As global attention sharpens on environmental safety, the cosmetics and personal care industries, long overshadowed by their higher-volume counterparts, are entering the spotlight and facing public scrutiny. With that attention comes a growing responsibility to demonstrate environmental stewardship, transparency, and a commitment to sustainable practices. This shift is critical, especially as the global cosmetics and personal care market is projected to surpass $800 billion by 2030.

Unlike the more established laundry and cleaning products sector, the cosmetics and personal care industries are relatively new to systematically assessing environmental safety, including classification and labeling. One key reason lies in differences in product use and treatment requirements. Laundry and cleaning products are used in high volumes and often require wastewater treatment to reduce concentrations to safe environmental levels. This has driven decades of investment from companies and trade associations to generate the necessary safety data.

In contrast, cosmetics and personal care products are typically used in smaller volumes, and have historically received less attention from industry bodies. However, the category is far broader, spanning color cosmetics, hair care (shampoos, conditioners, styling products, dyes), oral care (cleansers, abrasives, whiteners), and skin care (moisturizers, sunscreens, cleansers, and hair removal products). This breadth means a much greater number of ingredients are used, even if in lower quantities, creating complex safety considerations.

While it’s understandable that laundry products once took priority, growing concerns, such as the environmental concerns regarding microplastics and UV filters in sunscreens, have brought cosmetics and personal care products under closer scrutiny. In response, many companies and trade associations have begun investing in environmental data collection to evaluate safety and help guide future testing needs.

Assessing the environmental safety for most cosmetics and personal care product ingredients is a multi-stage approach that begins with data collection and ends with an accurate interpretation of the results. Fortunately, the data collection process follows a similar path to other down-the-drain products (such as laundry and cleaning). To begin with, Waterborne’s scientists use screening-level assessments that include the use of models to predict physical-chemical properties. These models help assess whether a chemical is water soluble, volatile and potentially sorptive to surfaces and partitioning into organisms’ fat layers. Models also include the assessment of bioconcentration and bioaccumulation as well as toxicity to key parts of the ecosystem:  algae, invertebrates, and fish.  

Results from such screening assessments provide a road-map from which to make decisions on whether to test, what to test and why.  Due to the public availability of laboratory-derived data via the European Chemical Agency’s (ECHA) REACH program, our scientists often scrape data from published dossiers and can add them to modeled data to provide companies with a holistic perspective on what is currently known about currently marketed product ingredients. All the properties gained through modeling can also provide important classification and labeling designations that can affect decisions in using various ingredients, such as:  PBT (persistent, bioaccumulative, toxic), ED (endocrine disruption), PMT (persistent, mobile, toxic), and LRTP (long-range transport potential). For the cosmetic and personal care products businesses, obtaining such a road map is critical for making strategic decisions that will result in the best return on environmental testing investments.  

Modeling the chemicals is only the first step. We’ve found the analysis and reporting of the results critical to providing companies with accurate next steps. For example, our experience has taught us that there are errors in both models (EPISUITE and ECOSAR) and REACH. If not fully understood, these errors from these two sources (models and REACH) alone may lead to inappropriate decisions, such as the expansion of the use of some chemicals or unnecessarily getting rid of others from products. As a result, proper interpretation requires specialized expertise to help companies avoid costly missteps while conserving valuable resources.

Screening-level to comprehensive environmental assessments are increasingly important for the down-the-drain industry, including cosmetics, personal care, and laundry and cleaning products. These assessments support informed testing strategies and responsible environmental decision-making. Waterborne has experience developing tools that assist companies in evaluating environmental safety in a practical and accessible way.