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In the heart of Colombia, Alejandro Franco grew up surrounded by the rich aroma of coffee, which was used not just as a beverage but also as a versatile home remedy. In his grandmother’s house, “they were using coffee grounds to help reduce redness and inflammation if a child fell and got a wound,” Franco recalls. “[The family] also used it to dye their hair.”
These childhood memories would later resonate with Franco as he co-founded Kaffe Bueno in 2016, a company now at the forefront of the upcycled beauty movement. Kaffe Bueno uses upcycled coffee grounds as feedstock, transforming what would otherwise be waste into ingredients for products like shampoo and foundation.
Today, the company operates in a rapidly growing market that’s reimagining beauty through the lens of sustainability and circular economy principles. However, as the upcycled beauty market grows, brands face several challenges — from sourcing ingredients to challenging consumer perceptions.
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Upcycled beauty involves transforming food byproducts and waste materials such as apple peels, coffee grounds and olive leftovers into cosmetic ingredients. And it is hitting the mainstream: Estée Lauder Companies-owned Origins is embracing upcycled beauty with its newly launched Youthtopia series, which features upcycled apple peel as a key ingredient. Indie brands are also making their mark: Netherlands-based Food For Skin incorporates upcycled ingredients, while French-Caribbean cosmetics manufacturer Kadalys uses banana byproducts in its formulations. Other notable brands include Circumference and its Waste-Not Sourcing Initiative; Le Prunier, which uses plums; and LOLI Beauty, which incorporates various upcycled food products into its skincare line.
Indie startup Merit’s Great Skin Priming Moisturiser, which launched last month, features ingredients that are sourced from a byproduct of Arctic microalgae, which is sustainably grown in Icelandic reactors for the food industry. (Microalgae is used to boost the nutritional value of various food products such as cereals, dairy and some meat-based goods. It also serves as feedstock for animal and fish farming.) “Our product development team worked in partnership with an innovative ingredient manufacturer to dream up this synergy of ingredients, with food waste at the forefront,” explains Gerri Molina, VP of product innovation at Merit. “It really was the missing piece we needed to bring to market a truly innovative, highly effective moisturiser.”
The benefits of upcycled beauty are significant. In the EU alone, over 58 million tonnes of food waste — about 131 kg per person — are generated annually, according to the European Commission. By repurposing food waste, brands can reduce the need to harvest virgin raw materials, thereby lowering their environmental impact and avoiding the use of petrochemical-based ingredients.
This is particularly important considering the beauty industry’s substantial ecological footprint. According to a report by UK-based consultancy Carbon Trust, the vast majority of the beauty sector’s greenhouse gas emissions come from two activities: consumer use of products and sourcing raw materials to make products and packaging. This includes fossil fuel-based synthetic ingredients, extracted minerals like mica, and raw materials that contribute to deforestation, such as palm oil and wood pulp. For the 10 largest beauty companies assessed in the report, 30-50 per cent of their emissions were attributed to sourcing activities, making this a key priority for the beauty and personal care sector to address. Food waste upcycling is also making waves in the fashion industry. For instance, last year, Veuve Clicquot teamed up with fashion designer and LVMH stablemate Stella McCartney to recycle its grape and cork waste into vegan handbags and shoes.
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The global market for upcycled cosmetic ingredients is projected to more than double in size from $231.5 million in 2021 to $433.5 million by 2031, according to US-based firm Allied Market Research — though it still only represents a small fraction of the wider global beauty industry, which is expected to grow to $653.55 billion by 2028, according to market research company, Euromonitor.
Consumer interest in upcycled beauty and clean beauty products has been gaining momentum, particularly on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. Influencers such as Nara Smith have garnered significant attention for their DIY beauty recipes using natural ingredients. One of Smith’s TikTok videos, where she makes moisturiser from scratch using ingredients like beef tallow (a rendered form of beef or mutton suet), beeswax and jojoba oil, has amassed over 30 million views.
Amanda Oenbring, CEO of the US-based non-profit Upcycled Food Association and Foundation (UFAF), says the upcycled beauty movement has promising potential to scale “from small formulation and application adjustments to dedicated product lines that celebrate functions and novel uses”.
The greenwashing challenge
As the upcycled beauty trend gains momentum, the industry faces a significant risk from greenwashing. “In the beauty industry, it’s very common for brands to use one certified organic ingredient and label their entire product as organic,” says Amarjit Sahota, president of market research company Ecovia Intelligence. “They’ll include a few natural extracts and claim their products are green or natural. Unfortunately, the industry is full of greenwashing.”
