Development of an LCA-based tool to assess the environmental sustainability level of cosmetics products
Open accessAbstract
Abstract Purpose The depletion of natural resources and the downgrading of the environment, driven by globalization and consumerism phenomena, are worldwide pushing the interest in sustainable manufacturing paradigm and environment preservation. It is moreover clear to academia and practitioners that the cosmetics industry needs to update its current operations to face new sustainable requirements and norms due to its ever-growing size and massive consumption of natural resources. Different methodologies, metrics, and indicators have been and are being proposed for solving the complex issues of environmental sustainability evaluation of cosmetics processes and products. Methods Among these approaches and methods, product-related assessment tools (e.g., life cycle assessment) are usually more focused on the environmental dimension of sustainability, and they are always based on the life cycle of the product. The core of this paper is on the development of a novel tool to classify cosmetics products based on the results of LCA: the eco-friendliness assessment tool (EFAT). The methodology of the work is structured into 5 main phases: definition of the scientific background of the work, definition of the tool requirements, tool development, testing of the tool, analysis of the results. The eco-friendliness assessment tool proposed is structured into two main parts: (i) process flow 1: environmental impact score and (ii) process flow 2: supplier environmental sustainability assessment. Results The tool has been tested on a cosmetics product manufactured in a cosmetics company located in Italy. The acquisition of raw material process and primary packaging process are the two most critical processes resulting from the impact analysis of LCA methodology. The application of the EFAT tool shows the two possible most sustainable improved scenarios are as follows: (i) exploiting transportation of the primary packaging by sea and (ii) adopting the European location of the primary packaging supplier. The results coming from the tool application allowed the definition of the company product eco-friendliness. The eco-friendliness is symbolized by an alphabetical letter and a color. Conclusions The paper proposes a practical tool to assess the environmental sustainability level of cosmetics products, with the intention to overcome two of the main literature gaps found in the state of the art: (i) absence of LCA methodology implementation in the cosmetics industry on makeup products, (ii) absence of tools that rely on the results of the LCA analysis of a cosmetic product for understanding its sustainability level of sustainability.
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The difference in sustainability focus between international and small/medium cosmetic companies is due to lack of resources and holistic understanding of life cycle impact.
“The reason for this situation is the lack of resources and a holistic understanding of the impact of the life cycle [9,33–36].”
From Use of Waste from the Food Industry and Applications of the Fermentation Process to Create Sustainable Cosmetic Products: A Review (2024) · cites this paper as [36]
Section 2.1 (page unavailable) says small and medium cosmetics enterprises often lack resources to develop their own sustainability frameworks and that a comprehensive framework for the sector has not yet been developed. It does not say that SMEs lack a holistic understanding of life-cycle impacts or establish that these factors explain a difference in sustainability focus between international companies and SMEs. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredInternational cosmetic companies pursue initiatives to improve sustainability dimensions holistically across the entire product life cycle, while small or medium local companies focus on natural, green, or organic ingredients.
“Research shows that international cosmetic companies pursue initiatives to improve sustainability dimensions holistically, taking into account the entire product life cycle, while small or medium local companies focus on the use of natural, green, or organic ingredients as main part of their sustainable products.”
From Use of Waste from the Food Industry and Applications of the Fermentation Process to Create Sustainable Cosmetic Products: A Review (2024) · cites this paper as [36]
Section 2.1 says cosmetic-product sustainability should encompass the entire life cycle, and the passage labelled “1 3” identifies natural ingredients as one possible sustainability solution. Neither passage establishes the claimed contrast between international companies and small or medium local companies, or shows that those groups pursue the respective approaches described. (LLM, conf=0.82)
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- Authors
- Rocca, R., Acerbi, F., Fumagalli, L., & Taisch, M.
- Affiliations
- Politecnico di Milano (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Rocca, Roberto
- Venue
- The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
- Published
- 2023-08-24
- Volume
- 28
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 1261-1285
- ISSN
- 0948-3349 (ISSN-L)
- 1614-7502
- OpenAlex
- W4386136057
- Cited by
- 18
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 5
- FWCI
- 1.50
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Virtual Community of Pathological Anatomy (University of Castilla La Mancha) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Politecnico di Milano
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Environmental Impact and Sustainability
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Sustainable Supply Chain Management
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
- Keywords
- cosmetics, environmental sustainability assessment, life cycle assessment, sustainable manufacturing, primary packaging, raw material procurement, transport modes, carriage of goods by sea, environmental labelling, makeup products
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