French beauty industry paves the way for re-using perfume bottles
The initiative was initiated by Circul'R with the support of We Don't Need Roads and the eco-organisation Citeo. It brings together four major brands: Parfums Christian Dior (LVMH), Diptyque, Kenzo Parfums (L'Oréal), and Rochas (Interparfums), as well as two distributors, Nocibé and Beauty Success. The aim is to test a system for reusing perfume bottles on a large scale, by enabling customers to bring in their empty bottles (from J'adore, Flower by Kenzo, Eau de Rochas, and Diptyque ranges) in return for a reward, chosen by each brand.
The collected bottles are then sorted and washed in a specialised centre, using shared logistics, before being reconditioned for re-circulation. The cleaning process, crucial to guaranteeing the quality of reuse, is based on CO₂ washing. This is an innovative process that uses no water, detergents, or solvents.
"It's on the strength of the lessons learned from our first experiment with skincare products that we're now launching this new pilot dedicated to perfume," said Circul'R's director of coalitions Sixtine Jourde-Roussel. "This progressive approach, by product typology, enables us to build a solid and realistic foundation for reuse in cosmetics."
While promising a low environmental footprint, this bottle experiment has yet to prove its technical worth. Feedback from the experiment will feed into a series of environmental and economic analyses, including water and energy consumption. Economic modelling will also be carried out to identify the conditions for the viability of such a system on a large scale. At the same time, a consumer study will analyse customer appetite for this new model.
"We need volume for reuse to create momentum and economies of scale," said Jourde-Roussel. "This means reconsidering the value of a perfume bottle, not just as packaging, but as a durable object, potentially usable in less premium lines or second-hand [markets]."
Glass manufacturing remains one of the most energy-intensive processes in the beauty and perfume industry. This initiative could well become the first step towards standardising reuse in the world of premium perfumery, a sector long dominated by single use packaging.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
LeMonde
3 hours ago
- LeMonde
Trump, Fed chief Powell bicker during tense central bank visit
Donald Trump and US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell appeared together for a tense meeting Thursday as the president toured the central bank after ramping up his attacks on its management of the economy. Trump – who wants to oust Powell for refusing to lower interest rates but likely lacks the legal authority to do so – has threatened to fire the Fed chief over cost overruns for a renovation of its Washington headquarters. During a brief but painfully awkward exchange in front of reporters during a tour of the building, the pair bickered over the price tag for the makeover, which Trump said was $3.1 billion. The actual cost of the facelift has been put at $2.5 billion and Powell was quick to correct the president, telling him: "I haven't heard that from anybody." Trump apparently produced a sheet of paper listing construction costs and was told curtly that he was including work on the William McChesney Martin Jr. Building, which was not part of the project. "You're including the Martin renovation – you just added in a third building," Powell scolded. Trump stuck to his guns, saying it was part of the overall redevelopment. Powell shot back: "No, it was built five years ago. We finished Martin five years ago... It's not new." Trump moved on but the tense atmosphere between the pair was almost palpable, with the Republican leader unaccustomed to being contradicted live on air. The tour came with Trump desperate to shift the focus away from the crisis engulfing his administration over its decision to close the file on multi-millionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died in 2019 while awaiting trial on trafficking charges. Attorney General Pam Bondi informed the president in the spring that his name appeared in the Epstein files, according to the Wall Street Journal. Epstein was accused of procuring underage girls for sex with his circle of wealthy, high-profile associates when he died by suicide in a New York jail cell. Trump has picked all manner of targets, including his Democratic predecessors and former chiefs of the security and intelligence services, as he tries to move Epstein out of the headlines. He berated Powell over interest rates on Wednesday and alluded to his annoyance over the cost of borrowing more than 10 times during Thursday's tour. "As good as we're doing, we'd do better if we had lower interest rates," he told reporters. 'Do the right thing' Presidential visits to the Federal Reserve are not unheard of – Franklin D. Roosevelt, Gerald Ford and George W. Bush all made the trip – but they are rare. Trump has criticized Powell for months over his insistence on keeping the short-term interest rate at 4.3 percent this year, after cutting it three times last year, when Joe Biden was in office. Partner service Learn French with Gymglish Thanks to a daily lesson, an original story and a personalized correction, in 15 minutes per day. Try for free Powell says he is monitoring the response of the economy to Trump's dizzying array of import tariffs, which he has warned could lead to a hike in inflation. But Trump has angrily accused Powell of holding back the economy, calling the man he nominated in his first term "stupid" and a "loser." The president struck a more conciliatory tone later Thursday, telling reporters they'd had a "productive talk" on the economy, with "no tension." "It may be a little too late, as the expression goes, but I believe he's going to do the right thing," Trump said. Soaring costs for the Fed's facelift of its 88-year-old Washington headquarters and a neighboring building – up by $600 million from an initial $1.9 billion estimate – have caught Trump's eye. A significant driver of the cost is security, including blast-resistant windows and measures to prevent the building from collapsing in the event of an explosion. The Federal Reserve, the world's most important central bank, makes independent monetary policy decisions and its board members typically serve under both Republican and Democratic presidents. Experts question whether Trump has the authority to fire Powell, especially since a Supreme Court opinion in May that allowed the president to remove other independent agency members but suggested that this did not apply to the Fed.