Legislation is beginning to play a crucial role. For example, the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which came into effect early last year, requires EU businesses (including qualifying EU subsidiaries of non-EU companies) to report on their environmental and social impacts. Companies must also disclose how their environmental, social and governance (ESG) actions affect their business operations.
It is hoped this push towards greater accountability will drive companies to adopt more transparent and sustainable practices. As regulations like the CSRD tighten, companies are likely to face increased scrutiny over their sustainability claims, potentially leading to more authentic and substantial upcycling efforts in the beauty industry. The move is encouraging for industry players, as it incentivises “more companies to devote capacity and investment to accelerate the shift to practices such as upcycling”, says UFAF’s Oenbring.
Maintaining a premium positioning
A key challenge for many brands, particularly in the prestige segment, is maintaining a premium image while incorporating upcycled ingredients. The perception that “waste” materials are inherently less luxurious can be a hurdle for high-end brands.
This view can be difficult to shift, says Seongmin Sohn, representative consultant at Reach24H Consulting Group, which helps businesses in sectors including cosmetics to overcome barriers to trade. “There isn’t a standard certification process for upcycled beauty products, and introducing new concepts to the market requires significant effort in educating and training consumers,” he says.
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Upcycling brands argue that there’s no quality compromise. “I think the definition of luxury has become so much more about mindfulness and connection and making really conscious choices,” says Amber Garrison, global brand president at Origins. “For consumers of Origins, there’s that connection between wanting products that work and deliver amazing results for their skin. They want products that are naturally derived, that help them connect to nature in their life.”
The brands Vogue Business spoke to emphasise that the same quality standards apply to upcycled ingredients as to any other cosmetic raw material. Anna Crovetto, community lead at upcycled beauty manufacturer The Upcycled Beauty Company, says: “You still have to extract or process that feedstock the same as you would if it was a primary source. You still have to quality control test it. You still have to safety test it. You still have to go through the exact same safety and quality analysis and efficacy as well.”
“At Merit, we’re always looking for ways to improve our environmental and social impact without sacrificing quality,” says Molina. “For us, that means working closely with our suppliers to ensure we abide by third-party standards that outline sourcing best practices.”
Sourcing ingredients
Sourcing high-quality upcycled ingredients in sufficient quantities to meet market demand is another significant challenge for upcycled beauty brands. The supply chain for these ingredients remains underdeveloped, making it difficult for many companies to scale production. As a result, brands often have to take matters into their own hands to secure a reliable supply.
Kaffe Bueno’s Franco recalls how the brand had to get creative in the early days because there was no infrastructure they could rely on to secure supply, with the company having to develop partnerships with coffee suppliers themselves: “In the beginning, it was us on bicycles, collecting coffee grounds after work.” Now, the grounds come from industrial sidestreams, such as Finnish food and drink company Paulig. Kaffe Bueno has also built the world’s first coffee bio-refinery in Denmark.
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Similarly, Angela Ursem, co-founder of Food for Skin — a brand that focuses on natural, upcycled ingredients such as pumpkin seeds — says the lack of readily available upcycled ingredients forced her company to become directly involved in the supply chain. For example, when they couldn’t find a reliable source of upcycled pumpkin seed oil for one of their products, they had to take on the entire process themselves. “We partnered with a pumpkin farmer in the Netherlands, collaborated with a factory to dry and press the seeds, and worked with a cosmetic laboratory to turn it into a cosmetic-grade ingredient. We’re doing the entire process ourselves because the supply chain isn’t yet set up to provide all types of upcycled ingredients.”
This hands-on approach to sourcing, while innovative, is both time-consuming and resource-intensive, particularly for smaller brands trying to remain competitive in the beauty industry.
Looking to the future, Molina from Merit says: “One of the main obstacles to positive change in the space is the rate of newness. Brands are expected to introduce net-new products at a near constant rate to chase the trend cycle, which means there is less time or appetite to invest in innovation.” The solution? Taking it slow, says Molina. “Taking our time to develop fewer, better products will allow us to explore new ingredients and methods that can reduce our impact.”
Oenbring sees some of these issues as an opportunity rather than a setback. “Especially with younger generations, sustainability is an imperative in purchasing decisions and worth a price premium,” she explains. “The opportunity to pair cutting-edge, future-focused product messaging with planet-supporting attributes can be a differentiator, creating its own exclusive appeal — with the right framing.”
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