Sustainable sourcing tops Asian Cosmetics Summit agenda

Set to be hosted in Hong Kong on 11-13th November, key beauty industry professionals will gather to debate some of the major ethical & ecological issues facing the Asian cosmetics industry including economic advancement or conservation, raw material ethical sourcing, and novel green ingredients.

Although the cosmetics industry has become global, divisions are occurring in terms of regulations and standards. Most fragmentation is occurring in Asia where major country markets have different interpretations of cosmetic products.

Speaker programme​

For the first time, the summit will give an update on the legislative framework for cosmetic products in Europe, the US and Asian countries. Details will be given of new EU regulations, which are increasingly perceived as a barrier to market entry by non-European brands.

Proceeding speakers will give best-practices in raw material ethical sourcing, showing how economic and ecological development can be intertwined. The use of biodiversity charters and sourcing programmes will also be debated.

Whilst other papers will look at the mushrooming of green standards, such as natural, organic, fair trade, and green spa.

Dr. Muhammed Majeed, founder of international ingredients firm Sabinsa, will set the tone for the summit with his opening keynote on sustainable sourcing. He will explain why a major ethical dilemma Asian countries face is ‘economic advancement or conservation?’

While Dr. Fred Zuelli from Mibelle Biochemistry is set to discuss the sustainable harvesting of actives from agricultural raw material. Other topics include marine ingredients, emerging natural actives, and sustainable processing methods.

Asia based sustainability issues​

According to organisers Organic Monitor, rapid economic development and industrialization have had a heavy toll on Asian ecosystems and although the region has become an international source of cosmetic ingredients, the ecological price has been high.

"Asia has lost 95 per cent of its primary, uncut forests, whilst individual countries have lost 70-90 per cent of their natural habitats," ​they said. 

Furthermore they reckon that the production of palm oil, a ubiquitous ingredient in personal care products has been directly responsible for the destruction of rainforests in South-East Asia, putting many animal and plant species to near extinction.

For more information on the Summit​, please see here.