From car batteries to underwater deposits, this is how beauty factories are working towards a sustainable future

While we live in an era where sustainability has become one of the most sought-after, over-saturated terms, the reality is that we’re a long way from actually undoing the damage that has been done and reaching a point of balance within the beauty industry. There have been breakthroughs in the way we do everything from material sourcing to production, but there's still a long way to go. Just because we're not there just yet as an industry, it doesn't mean we shouldn't take a moment to recognise ways in which we've improved. Read below to discover how some of our favourite brands are taking tried-and-true measures towards a more sustainable future.

Solar energy is a common one for smaller scale buildings or companies, but beauty factories are known for their high usage of energy and sometimes 24 hour operations. With this in mind, the amount of solar power needed to make the operation work is one that isn’t necessarily easy to achieve. One example of this is Maria Nila, Swedish company specialised in haircare. With their factory located in the south of Sweden, the beauty center covers an area of ​​9500 square meters. This customised factory is designed to take sustainable beauty on a new level, one of these features being a roof covered in solar panels that produces sufficient energy to power up to 60 households

Similar to Maria Nila, Babor’s main headquarters in Aachen, Germany have also opted to introduce solar energy into their operations, but encountered (in their case) the need to store some of the unused solar energy. The solution? A man-made battery built with old car batteries, thus allowing them to save energy, repurpose old trash-bound batteries, and power parts of their company with the saved solar energy.

Few people know about the fact that, during production, some beauty products need to be cooled down. This is usually achieved with standard running water that most of the time can’t be used for anything else, other than secondary plumbing or drainage. In one amazing feat, true to the concept of being 'one with nature’, Maria Nila’s factory in the south of Sweden devised a new way to cool their formulas down – with underground water.

Thanks to a ground study, they discovered that there was an untapped water deposit under the factory. With some state-of-the-art engineering and a bit of ingenuity, they created a system that pumps water up the ground, cools the formulas in the factory and then pumps it back down into the same water deposit, allowing for, essentially, an infinite supply of water to keep the process going. Plus, thanks to careful analysis and monitoring, they ensure that the water temperature in the deposit stays the same, avoiding any disruption in the natural ecosystem of the deposit.

When it comes to beauty, one of the biggest challenges that we as an industry must still face is sourcing. With all of our ingredients having a purpose and a reason, it’s important to get the best ones for the best job, but sometimes this doesn’t come in the most sustainable way. One way to offset this is to make sure that every ingredient is used at its full potential. One great example is Finnish skincare brand Lumene, that takes the cloudberry, and from this one ingredient, gets eight to nine byproducts that are all used in different products in their skincare line. From seed powder to cloudberry water, every byproduct has a purpose and allows for an integral use of the original source.

While this sounds like an obvious variable, the truth is that sometimes transporting your product creates an unnecessary amount of energy consumption. Cue in Chanel, who right next to their May Rose fields in Grasse built their scent processing facilities, which in turn allows them to get a better raw material as it’s processed in less than 24 hours and at the same time reduces the energy involved in transporting the raw materials to the off-site production facilities.

Finally, while changes in product production are key to bettering our environment, another way companies can also help is by partnering and sponsoring projects in the realms of sustainable conservation, preservation and eco-building. One way, for example, is Maria Nila’s Friendly Year project, that each year chooses one animal and aligns themselves with an organisation that works in their benefit. Through Maria Nila's partnership with wildlife charity organisation The Perfect World Foundation, they contribute (in this year’s case) to the Cairns Turtle Rehabilitation Centre, a non profit organisation in Australia supporting injured sea turtles.