Humane Groups and Cosmetics Trade Association Join Together to Support Introduction of Bipartisan Humane Cosmetics Act


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACTS:

Emily Ehrhorn, (202) 779-1814, eehrhorn@humanesociety.org
Lisa Powers, (202) 466-0489, powersl@personalcarecouncil.org

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Humane Society of the United States, Humane Society Legislative Fund and Personal Care Products Council issue the following joint statement on the introduction of the Humane Cosmetics Act in the U.S. Senate, S. 2886, and U.S. House of Representatives, H.R. 5141:

“Today marks a historic moment with the introduction of the Humane Cosmetics Act in the Senate by Sens. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Rob Portman, R-Ohio and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I. A companion bill was introduced in the House by Reps. Don Beyer, D-Va., Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., Ken Calvert, R-Calif., and Tony Cárdenas, D-Calif. In the true spirit of collaboration, the Humane Society of the United States, Humane Society Legislative Fund and Personal Care Products Council encourage expeditious bipartisan passage of the legislation in this Congress.

“Our precedent-setting support brings together the personal care products industry and animal advocacy community. We stand firm in our shared goal to eliminate new cosmetics animal testing and promote recognition, and acceptance of alternative approaches to cosmetics safety assessments.

“We applaud these members of Congress for driving this important bipartisan effort to introduce the Humane Cosmetics Act. This consensus among diverse stakeholders was essential, and enactment of this legislation is critically important to ensure a uniform standard for animal welfare, while continuing to support the development of safe and innovative cosmetics and personal care products.

“We look forward to working with a bipartisan group of congressional leaders, and other key stakeholders, to help enact the Humane Cosmetics Act in this Congress.”

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Founded in 1954, the Humane Society of the United States and its affiliates around the globe fight the big fights to end suffering for all animals. Together with millions of supporters, the HSUS takes on puppy mills, factory farms, trophy hunts, animal testing and other cruel industries, and together with its affiliates, rescues and provides direct care for over 100,000 animals every year. The HSUS works on reforming corporate policy, improving and enforcing laws and elevating public awareness on animal issues. More at humanesociety.org

Subscribe to Kitty Block’s blog, A Humane World. Follow the HSUS Media Relations department on Twitter. Read the award-winning All Animals magazine. Listen to the Humane Voices Podcast.

The Humane Society Legislative Fund is a social welfare organization incorporated under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code and formed in 2004 as a separate lobbying affiliate of the Humane Society of the United States. The HSLF works to pass animal protection laws at the state and federal level, to educate the public about animal protection issues, and to support humane candidates for office. Visit us on all our channels: on the web at hslf.org, on our blog at animalsandpolitics.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/humanelegislation and on Twitter at twitter.com/HSLegFund.

Based in Washington, D.C., the Personal Care Products Council (PCPC) is the leading national trade association representing global cosmetics and personal care products companies. Founded in 1894, PCPC’s approximately 600 member companies manufacture, distribute and supply the vast majority of finished personal care products marketed in the U.S. As the makers of a diverse range of products millions of consumers rely on and trust every day – from sunscreens, toothpaste and shampoo to moisturizer, lipstick and fragrance – personal care products companies are global leaders committed to product safety, quality and innovation.

For more information on cosmetics and personal care products, please visit www.CosmeticsInfo.org.

America Recycles Day


Pamela Gill Alabaster
Contributing Writer

America Recycles Day encourages citizens to reduce, reuse, repurpose, and recycle – in all aspects of their life. Established in 1997 by the National Recycling Coalition, November 15 remains a day dedicated to awareness and education about proper waste disposal.

The benefits of recycling are well documented, including reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill, preserving finite raw materials, saving energy, and reducing carbon emissions and its related impact on global warming. In the last year, however, China (to whom the United States and many other countries have sent unwanted mixed paper, plastic and glass for recycling for more than 30 years) has implemented new regulations and no longer accept these materials. This change in the way we divert recycled materials has presented new challenges for waste management companies across the country.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that while 75 percent of the American waste stream is recyclable, only 30 percent is ultimately recycled. Improving recycling rates will require a portfolio of solutions including; government incentives to expand and upgrade the recycling infrastructure; more automation and advanced recycling technologies, such as optical recognition to sort different types of materials and ensure higher quality and purity in the waste stream; disincentives, such as taxes on landfill, which economically incent more recycling; local government utility fees or pay-to-throw fees; and regulations that push companies to phase out of hard-to-recycle plastics, to use more recycled content, or use compostable materials. We may even consider the federal government’s involvement in recycling operations, similar to the way Swedish and South Korean governments manage waste, both of which have recycling rates at 50 percent.

