As you know, sustainable beauty is becoming a must for cosmetics brands. Recyclable packaging like Asahi KASEI in Japan and natural ingredients, for example, are becoming consumer requirements.

To implement this traceability or prove its commitments to consumers, adopting a digital platform based on blockchain technology is becoming one of the most effective means.

The latest COSMETIC 360 trade show showed that the cosmetics sector is seeking to optimize its environmental impact and boost its CSR approach.

Companies are faced with the challenge of implementing both upstream traceability to ensure the transparency demanded by consumers, and a recycling solution for packaging.

Optimizing environmental impact: Towards Eco-responsible Beauty

The cosmetics industry is well aware of the importance of reducing its ecological footprint. At Cosmetic 360, many companies highlighted major advances in the development of eco-responsible products. Environmentally-friendly formulations, the use of recyclable packaging and the reduction of plastic waste were the focus of attention.

Some companies have adopted innovative approaches, such as using sustainable raw materials from organic farming or implementing energy-efficient manufacturing processes. The cosmetics industry is thus actively committed to minimizing its impact on the planet, while offering quality products.

Boosting CSR: From Beauty to Social Commitment

Corporate Social Responsibility has become an essential criterion for consumers concerned about the ethics of the brands they choose. At Cosmetic 360, numerous companies shared their CSR initiatives, which go beyond the simple production of cosmetics.

Companies in the cosmetics sector are increasingly integrating CSR into their DNA, not only in response to consumer expectations, but also as a proactive approach to making a positive contribution to society.

Traceability, a Pillar of Trust: From Production to Consumption

The traceability of cosmetics is a major challenge, from supply chain to distribution. Consumers now demand total transparency on the origin of ingredients, production methods and working conditions.

Traceability is not only a mark of confidence for consumers, it is also crucial to meeting increasing regulatory standards and ensuring product quality. Cosmetics companies are investing heavily in robust traceability systems to boost public confidence and meet the challenges of counterfeiting.

To implement this traceability or prove its commitments to consumers, one of the best means available to companies is a digital platform based on blockchain :

AT BLOCKCHAIN has developed a traceability and compliance solution for cosmetics products. This platform enables cosmetics companies to monitor their supply chain in real time, prove their marketing commitments, comply with AGEC law requirements, reinforce their CSR policy, combat fraud or counterfeiting, demonstrate their ethical commitment, and thus gain transparency vis-à-vis consumers, and much more.

An example with Asahi Kasei Pharma working in partnership with IBM Japan to design BLUE PLASTICS-TRANSPARENT SUPPLY, a digital platform that aims to foster a circular economy by tracking the traceability of recycled plastic materials using blockchain technology. Project participants also include Toyama Environmental Improvements, Mobius Packaging and Lion. 

A QR code on the packaging allows consumers to access blockchain data that confirms the percentage of recycled plastic used and provides details of the recycling process.

Asahi Kasei aims to promote a circular economy and boost consumer confidence in sustainability claims through plastics traceability.

The solution AT BLOCKCHAIN integrating the platform TRANSPARENT SUPPLY IBM Traceability is a digital platform for brand owners, recyclers and packaging manufacturers to securely exchange and record data on the life cycle of recycled plastic. 

The benefits of the solution : 

• Reinforcing consumer confidence in product claims.
• Protection against accusations of greenwashing, i.e. making misleading claims about a product's sustainability without being able to back them up with verifiable data and evidence.
• Empowering consumers to make more informed purchasing decisions
• The positive long-term impact on changing consumer behavior Product authentication and certification in the supply chain
• Rapid detection of errors and non-conformities
• Improving transparency to boost consumer confidence
• Optimizing logistics processes

Find out more, click here
Contact us, click here.

For further information:

AT BLOCKCHAIN
at-blockchain-software.com
7 rue de la Croix Martre
91120 Palaiseau
Tel: +33 (0)7 67 04 35 44

In both the food and cosmetics sectors, recent innovations are often based on these products. In the cosmetics department, you'll find shaving and styling foams, shampoos and bubble baths, skincare creams and other make-up products. Increasingly, all are available in foam, emulsion or emulsion foam form. 

Matter in all its states

But what exactly is foam? Technically, a foam is obtained by dispersing a volume of gas (usually large) in a volume of liquid (usually smaller). Similarly, an emulsion is the result of dispersing a liquid (often oil) in another non-miscible liquid (often water). In parallel, surfactants or other stabilizing agents (polymers, proteins, solid particles, etc.) need to be added to give these dispersions a sufficiently long life. The science of foams and emulsions lies precisely between physics and chemistry, with formulation playing a major role in establishing the key mechanisms for achieving the optimum shelf life for an application. 

Unique properties for cosmetic applications

The appeal of these dispersions - foams and emulsions - lies in the fact that their properties are unique and very different from those that would be obtained using simple liquid solutions alone. This is particularly striking when it comes to the mechanical (or rheological) properties that characterize the texture of the product: by converting to foam or emulsion form, we can obtain an original material with both solid and liquid behavior, which we describe as viscoelastic and which will depend on the stress applied, i.e. the way in which it is used. In this way, the finished product can be held in the hand without flowing, but also spread easily during application. 

This intermediary behavior between solid and liquid plays a fundamental role in the sensory perception of the product. Understanding and mastering these sensory aspects is where many of the challenges in innovation lie. Finally, foams and emulsions enable active ingredients to be compartmentalized: lipophilic compounds, for example, can be confined within oil droplets. This compartmentalization enables these agents to be protected over time, then re-injected during use.

Research to understand and innovate

However, despite the large number of products already on the market, certain mysteries still surround the science of foams and emulsions. In particular, the dependence of stability on formulation often remains to be understood. In the current context, there is a strong demand to reduce the number of chemical ingredients in these formulations and to replace them with "greener" ingredients. To innovate in these areas, it is crucial to understand how they work. In addition, current research is seeking to broaden the range of possible foam and emulsion-based materials: more understanding of emulsion foams, gelled foams and emulsions, non-aqueous foams or "water-in-water" dispersions will enable us to move towards new applications.

To help with these various developments, CNRS Formation Entreprisethe CNRS's continuing education organization, is offering a a course designed to pass on current knowledge about foams and emulsions for a non-expert audience. The course is organized at the Institut Charles Sadron in Strasbourg by Wiebke Drenckhan, CNRS Research Director, winner of the CNRS Bronze Medal in 2015 and the Mediation Medal in 2023, as well as the Irène Joliot-Curie Prize for Young Woman Scientist of the Year in 2013, and Arnaud Saint-Jalmes, CNRS Research Director at the Institut de Physique de Rennes, where he has been Deputy Director for the last five years. The two researchers, who have over 25 years' expertise in the field of foams and emulsions, regularly work with companies to support their innovation initiatives. 

The central aim of the course is to develop the right reactions and reflexes for dealing with problems involving foams and emulsions. The aim is to acquire a global, multi-scale vision of this field, in order to understand the relationship between physical and chemical parameters in these materials. The program focuses on the acquisition of fundamental physico-chemical notions on the manufacture of foams and emulsions, their structure, their stability over time and their macroscopic properties. The course relies heavily on experimental sessions, enabling students to discover different characterization techniques.

Liquid foams and emulsions: generation, stability and propertiesfrom May 14 to 16, 2024, a training course offered by CNRS Formation Entreprises.