France 24
10 hours ago
- France 24
France's global aid programmes at risk from ‘unprecedented' budget cuts
Almost 190 non-governmental organisations are sounding the alarm after the historic €700 million in cuts to France's aid budget announced by Prime Minister François Bayrou on July 15. The figure accounts for roughly 5 percent of the total allocated to development aid. The measure is part of a planned €43.8 billion in budget cuts planned for 2026 to reduce France's burgeoning public deficit. 'It's unprecedented,' said Corentin Martiniault, an advocacy officer at Coordination Sud, a network of 188 French NGOs working in emergency humanitarian response including Médecins du Monde and Handicap International. French aid has until now allowed 'the financing of access to essential services such as health, water and food, but also the protection of populations in vulnerable and extremely fragile situations', Martiniault said. In a press release on Wednesday, Coordination Sud warned that the new budget guidelines 'could endanger poor and vulnerable populations around the world". Out of step As recently as last year, France still held a top position among international aid donors, ranking fifth in the world for official development assistance behind the US (at 30 percent), Germany, the UK and Japan, respectively, according to the OECD. If these cuts are confirmed, Martiniault said the public aid budget 'will be set back 10 years'. Since President Emmanuel Macron came to power in 2017, France has made international aid a political priority, significantly increasing its aid budget, Martiniault noted. But that all changed in 2024, he said, when 'France was one of the first countries to decide to make a major U-turn by reducing its budget for official development assistance.' 'Women are having to sell sex for fish': Head of ActionAid Zambia on USAID cuts 08:34 'We don't deny that the budgetary situation is challenging, but we note that the aid and development budget consistently finds itself among the top three budgets hardest hit by any cuts,' he added. After an initial €724 million was slashed from the aid budget in February 2024, more than €2 billion in further cuts have since been approved. An April 25 decree from the economy ministry cancelled another €200 million in appropriations. Martiniault said the cuts revealed a growing disconnect between years of government statements in support of foreign development and an aid budget that is being cut ever closer to the bone. A critical situation France is not the only country to culling its foreign aid budget, with Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium and the UK all similarly reducing their levels of development assistance. US President Donald Trump's shock dismantlement of USAID, the main US development agency, has also dealt a huge blow to global health and development efforts. 'Adding further cuts to an already dire situation – marked by the withdrawal of many donors along with the weakening of UN agencies and structures capable of engaging directly with vulnerable populations in matters of health and nutrition – is catastrophic,' said Flore Ganon, head of advocacy for rights and essential services at Action contre la Faim (Action Against Hunger) France, another member organisation of Coordination Sud. Action contre la Faim experienced a 20 percent funding cut for its Confluences Project, which aims to reduce severe malnutrition among children under 5 in Madagascar, the Ivory Coast, Chad, Cameroon, Mauritania and Burkina Faso. 'We're going to find ourselves in countries where our ability to intervene will be reduced,' Ganon said. All the more so due to the group's partial reliance on funding from the now-shuttered USAID. 'The US cuts forced us to shut down nutrition centers basically overnight,' she said. It's a situation made all the more worrying by UN figures that show that hunger has been on the rise across the world since 2017, with some 733 million people suffering from malnutrition as of 2023 – twice the population of the European Union. 'Democratic backsliding' 'From our point of view, the reduction announced for the 2026 budget is not just a moral error, but a tactical one,' said Médecins du Monde president Jean-François Coty. 'When it comes to the struggle against inequality and major pandemics, one day we'll all pay dearly for it.' Coty also warned of the possible impacts of the decision on democratic values. 