Under the new situation of energy conservation and environmental protection, especially the tightening of China's environmental protection standards, the tightening of environmental law enforcement and the upgrading and transformation of polluting enterprises, more and more enterprises need to consider more in environmental protection. As far as the cosmetics industry is concerned, the amount of wastewater produced is small, but the treatment difficulty is not small. In addition to the wastewater from cosmetics production, the pollution prevention and control of the cosmetics industry is also closely related to the "plastic ban" action in recent years.
On September 30, 2020, L'Oreal Yichang Tianmei factory commissioned the water circulation project. According to L'Oreal, this is its "first water recycling plant in the Asia Pacific region and the fifth water recycling plant in the world". Yichang Tianmei plant will achieve new achievements after achieving "zero carbon emission" in 2015 and zero landfill in 2019.
It is reported that the operation of the plant is expected to reduce the consumption of tap water by about 16000 tons per year.
Indeed, under the new situation of energy conservation and environmental protection, especially the tightening of China's environmental protection standards, the tightening of environmental law enforcement and the upgrading and transformation of polluting enterprises, more and more enterprises need to consider more in environmental protection.
As far as the cosmetics industry is concerned, the amount of wastewater produced is small, but the treatment difficulty is not small. Generally, the water quality fluctuates greatly, there are many toxic and harmful substances, and the concentrations of COD, Las, SS and oil content are relatively high. Moreover, due to complex processes and many by-products, the composition of wastewater is relatively more complex. Some cosmetics production wastewater also has characteristics such as high chromaticity and many organic pollutants.
This also shows the importance of wastewater treatment in the cosmetics industry. Common processes include pretreatment, biochemical treatment, water oil separation, coagulation sedimentation, electrolysis, adsorption, as well as the popular membrane methods - reverse osmosis, nanofiltration, etc. The aforementioned L'Oreal new water circulation plant adopts the system of "membrane bioreactor + reverse osmosis membrane + nanofiltration membrane", and the water quality meets the national drinking water standard.
In addition to the wastewater from cosmetics production, the pollution prevention and control of the cosmetics industry is also closely related to the "plastic ban" action in recent years.
The first is plastic beads. I believe many people are deeply impressed by the popular report that some facial cleansers and toothpaste products add micro plastic particles. A study in the UK even said that "the use of bath products containing plastic beads can cause 100000 plastic beads to enter the water body each time", which has also triggered a hot topic - marine environmental protection.
The threat of micro plastics to the marine environment will not be repeated here. Cosmetics contain micro plastics and are easy to enter the water body, which has also attracted attention. In 2019, the State Food and Drug Administration replied to the proposal on banning plastic beads in personal care and cosmetics put forward by CPPCC members, saying that it has carried out pilot monitoring and specific research on marine plastic beads, and has also organized special research on the use of plastic beads in cosmetics, "considering restricting or banning the use of plastic beads in cosmetics and other related products".
The detailed standard for prohibition management of relevant plastic products (version 2020) has clearly mentioned the category of "daily chemical products containing plastic beads" that "in order to scrub, exfoliate and clean, it is intended to add washing cosmetics with solid plastic particles with particle size less than 5mm (such as bath agent, cleanser, scrub cream, shampoo, etc.) and toothpaste and tooth powder".
The second is the plastic packaging widely used in the cosmetics industry.
Plastic packaging using HDPE, pet, PP, PVC, PS, PMMA and other raw materials has been criticized by environmentalists for the large consumption and the difficulty of recycling. The Shanghai garbage sorting and releasing guide explicitly defined the "latex tank" as a waste plastic in the recyclable category. The Shenzhen garbage classification guide also appeared "shower gel bottle". However, this low value recyclable material still depends on the garbage sorting consciousness and the intelligent garbage sorting recovery box.
Whether it can be recycled, whether it should be burned and how to recycle are in front of us. Under the great change, cosmetics enterprises may need to seek more environmentally friendly packaging strategies.
The opinions of the Ministry of ecological environment of the national development and Reform Commission on Further Strengthening the treatment of plastic pollution clearly stipulates that the production of daily chemical products containing plastic beads will be prohibited by the end of 2020; By the end of 2022, the sale of daily chemical products containing plastic beads will be prohibited.
E-commerce, express delivery, takeout, supermarkets, hotels, hotels and fairs were named first, but of course, no one can get around the stem of plastic packaging change. This is tantamount to giving major markets, including the cosmetics industry, a preparatory period.
