Albéa invests in sustainable ‘made in America’ production

Kristel Milet

11 May 2021

Albéa invests in sustainable ‘made in America' production

After an unpredictable year due to the global sanitary context, the Albéa group is getting ready for recovery by sticking to their sustainability and social responsibility targets, while increasing performance as regards agility and competitive differentiation. Recently rewarded with the EcoVadis platform’s Gold level, the French group intends to be part of the huge economic take-off announced in the USA by highlighting their full-service offering and a cutting-edge tool in which they recently largely invested.

Seven of the 31 Albéa plants in the world are located in North America. The group’s business in America accounts for 20% of the overall workforce. It is mostly focused on tube production (5 plants), but they also manufacture beauty packaging in Mexico and provide a turnkey offering in Canada.

Increasingly responsible tubes

With five dedicated plants, the manufacturing of laminated and extruded tubes for the national and international markets is Albéa’s most important business on the American continent. The installations and equipment were enhanced thanks to a 40-million-dollar investment since 2020: the objective was to gain competitiveness, quality, and capacities as regards sustainability. These developments helped reduce energy consumption by 30%, produce tubes based on PCR plastic, and install equipment for laminated tubes compatible with the Greenleaf technology, which makes them recyclable.

The development and production of green tubes are a priority for the company: last year, they launched the disruptive innovation called Paper Tube, which was applied to La Roche-Posay sun products. This tube partly made of FSC-certified cardboard reduces the use of plastic by 45%. Also, Albéa set up a partnership with The Estée Lauder Companies to co-create a high-performing tube made of polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene derived from complex mixtures of recycled plastic waste developed by SABIC thanks to an innovative technology.

More technology and agility

The plant located in Matamoros, Mexico, near the border with Texas, also benefited from considerable investments. Specialized for 35 years in the manufacturing of packaging for makeup – mascara, gloss, and lipsticks –, it has been able to broaden its packaging offering to pressed powders, skincare and haircare, as well as to perfume caps. With 1,250 employees, the site has all the cutting-edge technologies needed to transform raw materials and decorate products. “We boast the largest portfolio of solutions available on the market,” says Carlos Rubio, General Manager of the Matamoros site.

All these investments helped double metallization capacities last year, made the use of PCR or biosourced resins easier, and reduced energy consumption by 20%.

Lastly, the company’s engagement for the community and its supporting women through various programmes make it stand out on the local level.

Full-service and sustainability

Based in Canada near Toronto, the Orchard plant provides the group with an expertise in turnkey solutions for cosmetics, beauty, toiletries, and white label accessories. Thanks to a network of partners based all across North America, the company meets the agility and flexibility requirements of its customers – from mass market to indie brands – as regards finished products, with or without a formula. Orchard both has a team of specialized experts for all product development phases and takes advantage of Albéa’s industrial capacities. Ecodesigned packaging and formulas are the main targets. “Over the past six months, 85% of our projects were sustainable products. We aim to reach 95% this year,” says Jennifer Raphaël, President of Orchard Custom Beauty.