Pulse October 2019 | Page 41

3. SWITCH TO SUSTAINABLE PLASTICS OR GLASS eliminating single-use plastics is en vogue, so making a switch to recycled or reused plastics is good for both your brand’s image and the planet. ethica Beauty recently switched to using plastics reclaimed from the ocean to bottle its products, a change which was, admittedly, far from simple. Says angelica canter, vice president of sales, “resourcing recycled reclaimed packaging is new in the professional beauty industry, and it requires a complex supply chain.” however, ethica knew that sourcing ocean plastics was an integral part of its values and worked with its packaging partner to make it possible. new, exciting packaging options are coming onto the market every day, although “they are still limited,” says Dvoracek. however, she suggests working with your supplier to see what they offer—as “the sustainability movement grows along with consumer demand,” more and more eco-friendly options will become available. one such eco-friendly option are aluminum tubes, which anDa used to replace plastic tubes for its cleansers. 4. SOURSE YOUR INGREDIENTS CAREFULLY Sustainability isn’t just a matter of energy-efficiency or conservation: it also involves ethical suppliers who treat both the planet and their employees with respect. Working to source ingredients or materials from growers or manufacturers who are committed to sustainability can have a far- reaching effect. Using organic ingredients or materials in your products is a good start, but going above and beyond to source ecocert-certified or fair trade certified ingredients ensures that the end product will be as sustainable as possible. considering the wide number of ingredients that go into a single product, using only sustainably grown and harvested ingredients can lead to a “butterfly effect” of sustainability across a supply chain. 5. OFFSET YOUR FOOTPRINT it’s highly unlikely that you’ll be able to have a net-neutral environmental effect just by tweaking manufac- turing processes, materials and packaging alone. that’s why many iSPa resource partner members work with well- established charitable organizations to ‘offset’ their environmental footprint. Both Dazzle Dry and anDa work with Weforest to plant carbon-absorbing trees in the Khasi hills of india; the former plants one tree for every retail purchase, while the latter donates a portion of its profits. this type of collaboration ensures that every product sold leaves a positive impact on earth. n octobEr ■ PULSE 2019 39