Mary Kay Inc. has recommitted to responsible and sustainable water management following World Water Day 2022 to ensure the ongoing availability of water as an essential resource to meet the needs of the environment and communities around the world.
Water is essential to life in all its forms and additionally to the ongoing development of a healthy and sustainable future. According to the World Economic Forum, environmental risks and the impact on natural ecosystems and resources continues to be a top global risk.
One of the original glass ceiling breakers, Mary Kay Ash founded her dream beauty company in 1963 with one goal: enriching women’s lives. That dream has blossomed into a multibillion-dollar company with millions of independent sales force members in nearly 40 countries. As an entrepreneurship development company, Mary Kay is committed to empowering women on their journey to economic independence through education, mentorship, advocacy, networking, and innovation.
Water is at the heart of Mary Kay’s sustainability strategy and is crucial to its manufacturing processes. Implementing good water stewardship principles is critical for Mary Kay to reach their sustainability goals. Their business is now striving to ensure water use for human and economic needs does not disrupt sustainable water cycles or cause ongoing harm to nature and biodiversity.
Recent water efforts at Mary Kay facilities include:
- Water use at U.S. Mary Kay-owned facilities decreased 36% from 2012 to 2017.
- At Mary Kay’s manufacturing facility in Hangzhou, China, significant strides toward water conservation include:
- Reduced potable water use by 34%, which saves approximately 913,480 gallons of potable water per year.
- Reverse Osmosis (RO) reject water reuse: The purifying water equipment produces a large amount of concentrated water discharge in the operation process. By collecting concentrated water and passing it through the circulation system, concentrated water will be reused through the fire tower and air-cooling tower system as a supplementary water source.
- Wastewater treatment upgrades: To mitigate the environmental impact of wastewater in its manufacturing processes, Mary Kay China invested in an advanced membrane bioreactor (MBR) process using existing infrastructure to improve the capacity of wastewater treatment and reduce sludge discharge by 40%
“As a global sustainability advocate, Mary Kay is dedicated to playing an important role in collective efforts to cause no harm to the environment and to ensure communities and economies prosper,” added Deborah Gibbins, Chief Operating Officer at Mary Kay Inc.
“Mary Kay will continue to build upon its progress and work toward its commitment of reducing water utilization in our manufacturing processes by 30% by the year 2030 versus a 2020 baseline per kilogram bulk produced."
