How Sustainable is Amika?

In 2021, Americans discarded 51 million tons of plastic, with only about 5% of it being recycled and the rest ending up in landfills, oceans, or scattered in the atmosphere. The personal care and beauty industry is one of the biggest culprits here.

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In 2022, the cosmetic industry in the U.S. created 7.9 billion units of rigid plastic, which is difficult to recycle due to the hard-to-clean design of tubes and dispensers.

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Personal care brand Amika is tackling this problem through its refillable hair care products.

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About Amika's Hair Care Line

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Refillable personal care products are not a new concept. We have seen them in the hand wash category for many years now. In April 2022, Amika launched refill pouches of its best-selling shampoos and conditioners. This allows consumers to easily refill their existing shampoo and conditioner bottles.The brand also sells hair masks and hair styling products.

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What makes Amika sustainable?

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Amika has taken various initiatives at different stages of its production to reduce its impact on the planet:

Its refill pouches bring down carbon emissions by 98.4%, compared to traditional, virgin plastic bottles, when these bottles are used for a year.
90% of Amika’s bottles are made from post-consumer (PCR) plastics instead of virgin plastic.
It has partnered up with TerraCycle® to create a free recycling program for all its packaging. TerraCycle® collects, stores, and recycles everything from shampoo bottles to spray pumps, preventing them from ending up in landfills.
It is helping The Nature Conservancy restore and protect in-stream flows in Mill Creek, a major wetland habitat for migratory birds and salmon in Northern California which regularly goes dry during summer months.
One of the key ingredients used by Amika is sea buckthorn. It works with a certified organic, fair trade farm located in the Tibetan Plateau to procure that. This farm promotes more sustainable harvesting and offers environmental protection measures.
To reduce the emissions associated with its energy usage, it has installed solar panels on the roof of its warehouse and an improved and energy-efficient HVAC system.
To offset its energy usage, it has partnered up with CE Bright Futures, an education program that helps communities build a clean energy plan.

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What certifications do Amika products have?

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Certified B Corp: balancing profit and purpose while meeting the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance.
Climate Neutral Certified: continuously measuring, reducing, and offsetting emissions generated from making and delivering its products and services.
Leaping Bunny: ensuring that none of its finished products and its ingredients or formulations are tested on non-human animals.

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What can Amika do better?

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While some of its products have a refill option, not all of them do. So unfortunately, at the end of their life, customers would have to purchase a new product with new packaging. It would be impactful if Amika could extend the refill option to other product lines as well.

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This post reflects most of the brand’s sustainability efforts as of December 2023. Brands make more progress over time, so their website may have more recent information.

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