'Cutting international aid means getting rid of many NGOs,' he said. 'It's a form of democratic backsliding.' Around half of Médecins du Monde's budget is raised through fundraising activities and private donors – a fact that allows it to keep operating in the face of deepening budget cuts. 'We have to do more with less' - international development challenges after USAID cuts 09:53 'Today, some of our programmes will continue thanks to our reserves, and we will meet our commitments,' Coty said. 'But nothing guarantees that we'll be able to renew or expand them.' 'We have funding in advance, but it's hard to predict the future.' The new reality may mean a rethink of how many NGOs operate. "In the coming years, the overall decline in institutional funding will have an impact on us,' Coty warned. 'We are likely to see a stagnation or even a slight decline in our operations. You can't make up for the loss of major institutional funding in a few months or a few years. We will have to reorganise to be able to compensate, in particular through private funding.' A key role While Macron has announced an increase of €3.5 billion in 2026 and €3 billion in 2027 for the country's defence budget against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, NGOs maintain that defence and development are not in competition, but complimentary. Humanitarian aid plays "a key role in preventing conflicts by tackling their root causes, such as access to education, water or the response to climate change", Martiniault said. For the NGOs that are members of Coordination Sud, other sources of funding may be possible. Revenues from the taxes on financial transactions and airline tickets were funnelled into development assistance until 2024. While the 2025 budget bill suddenly incorporated them into the state's overall budget, a bill supported by 70 MPs aims to reinstate the aid allocation.
Fashion Network
11 hours ago
- Fashion Network
Chanel strengthens its production network across the board in Italy
"We also support the members of our ecosystem of factories in securing their own network and production capacities," stressed the rue Cambon brand. In addition to the creation of the Volfoni tannery, this type of consolidation has also taken place in the knitwear sector. Paima hosiery, owned by Chanel since 2021, "took a majority stake in Samo Cotton hosiery". This hosiery, acquired in 2024, is located, like Paima, near Ancona in the Marche region. Similarly, in the footwear segment, the Group pointed out that Roveda, the company specialising in high-end women's footwear that it acquired in 2000, "has strengthened its expertise in the manufacturing of uppers thanks to the activities of Ibisco and Primula", two companies created in 2023. Since Roveda became 100% owned by Chanel, this family-run business founded in 1955 in Parabiago, not far from Milan, has modernised and grown significantly, becoming a strategic entity for the French group, while continuing to supply other international labels. Last year, Chanel, which also includes shoemakers Gensi Group, controlled by the French company since 2015 and which expanded its production site in 2024, and Nillab Manifatture (Calzaturificio Ballin), also took over the historic luxury shoe manufacturer Grey Mer, its supplier for thirteen years, based in San Mauro Pascoli, Emilia-Romagna. In the leather goods sector, the label invested in Lombardy-based Renato Corti in 2019 as well as in Mabi International, a producer of leather bags and accessories with two factories in Veneto and one in Tuscany, in whose capital it took a 100% stake in 2023. In addition, the group has interests in other sectors. In 2022, for example, Chanel acquired 60% of jeans specialist FashionArt, and in 2023 took a minority stake in Marche cashmere spinning mill Cariaggi Lanificio. In 2020, it had already acquired the Piedmont-based producer of fancy wool yarns Vimar 1991, invaluable to the creation of its signature tweeds. In silk, beyond Mantero Seta, it has also secured the services of Como-based weaver Biseta, in which it acquired a 100% stake last year. Finally, in early 2025, it took a minority stake in Tuscan costume jewellery and metal accessories specialist Leo France. The Group has been present in Italy since 1986, and at December 31, 2024 counted twenty-nine subsidiaries in the country, active not only in manufacturing, but also in sales, marketing, distribution and logistics, employing over 2,500 people.
