Sustainability Calculator: A Tool to Assess Sustainability in Cosmetic Products

Abstract

Assessing sustainability is extremely necessary and appears as an industrial need and requirement in order to facilitate decision making and to evaluate the impacts of existing strategies, products and technologies. Thus, the main goal of this research was to develop a sustainability calculator based on the opinion of experts that work in the different branches of the cosmetic industry, in order to cover the entire life cycle of a cosmetic product. A detailed survey in which all the steps of a cosmetic product life cycle were addressed, was designed and applied to cosmetic professionals. The data obtained with the survey was statistically analysed for the positive and negative impacts of each parameter on sustainability. The analysed data allowed the creation of a Microsoft Excel tool that mirrors the experts’ opinion. A proof of concept was also designed in order to prove the usefulness of the tool. The results show that there are no raw materials and/or packaging materials and practices, that can be considered 100% sustainable. However, with the appropriate strategies, it is possible to drastically decrease the impacts of any type of cosmetic product on sustainability. This is a promising tool that includes the three dimensions of sustainability in a simple, fast, objective and interactive way for the user. Its application will facilitate the work of the formulators and reduce the time of analysis and decision.