The US-headquartered company has made green chemistry part of its corporate strategy and attempts to apply the principles throughout the life cycle of its products, from raw materials to the packaging, and beyond.
According to the executive director of strategic developments in R&D, although some suppliers are making great strides in the area, there are not yet enough ingredients for formulators to work with.
“We have to challenge the suppliers to come up with new ingredients,” she said.
For George, green chemistry is all about innovation as it challenges scientists to modify current working practices.
She went on to explain how there were two possible ways to innovate in this area: scientists can either look for ways of minimizing the manufacturing impact of the ingredients used today in cosmetics formulations such as emulsifiers or surfactants, or they can try to come up with totally new methods or ingredients to achieve the desired result in the end formulation that have a lower impact on the environment.