Article

The reuse of cosmetic packaging cannot be scaled through isolated initiatives. It requires shared standards, pooled infrastructure, coordinated reverse logistics and unified consumer communication: conditions that all reach beyond the remit of a single company or retailer.

That is the conclusion that led Circul'R - with the operational and financial support of Citeo - to launch the Cosmetics Reuse Coalition (ReCosm) in December 2023: the first collective sector initiative dedicated to trialling packaging reuse in the French cosmetics industry.

The members of the ReCosm Coalition

The ReCosm Coalition brings together 13 major beauty brands and 2 retailers, representative of the diversity of the sector: mass-market brands, premium brands, natural brands and specialist retail channels:

Brands: Aroma-Zone, Chanel Beauté, Clarins, Estée Lauder, La Rosée, Melvita, L'Oréal, L'Oréal Luxe, Naos, Pierre Fabre, Sephora Collection, SVR, Yves Rocher.

Retailers: Nocibé, Sephora.

This line-up reflects a founding conviction: building a viable reuse system in cosmetics requires producers and retailers to commit simultaneously, since their roles in collection and reverse logistics are complementary and interdependent.

Why a sector coalition?

Three imperatives justified a collective rather than individual approach.

• Aggregating flows, a necessary condition for the model to be economically viable. Reusing cosmetic packaging involves fixed costs for collection, washing and reverse logistics that only become absorbable above a certain volume. Pooling between brands and retailers makes it possible to reach that break-even threshold faster than any standalone effort.
• Harmonising standards. Without common eco-design standards for containers, shared washing protocols and traceability standards, each player would have to develop its own solutions at high cost, with no guarantee of interoperability. The Coalition makes it possible to co-build these standards once, to the benefit of the whole sector.
• Collective weight with institutions. Mobilising 15 organisations representative of the sector strengthens the Coalition's ability to influence public authorities on the regulatory framework, notably the reuse targets set by the AGEC law and the European PPWR regulation.

The regulatory framework that makes this work urgent

The cosmetics industry is one of the largest users of single-use packaging in France. The regulatory framework now imposes a binding reduction trajectory:

• The AGEC law sets an end to placing single-use plastic packaging on the market by 2040, with interim targets of 7% of packaging reused by 2025 and 10% by 2027.
• The European PPWR regulation (Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation), which entered into force in 2025 and applies from 12 August 2026, strengthens these requirements across the single market by imposing a harmonised framework for packaging recyclability, reduction and reuse, with targets staged up to 2030 and 2040.

In this context, testing the technical, economic and logistical conditions for reuse today is not simply forward planning. It is an operational necessity if companies are to be able to meet the obligations ahead.

The method: a full-scale trial

The ReCosm Coalition opted for an empirical approach: rather than modelling the feasibility of reuse in theory, it tested it in real conditions across a representative scope.

Between 2024 and 2025, the trial was rolled out in 45 points of sale across France, covering three types of retail: specialist chains, integrated chains and partner pharmacies. More than 200 product references were included in the scheme, following a closed-loop model: in-store collection, industrial washing, refilling and reintroduction into the loop.

Five dimensions were assessed simultaneously: consumer behaviour and take-up, the hygiene performance of washing processes, logistics organisation and traceability, economic viability at different volume scales, and environmental impacts compared with single use through life cycle assessments.

The results

The work of the ReCosm Coalition has resulted in the publication of a White Paper setting out all the findings, methodologies and operational recommendations for scaling a cosmetic packaging reuse system in France.

The detailed learnings - consumer take-up, economic viability thresholds, proven environmental gains, eco-design conditions - are freely available.

Circul'R and the building of sector coalitions

The ReCosm Coalition is part of the approach Circul'R has developed since 2016: bringing together players from the same value chain around a structured collective trial, building on shared learnings and creating the conditions for a scale-up that no single company could achieve alone.

If you would like to know more about the coalition approach or explore taking part in a sector initiative, get in touch with the Circul'R team.