean ingredients. Addressing overproduction, reducing waste, reinforcing biodiversity and supporting your community are all crucial to the sustainability matrix. We asked seven Indian brand founders for what it really means to them, and how they're trying to further their goals.
Sustainability is… using eco-friendly ingredients
“I want to meet the needs of the present without compromising on the future generation’s ability to meet their own needs. We want to go beyond the practice of planting trees. We also can’t simply recycle our way out of the problem; we need to examine all the facets of our business and its impact,” says Purearth's founder, Kavita Khosa. All of Purearth's products are coral reef safe, compostable, and are made up of natural ingredients that cause no environmental concerns. “Many of our creations could be safely used as soil fertilisers, for example our Turmeric Face Sand that is 100 per cent free of preservatives,” says Khosa. “We work with green chemistry: in cases of physical instability during R&D trials where there is no microbial growth in a formulation, we repurpose them into a different functional product—face cream to a hair conditioner and share with family and friends rather than disposing them as waste."
Sustainability is… reusing when you can
Pahadi Local's philosophy of source-to-bottle may sound simple, but its execution requires work to ensure quality compliance through testing, logistics and raw material research. Since the brand is small, moving to glass packaging is unaffordable for now. But Jessica Jayne, founder, started an initiative to collect five empty jars or bottles from their customers's doorsteps to make reusing and recycling an easier process. “For things to work, sustainability cannot just be a trend but a way of thinking and living. The more it becomes a part of our day and our mindset, the better it is for the cause,” says Jayne.
Sustainability is… being mindful of how—and where—you source
Consumers may only see the sparkly eyeshadow or the creamy lipstick—made with cleaner ingredients and housed in biodegradable packaging—but the materials used to create them are just as important. “We have been mindful of ethically sourcing our raw materials, especially those like mica (which is often known to be sourced using child labour). Harsh chemicals and toxins are the last things you want in your everyday makeup and products. At Kiro we are reducing and removing as many toxins and nasties as possible. They are not only safer for the environment but also for the workers who are making these products,” says founder, Vasundhara Patni.
Sustainability is… reducing waste
With ingredients that are grown in-house in their distilleries, and herbs and spices being used as the base of the fragrance, NASO Profumi has given way to a sustainable perfume production process, one that is still nascent in India. “Our belief in zero tolerance for waste has led us to convert all leftover production materials into bio fertilisers that are then used as compost for our plantation. We not only make the best use of rain water harvesting but also use solar energy to power their in-house distilleries,” says founder, Ashtha Suri. “Sustainability, today, is a way of life one adopts in order to save, thrive and give back. It refers to development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
Sustainability is… caring for your community
For Shubhika Jain—founder of beauty brand RAS Luxury Oils—your sustainability mission can't be complete without empowering your community. “RAS is a truly homegrown brand, and in addition to growing crops on our farms, we partner with local farmers for procuring our ingredients, in a quest to connect directly with the source. With the system of ensured buyback of crops, farmers are safe from market fluctuations and their income is steady. We help bridge the gap between farmers and vendors and make sure it contributes to livelihoods at a grassroots level,” she says.
Sustainability is… reducing plastic waste
“At Juicy Chemistry, we think of the life cycle of a product—from sourcing to end-use,” says Megha Asher, founder. A majority of their products are packaged in glass bottles and tubs, their deodorants and dry shampoos are housed of paper tubes that are entirely biodegradable, and their liquid shampoos and body washes are made available in PET G bottles that adhere to ECOCERT standards, ensuring that all your beauty products, tubes and jars don't land up sitting in landfills.
Sustainability is… making small changes
According to Deepshikha Deshmukh, founder of Love Organically, sustainability means making small switch-ups to ensure that each step in the production is as ecologically-friendly as it can be. “We use sustainably sourced paper, vegetable inks and recyclable bottles, and believe in constantly innovating and finding new ways to be as ethical and green as we possibly can be even though it is often not as profitable as the standard industry practices,” she says.
Also read:
35 things you can do to help save the planet in 2021