26 Apr Planet Positive Beauty Guide & Certification Marks
The British Beauty Council’s Sustainable Beauty Coalition, along with independent industry experts, have prepared a useful guide “Planet Positive Beauty Guide” to help environmentally and ethically aware consumers determine to what extent cosmetic and beauty products are “green” and whether they live-up to their ecological and ethical claims.
Looking at four key areas: Ingredients, Packaging, People and Sustainable Sourcing, the Guide highlights the role and importance of Certification marks and the use of such marks by brands in the beauty sector to emphasise their green credential’s and to demystify for shoppers the green claims and terminology used on packaging and in marketing.
Certification marks are used to indicate that the goods and services used in connection with the marks have been certified by the proprietor of the mark in respect of origin, material, mode of manufacture of goods or performance of services, quality, accuracy or other characteristics. Certification marks are not used by the proprietor of the mark (usually an organisation) but instead by its authorised users for the purpose of guaranteeing that the goods or services concerned possess a particular characteristic.
The Guide lists a number of Certification marks including Cruelty Free International, Vegan, Recycled, BCorp, and Cradle to Cradle with helpful descriptions and meanings for each. Many of these Certification marks are not limited to the beauty industry and extend to many different retail sectors.
Although the Guide is aimed at consumers, this is a must read for businesses operating within the cosmetics and beauty sector particularly SMEs, as it provides a helpful of overview of those Certification marks that reinforce your brands’ environmentally-friendly credibility. We specifically liked the section on “Easy Swaps – A small list of easy swaps beauty customers can make to be more planet positive”, which highlights that small changes can make a big difference to help protect the environment.
