Cosmetic reuse: towards industrial-scale deployment

After more than two years of experimentation, the ReCosm coalition, led by Circul’R with the support of Citeo, has published a White Paper structuring the sector. Conducted between 2024 and 2025 across 45 points of sale, the initiative brought together 15 companies, including 13 brands (Aroma-Zone, Chanel Beauté, Clarins, Estée Lauder, La Rosée, Melvita, L’Oréal, L’Oréal Luxe, Naos, Pierre Fabre, Sephora Collection, SVR and Yves Rocher), and 2 retailers (Nocibé and Sephora), covering more than 200 product lines. A total of 12,000 containers were collected and 5,300 washed (breakage rate <1%). 

The results highlight strong potential: 95% of consumers say they are willing to participate, 92% rate the scheme positively and 76% report increased likelihood to repurchase, despite return rates still varying significantly across channels (up to 18.6% in integrated retail). From an environmental standpoint, reuse becomes more efficient from the second cycle onwards, delivering impact reductions of 12% to 25%. 

Technical and sanitary feasibility has been validated, while economic viability appears achievable at scale, with up to €0.20 margin per product. However, scaling up will require return rates of around 60%, alongside further standardisation, infrastructure development and reverse logistics optimisation.