Women in Travel Retail (WiTR) praised TRBusiness and Coty for ‘investing time and energy’ in highlighting the ways in which our industry can contribute to the sustainability debate, during a webinar the group hosted this afternoon.

 

To become a member of WiTR and access all of the webinars so far in this series, click here.

 

WiTR and TFWA hosted a stimulating webinar on sustainability this afternoon with presentations made by TRBusiness’ Helen Chater and Charlotte Turner as well Coty’s VP Global Marketing Travel Retail, Markus Stauss.

 

Recognised by WiTR for championing sustainability in global travel retail, TRBusiness presented the highlights from TR Sustainability Week and shared the industry-wide effort the initiative has sparked. To read all coverage from the event please visit the TR Sustainability Week section of TRBusiness.com.

 

 

“TR Sustainability Week took place in April, but conversations about the viability of such an event obviously took place a long time before that,” said TRBusiness Editorial Director, Charlotte Turner.

 

“Those conversations ultimately culminated in a week of insights presented by speakers from all sectors and categories showcasing the many laudable initiatives already in existence.” To gain access to the TR Sustainability Week playlist and to watch back all sessions from the event, click here.

As shared in the presentation, the idea of Sustainability Week was first conceived back in 2019 after TRBusiness recognised that there was no joined up, industry-wide effort focusing specifically on Sustainability.

 

TRBusiness, in collaboration with Duty Free Innovation launched the Travel Retail Sustainability Forum and simultaneously encouraged companies and individuals to sign up to the TR Plastic Pledge.

 

The objectives of the TRSustainability Forum as set out then were – and still are to: Promote sustainable business initiatives undertaken by the industry; Provide alternatives to single-use plastics and hopefully support NGOs that undertake major environmental cleaning missions.

 

The aim was to help the industry understand the extent of environmental challenges, consolidate and coordinate the sharing of information to explain the measures that can be taken to reduce/eliminate, plastic usage.

 

In terms of how, our mission was to provide regular communications about sustainable initiatives within the industry, news about solution providers, organise webinars and seminars on sustainability challenges and solutions and of course support for industry trade associations in their efforts to rally the industry around the cause.

 

‘BEAUTY THAT LASTS’

WiTR’s Vice Chair Gerry Munday hosted the webinar on 9 September, posing questions from the WiTR members in attendance.

 

TRBusiness and Coty’s Markus Stauss responded to questions about their investments in sustainability and the progress which had been made since beginning various projects.

 

Markus Stauss, VP Global Marketing Travel Retail for Coty, made an excellent presentation, sharing details about Coty’s sustainability roadmap, ‘Beauty that Lasts’ divulging the many varied initiatives the company has launched to reduce, reuse and recycle, not only SUPs but other materials.

 

This includes everything from producing alcohol alternatives for its fragrances, to recyclable packaging and reusable stand and retail counter elements.

 

As Stauss explained, Coty launched its dedicated sustainability strategy in February 2020.

 

During the webinar he was able to provide concrete evidence of the progress that the company has made since then, and he shared best practice examples of how to improve sustainability in all areas of manufacturing, packaging, merchandising and marketing.

 

He also pointed out that the company’s strategy aligns with the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact and is structured around three pillars: ‘the Beauty of Our Product, Our People and Our Planet’.

 

Highlights from our TR Sustainability Week partners can be viewed in the below video.