WasteandEnvironmentalPollution
Approach to Waste and Environmental Pollution
The Milbon Group has established the Milbon Group Environmental Policy as a guideline for fulfilling our responsibilities to the global environment in all processes, from product development to procurement of raw materials, manufacturing, distribution, and sales to consumer use and disposal. We have selected environmental pollution—including waste and container packaging—as a priority theme, and are promoting efforts to reduce environmental impact.
Growing Social Awareness
The Paris Agreement was adopted in 2015 to address the global challenge of climate change. Two long-term global goals were agreed upon: to keep the global average temperature increase well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C (2°C target) and to achieve equilibrium between anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and removals by sinks in the second half of this century.
Many countries and regions are working to achieve these goals by becoming carbon neutral by 2050.
While plastic packaging materials have become indispensable in terms of stable supply and economic efficiency, many of them are fossil-derived, and use a large amount of fossil fuel in their production. In addition, since a large amount of fossil fuels are used in the disposal of plastic packaging materials, there is a need to reduce plastic waste and promote recycling in order to achieve carbon neutrality.
Recognition as the Milbon Group
We strongly believe that by not only reducing the amount of fossil-based plastics used across all processes from the development to the disposal of packaging materials, but also promoting the reuse and recycling of packaging materials is extremely important to safeguard the global environment and human health, as well as to ensure business continuity.
In addition, through hair professionals, we have the opportunity to earn the trust of our customers and society by creating a beauty industry that leads to beauty and spiritual enrichment, thereby helping to realize a sustainable society.
Target Setting and Direction of Initiatives
In promoting sustainability, we have identified the five most important issues, and have set the following targets for container packaging.
Reduction rate of petroleum-derived virgin plastic usage: 15% reduction by 2026, 30% reduction by 2030
Compared to 2020 levels, per unit of sales
To achieve the above targets, we will take a 4R approach (Reduce, Replace, Reuse, Recycle), focusing on reducing materials used in packaging.
Progress toward achieving targets
| FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reduction rate of petroleum-derived virgin plastic | 3.7％ | 0.4％ | 9.2％ |
Status of Specific Actions
Reducing plastic usage
We are reducing the amount of plastic used in packaging materials.
（1） Downsized hair colorant caps
In 2022, we launched the ENOG brand of hair coloring products, and adopted a new, downsized cap for its packaging. In developing the miniaturized cap, we succeeded in reducing the amount of plastic used per cap by about 54%, from 3.5 g to 1.6 g, while maintaining the ease of opening the cap.
We are also progressively expanding this cap to our other brands of hair coloring products. At Milbon, shipments of 1st agents (colorants) account for about 40% of all product shipments (based on FY2020 results), and once the changeover is made to the new cap for all Milbon hair coloring products, we expect to reduce the amount of plastic used by about 55 tons per year. This equates to approximately 5.9% of the amount of plastic used in our domestically produced goods (based on the amount of plastic used at the Milbon Yumegaoka Factory FY2020).
（2） Elimination and miniaturization of caps according to refill pouch size
Conventional hair care refill pouches all came with a cap for the spout regardless of the size. We have eliminated caps for single-use 400 ml pouches and substituted downsized caps for 600 ml and 1,000 ml pouches which cannot be refilled in one go. This initiative is expected to reduce plastic usage by 5.7 tons per year.
Reduction of plastic usage by changing cap specifications for refill pouches
（3） Reduction of plastic usage by thinning container bottles
With respect to the Aujua brand, we have succeeded in reducing the thickness of 17 leave-in treatments and 34 500ml bottles while maintaining the conventional ease of use and quality. This initiative is expected to reduce plastic usage by approximately 4.8 tons per year.
We have adopted thinner-walled bottles for leave-in treatments, starting with the new Aujua INMETRY in 2023, and for 500ml bottles starting with the new Aujua PRESEDIA in 2024. Existing products will also be switched over gradually.
Replacing plastic materials
Active use of bioplastics
By replacing some petroleum-derived plastics with plant-derived plastics and blending them into product packaging, we are reducing the amount of plastic used while maintaining container quality.
COLOR GADGET Color Shampoo launched in September 2022, uses bio-PET, and Mizulisse uses bio-PE, which is expected to reduce annual emissions by approximately 1 ton.
Reusing containers
Recommending refill pouches
Milbon has been selling refill pouches for shampoo, hair treatment, and professional-use salon care for over20 years, promoting the continued use of container bottles.
Among our Aujua salon treatment products, we have adopted refill pouches for the new Aujua INMETRY launched in 2023.
By switching from the conventional 180g tubes to 500g pouches + standard empty containers for professional use, we can contribute to a reduction of about 5.5 tons of plastic per year.
Switching to materials suitable for recycling
Since October 2021, we have been participating in Kobe Plastic Next: Joining Forces to Recycle Refill Packs, a collaboration with Kobe City and retailers, consumer goods manufacturers, and recyclers to achieve a recycling-oriented society. The aim of this collaborative project is to achieve “horizontal recycling” by placing collection boxes in various locations throughout the city, collecting and sorting used household and personal care refill packs, such as detergents and shampoos, and recycling them back into refill packs.
As part of this initiative, we are switching Milbon’s refill pouches (1,000 ml) from the previous aluminum pouches to aluminum vapor-deposited pouches, and from paper labels to plastic labels as needed, in order to use materials suited for horizontal recycling.
