Clean & Sustainable: Better Care For Your Skin & Our Planet

Erno Laszlo is built on science-backed skincare that delivers proven results. We’re proud to deliver that care while keeping our Clean Promise and Sustainability Pledge at the center. In honor of Earth Day, we’re renewing these promises and sharing a deeper look at what Clean and Sustainable means for us as a skincare brand and for you as our customers.

The Meaning of Clean
Erno Laszlo has always centered on science and innovation, striving for better results. With our Clean Promise, we’re upholding this legacy of ingenuity, using integrity as our guide and advances in skincare technology as our opportunity.

We’re constantly raising the bar on what goes into our formulas, ensuring our science-backed, results-driven products are as safe as they are efficacious. As a 100-year-old brand, we are working to revisit existing formulas, as well as develop new favorites that deliver safer skincare with the very best results.

Our Clean Promise
Our Clean Promise means being proactive about our formulations. To date, Erno Laszlo has developed a list of 26 categories of 86 ingredients that we pledge to avoid in our formulas, while ensuring all new developments are sulfate-free, paraben-free, mineral oil-free, and cyclo-silicone free. Every year, we will examine and update our list of off-limit ingredients to ensure we stay current. You can read more about the ingredients we’re using and why here. Removing these potentially-harmful ingredients is one way of minimizing skin irritation and supporting skin health.

Steps Toward Sustainability
When it comes to sustainability, our goal is to provide science-backed skincare that’s better for both your complexion and our planet, committing to less plastic and less waste in our packaging. By choosing mono-material components to aid in recycling, incorporating post-consumer recycled (PCR) material, and reducing the use of plastics in our products, we can help promote a more sustainable future.

Our Sustainability Pledge
Our Sustainability Pledge is a four-part endeavor that we aim to fully implement by 2025:

1) Eliminate problematic or unnecessary plastic packaging
2) Move away from single-use sachets and reimagine our sampling programs
3) Ensure all packaging contains an average of 30% PCR content
4) Introduce glass packaging whenever possible

Putting our pledge into action, we’re shifting away from virgin plastics in our product packaging in favor of post-consumer waste (PCW) or glass, both of which are highly recyclable. We’re working to eliminate “bad” resins and prioritizing recyclable plastics. Because not all plastics have established recycling streams, we’re actively seeking out the most recyclable resins available and incorporating PCR material whenever possible.

We’re wasting less by reimagining more sustainable solutions to packaging. Changes include switching to 100% PCW, using FSC-Certified paper, and resizing our cartons to eliminate wasteful space. One of our first major changes was removing all plastic from our Cleansing Bars and replacing it with parchment wraps.

We’re also changing our overall look to increase recyclability. Removing black plastic and adopting a marbling technique allows for easier identification in plastic recycling streams. Recycling facilities sort plastics by bouncing a beam of light off of them, and because black plastic absorbs light, it can’t be sorted and goes straight to either a landfill or incineration. To combat this, we partnered with Better Future Factory to help introduce the use of PCW in our redesigned caps, paying homage to our original marbled jars.

Lastly, wherever possible, we’re choosing glass over plastic. Glass is one of the most sustainable materials available for new products. Not only is it infinitely recyclable, but it is also reusable.

Clean & Sustainable in Practice
We’re making great strides in our Clean and Sustainable initiatives. Here’s where you can see these promises in action:

Phormula 3-10 Collection
• Glass Jars & Bottles: Our 100% direct-fill glass jars and bottles (no plastic cups) are fully recyclable.
• Plastic Caps: Mixed-materials plastic caps are made with a marbling technique that allows for PCW material, as well as gives each cap or lid a custom look.
• Metal Accents: Our metal spatulas are made from recyclable metal materials—a 100% gold zinc alloy—alongside an aluminum gold cap ring.
• Paper Packaging: There are no plastic or foam pieces and no foil- or plastic-coated papers. The box itself is 100% paper pulp, and the paper insert is made of 100% uncoated paper. To recycle, remove any stickers or wafer seals before discarding.
• Recyclability: Glass and paper packaging is recyclable with other glass and plastic materials. Plastic lids are recyclable with other plastic materials—just separate the marble cap from the gold ring before recycling

Sensitive Skin Collection
• Glass Jars & Bottles: Our 100% glass bottles are fully recyclable.
• Plastic Caps: Each recyclable plastic cap is mono-material and designed to use less plastic.
• Paper Packaging: Each box is made of 100% paper pulp.
• Recyclability: Be sure to separate glass from plastics when recycling. For example, our Soothing Relief Hydration Emulsion features a screw-on pump that needs to be removed before recycling.

Extra Dry Skin Collection
• Recyclable Plastics: In this collection our jars, bottles, and caps are 100% plastic for easy recycling.
• Paper Packaging: Packaging features pulp paper materials.
• Recyclability: All boxes, jars, and bottles are fully recyclable.

VTM Micro-Essence
• Premium Meets Sustainable: In developing packaging for VTM Micro-Essence, we worked hard to keep the presentation premium while adhering to our Sustainability Pledge.
• Plastic Cap: The cap is mono-material to reduce the amount of plastic needed, and foil decoration is minimized.
• Glass Bottle: The glass bottle has no additional parts for easy rinsing and recycling.
• Paper Packaging: The carton is 100% PCW and FSC-certified uncoated board with minimal foil—again, to ensure recycling is a breeze.

Updated Reusable Soap Dish
• Mixed-Materials Plastic: To support our Cleansing Bars, this new design is made using the same marbling technique as our bottle caps and lids.
• Less Plastic: Not only does this soap dish feature more PCR material, it is also a lighter design that uses less material in the first place.
• Recycled Cloth: The final dish is then packaged in a recycled cloth pouch before being shipped.

Read more about our Clean Promise and Sustainability Pledge.