PARIS — As part of its international sustainability program, L’Oréal said it has inaugurated a new, 42,220-square-foot biomass plant in Burgos, Spain.
“[It] will enable the site specialized in the production of professional hair products to become neutral in CO2 emissions in 2015,” the company said. “For the first time, a trigeneration facility will supply steam, hot water, cold water and electricity to a manufacturing site and will produce 100 percent of the energy needs for its manufacturing and packaging processes. In addition, the biomass plant has photovoltaic panels, which will provide the electricity necessary to achieve carbon-neutral status in 2015.”
The facility represents an investment of 14.5 million euros, or $18.5 million at current exchange, according to the French beauty giant. Biocen, the company overseeing its design, construction and management, invested 12 million euros, or $15.3 million, with L’Oréal investing the remainder.
The plant is to use an estimated 12,000 tons of waste wood from the forests and sawmills of Spain’s Castile-León region annually.
The Burgos site already has other environmental initiatives underway.
As reported, L’Oréal has committed to reducing its environmental footprint by 60 percent by 2020 as part of its global sustainability initiative.