L'Oreal : Biotherm Expands Its Sustainability Strategy For World Oceans Day

Every year, World Oceans Day is an important day where people around the globe come together to celebrate and honor our oceans, our planet's Blue Lung. As we enter the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030), the need to work together to create a better future for our oceans has never been clearer.

On the occasion of World Oceans Day 2021, Biotherm is proud to announce the launch of its new sustainability campaign: Live By Blue Beauty. Live By Blue Beauty builds and expands on the legacy of Biotherm's Water Lovers program (originally launched in 2012) by taking a more holistic approach across all aspects of the brand. Biotherm has been committed to reducing its impact on water for years but now wants to go further and shift the way the beauty industry operates.

This year, Biotherm is proud to announce a major milestone in its Blue Beauty journey: it will reach 25% PCR plastic* across the brand's entire packaging footprint in 2021. Moreover, it aims to continue mobilizing a global community of Water Lovers: NGOs, artists, and citizens committed to creating a better future for our oceans.

*PCR plastic: Post-Consumer Recycled plastic. It has been manufactured from single-use packaging (milk or beverage bottles), which have been used and sorted by households and sent for processing in recycling channels.

A time to act for our oceans

Last year, UNESCO's Global Ocean Science Report found that ocean science accounts for only between 0.04% and 4% of total research worldwide. Despite the critical role that the ocean plays on our planet's health, from regulating climate change to producing more than 50% of the oxygen on earth, it remains critically understudied - and its importance remains abstract in the minds of many.

Face with the growing ecological emergency, Biotherm is stepping up for our oceans. The brand is committing to creating skincare solutions that protect your skin while respecting the ocean, preserving aquatic life through a logic of constant improvement across their product catalogue and partnerships with leading NGOs, and developing packaging in line with the principles of circular economy.

Learn more about the Live By Blue Beauty sustainability program

"Humans need to rethink the relationship between science and nature. At Biotherm, we believe that true progress - the kind of progress that we need to create a better future for our oceans and for our planet - can only be achieved if we leverage science to support nature."

Giulio Bergamaschi, Global Brand President of Biotherm

Follow Giulio Bergamaschi on LinkedIn

A new plastic milestone for Biotherm: 25% PCR plastic across the entire brand

On World Oceans Day in 2019, Biotherm announced a highly ambitious sustainability roadmap for 2025, on which it accelerates every year with tangible innovations.

Today, 97.8% of the brand's PET bottles (Waterlover Sun Milk SPF30 + SPF50, Biosource…) and 38% of the brand's PE bottles (Lait Corporel L'Original, Life Plankton Body…) are made with recycled plastic in line with Biotherm's commitments to a circular economy. By making the choice to switch to PCR plastic, the brand will save 270 tons of virgin plastic** in 2021 versus 2020 quantities.

Together, this amounts to 25% PCR plastic of the brand's entire plastic packaging footprint.

**Virgin Plastic is produced from a petrochemical feedstock, such as natural gas or crude oil, which has never been used or processed before.

Originally launched in 1972, Biotherm's iconic Lait Corporel L'Original is the centerpiece of Biotherm's PCR plastic achievement. Starting in spring 2021 and kicked off by the brand's 2021 collaboration with the artist Coco Capitán, Lait Corporel L'Original's bottle will now be made out of 100% PCR PE plastic.

Giulio Bergamaschi explains: "Incorporating recycled materials into skincare packaging is very complex and has been an enormous challenge for our development teams. Each different type of plastic that we use at Biotherm - for example, PET, PE, PP - has different qualities and some are more widely recycled than others. We are very proud of achieving this 25% PCR plastic milestone, but we know that we must go further."