Reimagining Beauty: Circularity, Collaboration, and Forest-Friendly Futures

This month, I had the opportunity to join a thought-provoking conversation at the Sustainable Cosmetics Summit in New York City, where industry leaders came together to explore the path toward circularity in the beauty and personal care sector.

I joined the panel, The Transition to Circularity, alongside Colgate-Palmolive, Unilever, and W.S. Badger Company — brands that shape the everyday lives of millions. Together, we unpacked how companies can rethink material use, reduce waste, and advance truly circular systems that lighten environmental impact and build long-term resilience.

How a product is made and the materials it uses matter just as much as how well the product performs. This is especially true in an industry where packaging is often designed for one-time use, yet comes at a long-term cost to the world’s forests, climate, and biodiversity. This impact becomes clear when you consider that more than 10% of global logging pressure on the world’s forests is driven by the demand for paper packaging.

The conversation: from intention to action

It was energizing to be part of a conversation where leading beauty brands are leaning into the challenge of reducing packaging impacts — not just in principle, but in practice. While perspectives varied, there was shared momentum around the need to move beyond recyclability alone. True circularity starts at the source: by reimagining the materials we rely on.

I spoke about the 3 billion trees that are logged each year for paper packaging — many from the world’s last-standing Ancient and Endangered Forests. Shifting away from fossil-based plastics is critical, but without care, a pivot to paper risks replacing one environmental crisis with another.

What was clear, though, was the appetite for solutions. There’s growing interest in Next Gen alternatives like packaging made from agricultural residues — a resource that’s typically burned or landfilled. Through our Pack4Good initiative, Canopy is working with brands and innovators to bring these forest-free solutions to market at scale. These alternatives are real, available, and ready to meet the performance and sustainability needs of beauty brands shaping the future of packaging.

What stood out

• Collaboration is key. No single company can shift an entire system on its own. But when brands come together through pre-competitive partnerships and shared roadmaps, we unlock the potential to fast-track material innovation and drive the kind of bold transformation our planet needs.
• Today’s consumers are curious, informed, and values-driven. The next generation of buyers is asking sharper questions about sourcing, impact, and authenticity — and expecting answers. Transparency is no longer a brand differentiator; it’s the baseline for trust.
• Innovation is outpacing infrastructure — and that’s our opportunity. From circular refill models to cutting-edge Next Gen fibre solutions, the ideas are here, and they’re promising. What’s needed now is the investment, policy alignment, and cross-sector commitment to scale them swiftly, equitably, and at the pace this moment demands.

What’s Next

It’s clear: the beauty and personal care sector has a powerful role to play in accelerating the shift to truly circular systems — and many brands are ready to lead.

At Canopy, we partner with forward-thinking companies to move away from forest fibre and towards low-impact, circular Next Gen alternatives. Beauty should never come at the cost of Ancient and Endangered Forests — and today, the solutions exist to align your packaging with both brand values and planetary boundaries.

Joining Pack4Good means future-proofing your packaging portfolio, building consumer trust, and helping safeguard the world’s most vital forests. If your brand is ready to take the next step, we’re here to make that transition both real and forest-friendly.

Let’s build what’s next — together.

If your company is ready to take the next step toward circular packaging, we’re here to help make that transition real and forest-friendly.