Going The Green Mile

Now a way of life for many environmentally-conscious individuals, brands are now starting to understand the importance of a zero waste approach to beauty

- Clara Siew

There is no better time than now to enter the green and organic beauty industry. According to a report by Formula Botanica, a UK-based organic cosmetic science school, the industry is estimated to be worth US$22 billion by the year 2024. So what is zero waste beauty? It involves us taking responsibility our choices as consumers and businesses, with the ultimate aim of sending nothing, or at least near nothing, to our landfills. No small feat for sure, but not an impossible one either.

The average person in Malaysia throws away his or her body weight in trash every month (about 60kg), and it is estimated that our annual waste generation rate will be over nine million tonnes by 2020 (as reported by IOPscience Malaysia), corresponding with the increase in our national population (which is now over 32 million). Nearly 50 percent of total waste generated comes from household consumers. On an international scale, experts say that there will be more plastic in the sea than fish by 2050, and by 2100, daily solid waste generation will exceed 11 million tonnes per day if we don’t change our ways. Beauty is undoubtedly a major contributor to this predicament. We’re no strangers to recycling our newspapers and food tins, but what about our shampoos, lotions and cosmetics? We’ve all been guilty at some point of tossing things away into the household bin without a second thought. In an effort to incorporate greener practices, some individuals have now turned to social media to hold themselves accountable for recycling their used packaging responsibly, while raising eco awareness, by posting curated images of their ‘empties’ on Instagram.