While the best approach may be to incentivize people to consume less – which also has the benefit of reducing some of the upstream waste created when products are made – consumer spending fuels 68 percent of our GDP and a strong economy is in everyone’s best interest.

Several of the Personal Care Products Council’s member companies are adopting innovative approaches to managing upstream and downstream waste created from operations and product packaging. Many have set ambitious goals and targets to reduce waste, and joined pre-competitive collaborations aimed at identifying solutions to managing the systemic challenges associated with a make, use, dispose linear product cycle.

Companies including Beiersdorf, Burt’s Bees, Colgate-Palmolive, Coty, Henkel, Firmenich, International Flavors & Fragrances, L’Oréal, Procter & Gamble (P&G), The Estée Lauder Companies, and Unilever have committed to zero waste to landfill for their manufacturing sites.

As part of their commitment to reduce reliance on a single use model, companies including Colgate-Palmolive, Henkel, Johnson & Johnson, L’Oréal, P&G, The Estée Lauder Companies, and Unilever intend to reach a point where all plastic packaging will be recyclable, reusable, compostable, or refillable.

Numerous brands are making recycling easier for consumers to bring their empty packaging back to point of sale (POS), or return by mail, usually incentivized with a reward. Voluntary programs like Aveda’s Full Cycle Recycling, Back to MAC, Kiehl’s Recycle and Be Rewarded, Return to Origins, Henkel, and Garnier’s recycling partnership with TerraCycle all help consumers appropriately dispose of empty packaging.

Many companies are also increasing their use of recycled content, including Aveda, which markets hair care products in a bottle made of 100 percent post-consumer recycled plastic, and P&G, which introduced a plastic bottle made with recycled ocean plastic.

Aligned with growing interest in the circular economy, industry is also testing innovative approaches to refillable packaging. Unilever and P&G have launched a platform with LOOP, which offers consumer products for home delivery in reusable packaging; empties are then stored in a personal reuse bin and are picked up for cleaning and sterilization; packaging can be reused up to a hundred times. With the goal of finding and adopting many more sustainable packaging solutions, Olay is testing a recyclable refill pod that can be placed inside a skincare jar once empty.

This America Recycles Day, do your part to make sure waste is properly recycled and encourage your friends and families to support companies taking bold actions to address this global problem. #AmericaRecyclesDay.

Recycling Facts

  • The average person generates over 4 pounds of trash every day and about 1.5 tons of solid waste per year.1
  • The EPA estimates that 75% of the American waste stream is recyclable, but we only recycle about 30% of it.2
  • The Container Recycling Institute (CRI) estimates that the 36 billion aluminum cans landfilled last year had a scrap value of more than $600 million.3
  • Over 87% of Americans have access to curbside or drop-off paper recycling programs.4
  • 80 billion aluminum cans are used each year around the world, they can be recycled endlessly and can go from recycling back to store shelves in 2 months. Recycling one can saves enough energy to run a TV for almost 3 hours.5
  • Each American uses almost 700 pounds of paper each year 500,000 trees are cut down just to produce Sunday newspapers each week. If everyone recycled their newspapers, over 200 million trees could be saved each year.6
  • 5 million plastic bottles are used in America every hour. Recycling one ton of plastic can save almost 2,000 gallons of gasoline.7

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1 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “Municipal Solid Waste.” Web Accessed April 25, 2015.
2 Indiana University. “Waste & Recycling.” Web Accessed April 25, 2015.
3 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “10 FAST FACTS ON RECYCLING.” Web Accessed April 25, 2015.
4 Keep America Beautiful. “Recycling Facts & Statistics.” Web Accessed April 25, 2015.
5 America Recycles Day 2019 Web Accessed November 2019.
6 America Recycles Day 2019 Web Accessed November 2019.
7 America Recycles Day 2019 Web Accessed November 2019.