LVMH Beauty to develop carbon-neutral packaging with Origin Materials

By

Sarah Ahssen

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Apr 27, 2022

LVMH Beauty, the French luxury group's fragrances and cosmetics division, which includes brands like Christian Dior Parfums and Guerlain, has signed a multi-year partnership deal with Origin Materials, a US company specialised in manufacturing carbon-negative materials. LVMH is looking to buy carbon-negative PET for producing the packaging of its perfumes and beauty products.

“PET produced using Origin’s technology is functionally identical to petroleum-based PET, but has a significantly lower carbon footprint, since it is manufactured from wood residue that absorbs carbon. Origin’s PET is also as recyclable as fossil-based PET within the existing infrastructure, which is critical to creating a circular economy with a significantly reduced carbon footprint,” said Origin Materials which, according to US media, is soon expected to make an investment of approximately $750 million in a plant for transforming wood residue into bio-sourced materials, located in Louisiana, USA.

By joining forces with Origin Materials, the LVMH group, one of the first members of EcoBeautyScore, a consortium that aims to develop an industry-wide environmental impact assessment and scoring system for beauty products, has strengthened its commitment to increased sustainability. Claude Martinez, executive president and CEO of LVMH Beauty, said in a press release: “At LVMH, with our Life 360 programme, we made the decision that our packaging will contain zero plastic from virgin fossil resources in a near future. Origin’s bioplastic technologies are playing a crucial role in helping LVMH achieve our sustainability targets without any compromise on quality.”

LVMH, the world's number one luxury group, generated sales worth €18 billion in Q1 of the 2022 fiscal year, equivalent to a 29% increase over the same quarter last year. Sales for the group’s perfumes and cosmetics division increased by 23%, reaching €1.9 billion.