The Big Picture

Water is necessary for our survival and serves as an ingredient in almost everything we do, from food production to manufacturing to power generation. While the cosmetics and personal care sector is not a water-intensive industry, water is used in product formulations, in the manufacturing process, and by consumers when they use or remove our products.

Why It Matters

Water conservation is essential to our world’s future development and many companies, including those in our industry, are learning to do more with less and drive greater efficiency with their use of water resources across all aspects of the product lifecycle.

Industry’s Role

Cosmetics and personal care products companies have implemented strategies to reduce operational water use including:

• Closed-loop cooling systems
• Rainwater harvesting systems
• Methods to optimize industrial processes to reduce or eliminate the need to source water from external networks (i.e., operate with “dry” factories), and
• “Water-smart” products, which can be concentrated or formulated to use less water, formulated without water (anhydrous), water-efficient, require less water to rinse off or are safely absorbed into the wastewater system when washed or rinsed off.