Dr Peter Röthlisberger – Lipoid Kosmetik, Switzerland SUSTAINABILITY
Sustainability means actions, not just words
Lipoid Kosmetik AG was founded in 1972 under the name Cosmetochem for the purpose of manufacturing botanical extracts for the cosmetics market. Early on, Cosmetochem successfully entered international markets and made itself a very good name with its products. Since 2007, Cosmetochem has belonged to the Lipoid Group, a pioneer in the area of high-quality phospholipids for the pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetics industries. In 2013, the sales activities of the Lipoid Group in the cosmetics sector were combined with those of Cosmetochem and united under the umbrella of Lipoid Kosmetik AG, which is headquartered in Steinhausen, Switzerland. The goal of the merger was to be able to serve the cosmetics market more purposefully and with a broader portfolio.
The main pillars of CSR Business success is not only based on economic performance, it is also very important to feel and take responsibility for the environment and society. Our sustainably policy is an integral part of our certified ISO 9001:2008 system, with all relevant parts such as setting and assessment of objects, documentation and internal auditing. We continuously improve and enhance our activities for environmental protection and social fairness and examine annually the achievement of our sustainability objectives. We have defined three main areas: economic, environmental and social aspects. These areas are covered by the following pillars: fair business practice with an ethical and behavioural codex, economic performance and long-term view, social engagement, sustainable sourcing, employee involvement, stakeholder engagement, biodiversity strategy, water management, waste management, energy and emission management and last but not least product quality and safety. The topics of environmental protection, social responsibility and sustainability were of the greatest significance from the very beginning. We see that this trend, which has been emerging for years, is now
accelerating due to the taking up of this topic by the large cosmetics companies. Lipoid Kosmetik, for example, is well positioned here, because many of our efforts have been in precisely this direction anyway. We have documented some of our efforts in our sustainability report and our commitment to sustainability and ethical behaviour is part of the corporate philosophy. The main point here is that a business should not just talk about them; these topics should be put into reality in all areas at all times.
Avoiding issues such as green washing
As a manufacturer of cosmetic raw material supplying to large and small cosmetic industries worldwide (B2B), green washing
is for us not a big issue: from an early stage the main focus of the business was on natural ingredients. Our documentation and independent evaluation by Ecovadis and the Gold rating, and last but not least, our direct customers are in the situation to be able to evaluate the difference between words and deeds. Many of our customers do a proper in-depth evaluation of our real efforts and have the knowledge and resources available to do. This is often not possible for the end product consumer. We also try to avoid green washing with a restricted communication about our social engagement: Do not shout from the rooftops. Also here, deeds are more important than words. To sum up and speaking for us: if you
Environmental protection, social responsibility and sustainability are of the greatest significance. February 2016 PERSONAL CARE 49
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