Resource and environmental profile evaluation of personal care and cosmetic products with life cycle assessment methodology

Abstract

Resource and energy depletion have been limiting for many industries, including the personal care and cosmetic products (PCCPs) sector. Moreover, intense use of chemical ingredients has fastened emerging problems occurring in aquatic environments at the end of life of these chemicals. As they have an immense ecological footprint, their fate should be tracked for elimination of the adverse environmental impacts. The PCCPs sector has reached a large trade capacity due to accelerating demands of consumers. As the participation of companies/policymakers to the green initiatives affects the behavior intention of consumers, the sales rate of ecolabelled products have ascended. Correspondingly, manufacturers are required to choose ingredients considering potential improvements towards product formulations, to lessen the environmental impacts of their product chain, to promote their products as environmentally friendly, and to fulfil the consumers' expectations. Under the guidance of ecolabel standards, a selected group of PCCPs (liquid & bar soaps, shampoo, hair conditioner, body cleaning products) was analyzed with LCA methodology. Two products providing the same service in each product category were compared to determine environmental hotspots in their product chain. Although characterization results varied depending on the life cycle stage by composition, consumption, and end-of-life stages, Global Warming Potential (GWP) was the highest impact category for all the selected products. The highest contribution to GWP originated from wastewater treatment (WWT) and transportation processes in hand wash products while in shower products energy use in production & consumption, and the WWT process had the highest impact; 90.3 % and 7.4 %, respectively