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With sustainability coming to the forefront, a new summit aims to make the beauty industry more sustainable by focusing on practical initiatives.

Taking place in New York City on March 24–26, 2010, the Sustainable Cosmetics Summit aims to bring together key organizations in the beauty industry to debate and discuss sustainability in a high-level forum. The new summit focuses on key industry issues such as ethical ingredient sourcing, green marketing, ecological packaging, sustainable partnerships, eco-labels, green formulations and financing issues. The three-day summit comprises a two-day conference program preceded by two interactive workshops.

Horst Rechelbacher, founder of Aveda and Intelligent Nutrients, will once again open this summit with his opening keynote ‘Inconvenient Truths for the Beauty Industry’. Mike Indursky, Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer of Burt’s Bees, will show how sustainability can be integrated into a company’s business ethos. Other papers in the Sustainability Pathways session will look at practical approaches to reduce the environmental impact of cosmetic products.

Although there has been much anticipation of natural and organic cosmetic standards, few have had an impact in North America. The second session of the summit focuses on eco-labels and regulatory developments, with an update on leading initiatives in North America and Europe. Leading certification European agencies will provide details of the Cosmos standard and NaTrue initiative. A major U.S. retailer will provide viewpoints on eco-labels and standards. The session ends with a panel discussion that discusses if eco-labels are the answer to greater consumer assurance.

Day two of the conference focuses on ethical marketing. With many beauty companies accused of greenwashing and others struggling to communicate sustainable values, this session looks at marketing best-practices. Topics will cover green marketing challenges, sustainable brand development, potential of social media, ethical retailing innovations and consumer behavior toward natural personal care products. CEOs of leading natural cosmetic firms such as Jurlique, Weleda and Kiss My Face comprise the panel that will discuss how sustainability can give a competitive advantage.

The final session of the conference program covers two of the critical issues companies face with natural cosmetics: investments and green formulations. A large number of small-medium size companies characterize the natural cosmetics industry, with many seeking financing for business growth. A leading investment firm will discuss the financing and investment options available to beauty companies, highlighting the sources, advantages and disadvantages of each. The second break-off session looks at how some of the major technical hurdles to formulating natural cosmetics can be overcome.

The conference is preceded by two interactive workshops conducted by Organic Monitor. Judi Beerling, head of technical research, will undertake a detailed analysis and comparative assessment of natural and organic cosmetic standards. A critical review is undertaken of all leading standards in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and other regions. The second workshop on March 24 will assess business opportunities in the global market for natural and organic cosmetics. Although global sales are increasing by more than $1 billion a year, Organic Monitor finds few new entrants have realized business opportunities. The workshop analyzes the global natural and organic cosmetics market, highlighting the major trends and developments and identifies growth openings.

About the Summit
Organized by Organic Monitor, the aim of the Sustainable Cosmetics Summit is to encourage sustainability in the beauty industry by debating key issues concerning sustainability, natural, organic, fair trade and ecological products. The North American edition of the summit will take place at Grand Hyatt hotel, New York on 24-26th March 2010.  More details is available from www.sustainablecosmeticssummit.com

Certification for the NSF/ANSI 305 standard for organic personal care and beauty products has begun. The ‘Contains Organic Ingredients’ seal gives manufacturers an alternative to the USDA’s organic seal which is applicable only to products that are made up of agricultural ingredients and demands 95 percent organic ingredients.

NSF/ANSI 305 has been in development for some time and its official launch follows the successful testing of the standard and certification process on a handful of manufacturers.

“We had to run some products through the system to make sure it was working properly, so there are in fact a few products already on the market carrying the NSF seal,” said Joe Smillie, senior vice president of QAI, an organic certifier which certifies to NSF/ANSI 305.

This testing period was successful, according to Smillie, and now the standard is open to certification applications.

Hopeful applicants can expect approximately 2 months processing time, from the submission of a full and completed application form; although, the process in total can take up to three months depending on how many modifications need to be made to the application.

NSF/ANSI 305 joins a number of other personal care and beauty standards available on the international marketplace.

Research by Organic Monitor finds that BDIH and Ecocert have the highest take-up rates in Europe, whereas NaTrue and the Soil Association have widespread recognition but lower uptake rates.

In the US, the Natural Products Association offers a natural standard for personal care products, and the USDA offers an organic standard for personal care products based on agricultural products. However, these standards are by no means national entities and some have significant standing and recognition outside their geographical regions.

Nevertheless, Organic Monitor believes there are significant differences between the markets, notably in certification take-up rates. In contrast to Europe, where the business research company suggests approximately two-thirds of organic and natural products have some form of certification, only 5 percent are certified in the US.

Sustainable Cosmetics Summit
Natural & organic cosmetic standards will be featured in the upcoming Sustainable Cosmetics Summit, taking place in New York on 24-26th March 2010. A dedicated workshop will compare and contrast the major standards, looking at the major technical issues involved in adoption.

The summit will also bring together the leading certification agencies in North America and Europe to give an update on their respective standards and enable cosmetic companies & ingredient suppliers to make key decisions on the certification route. More details

Source: Cosmetics Design / Organic Monitor
 

American producers increased their plantings of organic cotton by 26 percent in 2009, according to preliminary data collected by the Organic Trade Association.

Analysis of available data collected by an OTA survey of U.S. organic cotton producers and preliminary data from the Texas Organic Cotton Marketing Cooperative put planted area at 10,731 acres in 2009, up from an estimated 8,539 acres in 2008.

The 2009 plantings are the highest since 2001, when 11,586 acres of organic cotton were planted by U.S. cotton growers. (U.S. producers planted 9.14 million acres of upland and Pima cotton conventionally in 2009, according to USDA.)

Harvested acreage figures for 2009 are not yet available. However, estimates show that this could be as much as 9,555 acres, up from 7,289 acres harvested in 2008.

Harvested organic cotton area in 2008 yielded 7,026 bales, of which 6,466 bales were upland cotton and 560 bales were Pima cotton. This yield was significantly less than the 14,025 bales of organic cotton harvested from 8,510 acres in 2007. These yield differences reflected the extremely difficult weather conditions, including wind, hail and drought, in 2008 in contrast to excellent growing conditions in 2007.

Other survey findings revealed that the average price per pound farmers received for organic cotton in 2008 decreased from the previous year and ranged from 52 cents to $1.35 for organic upland cotton in 2008, compared to $1 to $1.50 in 2007. Organic Pima cotton prices ranged from $1.05 to $3 in 2007, compared to $1.75 in 2008.

When asked what their greatest barriers are to planting more cotton in 2010, growers cited finding a market for their cotton, finding a market that will pay value-added costs of organic products, production challenges such as weeds and insects, weed control, and labor costs. Growers also cited competition from international organic cotton producers as well as the cost of transition to organic.

To enhance their ability to market organic cotton, survey participants suggested that the National Organic Program continue to allow organic growers to use acid-delinted cotton seed for planting and cited the need for greater enforcement for foreign certifications. Growers also said they needed further promotion geared toward organic products and greater consumer demand.

Upcoming Report: #1001-80 The European Market for Ethical Textiles

Source: Delta Farm Press