Developing Sustainable Products

The world needs urgent solutions to mitigate climate change and reduce marine plastic pollution. Stakeholders’, including consumer, awareness of climate and environmental issues is expected to increase more than ever. Responding to these changes in consumer awareness is critical to the sustainability of our business. At Shiseido, we strive to cut our environmental impact and create a circular economy through our own packaging development policy: Shiseido’s 5Rs: respect, reduce, reuse, recycle, and replace.

To achieve our goal of 100% sustainable packaging^*1 by 2025, we promote recyclable and reusable designs, as well as the use of biomass-derived and post-consumer recycled (PCR) materials. We are specifically working to reduce packaging weight, develop refillable packaging, and design packaging that is easy to recycle^*2. In addition, we are building a Shiseido circular business model that recycles used packaging as new resources in collaboration with consumers and external partners.

In line with Shiseido’s 5Rs packaging development policy, we are reducing the amount of plastic we use by optimizing the size of packaging to suit the product, reducing packaging weight, and offering refillable packaging.

Our Life Cycle Assessment shows that refillable packaging significantly lowers resource use, waste, and CO₂ emissions compared to continuously disposing of regular (primary) packaging. In order to make a significant contribution to reducing the burden on the environment, we aim to promote the development of these products widely, not only in Japan but also on a global scale.

Since we launched our first refillable product in 1926, we have provided refillable packaging in a wide range of product categories, including skincare and makeup. In 2022, we offered refillable packaging for more than 770 stock keeping units (SKUs) within 30 brands globally. This included increasing refillable packaging under our prestige brand Clé de Peau Beauté and releasing a refillable cream, La Crème. Compared to regular (primary) packaging, the refillable version of La Crème uses 95%^*1 less plastic. In 2022, sales of refillable packaging from Clé de Peau Beauté increased 30% year on year.

We are also incorporating innovative technologies to reduce environmental impact. Through SHISEIDO, in 2023 we became the first company to sell cosmetics in packaging made with LiquiForm® technology^*2. LiquiForm® brings together the “bottle-molding” and “filling” process into a single step. Refillable cosmetics packaging made with LiquiForm ® can reduce plastic usage per packaging by approximately 70%^*3. Moreover, compared to our conventional refillable packaging (of the same volume), this technology can reduce CO₂ emissions across the entire supply chain―from raw material procurement and production to use and disposal―by around 70%^*3.

In 2022, Shiseido China collaborated with China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) and the Alibaba Group to publish China's first white paper on refillable beauty products. Shiseido China will collaborate with MEE and Alibaba to promote the use of refillable beauty products and advocate for greener consumer behavior respectively.

To support and promote recycling, we collect used cosmetics packaging in-store and recycle it as new materials. We work with multiple parties to ensure containers are recycled fully and correctly, including customers, waste collection companies, and other companies.

Our skincare brand IPSA, for example, operates a recycling program to reduce its environmental impact and promote environmental awareness among consumers. In 2022, the brand collected approximately 63,000 (1,400 kg) cosmetics containers in China through 94 stores, and approximately 22,000 containers in Taiwan^*1.

In Japan, we collected around 30,000 *1 used containers through 88 AEON stores in collaboration with Aeon Retail Co., Ltd., TerraCycle Japan^*2, and other companies.

We strive to provide safe and effective products to consumers while complying with cosmetics regulations and respecting the principles of animal protection. For all our cosmetics and quasi drugs, we have established a safety assurance system based on alternative methods using cell cultures or in silico^*1, etc., that do not involve animal testing^*2. We continue to develop effective alternatives to test product safety, and work with administrative agencies in various countries/regions to certify these methods as official, according to the laws and regulations of the given countries/regions.

In March 2020, Shiseido became the first WIPO GREEN^* partner company from the cosmetics industry. In 2022, we granted Toyo University a license to use our low-energy manufacturing technology, which is listed in the WIPO GREEN database. Through joint research, Toyo University developed a low-environmental impact, sustainable hand serum using extract from boysenberries harvested near the university.

In 2022, we jointly developed a cosmetics ingredient using Brewed Protein™^*1, a biodegradable^*2 fiber made of plant-derived biomass developed by Spiber. This environmentally friendly material is being used in Shiseido mascara products to create supple and beautiful eyelashes. We are now looking into further applications of the fiber in other Shiseido products.