L'Oréal is piloting an innovative cosmetic bottle created through a new recycling process

L'Oréal this week unveiled a type of plastic bottle made from enzymatic recycling by green biotech company Carbios.

Presented as a world first, this new-generation cosmetic bottle is the first one designed in plastic entirely recycled thanks to Carbios' enzymatic technology.This new technology could eventually allow for the development of new products entirely from recycled materials, and not only in the field of cosmetics.

Until now, existing recycling processes have not been able to recover all polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste. Carbios explains that "only clear plastic [could] be recycled in closed loops, with a loss of quality in each cycle, making it difficult to obtain new products from 100% recycled PET. Something the French company's enzymatic technology can now remedy." our innovation allows infinite recycling of all types of PET waste as well as the production of 100% recycled and 100% recyclable PET products, without loss of quality."

"The packaging of the future"

After four years of close collaboration with Carbios to develop this technology -- as well as with Nestlé Waters, PepsiCo and Suntory Beverage & Food Europe -- L'Oréal has now presented a first plastic cosmetic bottle made from this new recycling process. Biotherm could be the first brand of the cosmetics giant to launch a product in this bottle, but you'll have to wait a little longer to bring it home into your bathroom; the production launch is currently scheduled for 2025.

"We have been working with Carbios since 2017 to develop this first bottle made from PET derived from enzymatic recycling technology, an alternative to mechanical recycling. We are pleased to announce today the feasibility of these bottles in a pilot phase and are delighted to be in a position to create the packaging of the future with our partners. This is a promising innovation for the years to come that demonstrates our commitment to bring to market more environmentally friendly packaging and which is part of a circularity initiative begun more than 15 years ago," said Jacques Playe, L'Oréal's Global Head of Packaging and Product Development.

Note that this technology has been used to create other sample bottles for everyday products. Perrier, Pepsi Max and Orangina may also soon offer new packaging for some of their iconic products.

This innovation should help L'Oréal achieve its objectives set out in its "L'Oréal for the Future" sustainability program. These include achieving 100% refillable, reusable, recyclable or compostable plastic packaging by 2025, and 100% recycled or biobased plastic packaging by 2030.