A partnership between LanzaTech, Total and L’Oréal has brought about what the trio say is the world’s first sustainable packaging made from captured and recycled carbon emissions.
L’Oréal explained that the successful conversion process takes place in three steps. Firstly, LanzaTech captures industrial carbon emissions and converts them into ethanol using a biological process; Total then coverts the ethanol into ethylene before polymerising it into polyethylene; and L’Oréal uses the polyethylene to produce packaging.
The personal care firm said that the method is a technological and industrial success which proves that industrial carbon emissions can be used to produce plastic packaging. It added that the partners now intend to continue working together to scale the production of the plastics.
LanzaTech CEO, Jennifer Holmgren, said, “This partnership is based on a shared goal of creating a cleaner planet for everyone. We are grateful to both L’Oréal and Total for their commitment to reducing the carbon intensity of theiractivities. Together, we can reduce the carbon footprint of packaging by converting carbon emissions into useful products, making single-use carbon a thing of the past.”
Senior vice president of Total, Valérie Goff, commented, “This partnership is an excellent example of collaboration between industrial firms in developing the plastics of the future produced from recycled carbon and meets a strong demand from our customers. The development of this new pathway of valuing industrial carbon emissions also contributes to the Group’s commitment to get to net zero in Europe by 2050.”
Jacques Playe, L’Oréal packaging and development director, said, “L’Oréal is constantly improving the environmental footprint of its packaging. With this innovation converting carbon emissions into polyethylene, we aim to develop new sustainable packaging solution. We have the ambition to use this sustainable material in our bottle of shampoo and conditioner by 2024 and we hope other companies will join us in using this breakthrough innovation.”
