Our 3Rs Strategy

At Lagardère Travel Retail, we are committed to reducing our environmental footprint by integrating the 3Rs fundamental - Reduce, Reuse and Recycle - into every aspect of our operations, and bring it to life through concrete, mesurable actions that reflect our ambition to lead the way to a more sustainable travel retail industry.

Replace

As a first step on this journey, we minimized the environmental impact of shopping bags and REDUCED the number of bags we distribute in our stores.

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Paper bag with inscription "Embark on a more sustainable journey"

So far, 99% of our countries have transitioned to responsible consumables, with a target of 100% by the end of the year 2025. This includes a full switch to responsible packaging and disposables, guided by our internal Material Guidelines based on life cycle assessment principles, which are regularly updated and the reference for our operations to make sustainable choices everyday.

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Reduce

Customers come first, and we understand that sometimes bags are needed. Therefore, as a second step, we have switched to bags made of the most RESPONSIBLE materials and that can be RECYCLED, everywhere we operate.

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Bottles of water displayed along sign "bottles made from bottles"

A key focus of our engagement is the reduction of single-use platic water bottles across all our operations. We are accelerating the transition to having 75%  of our water bottle assortment in 100% recycled RPET bottles, with 63% of our international partners already compliant. We are collaborating with our partners to develop and introduce innovative alternatives to single-use plastic bottles, including water fountains, returnable systems, and non-plastic solutions.

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Reuse

We know that there is always more we can do, and as the last step on this journey, we go further and donate part of bag sales to support charities which preserve biodiversity.

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L'Oreal refill station featuring severals perfumes refills bottles at Lagardère Travel Retail HQ

We are convinced that collaboration is essential to advance the CSR agenda, through joining forces with other actors of our industry. That's why we partnered with L'Oréal Travel Retail, to build a common road map focused on transparency and sustainable consumptions for perfumes and cosmetics. A standout initiative from this partnership is the introduction of refill solutions, an alternative that significantly reduces carbon emissions by extending the life of each product.

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Q&A

A Life Cycle Assessment (also called LCA) is a method to assess the environmental footprint of a product, considering the impact from the extraction of raw material, the manufacture and distribution, to the usage and the end of life. The objective is to take into account the total emissions during the entire value chain of the product.

 The bioplastic bags we use are made from 100% natural sources and do not contain any fossil-fuel plastic. It is called bioplastic because its properties are similar to synthetic plastic. Bioplastic can be sourced from Corn, Sugar, Tapioca, as well as Cassava. For our bags, we favor bioplastic coming from biowaste.

The use of the terms 'Recycled' and 'Recyclable' on packaging has become increasingly common and can cause confusion. 'Recycled' on a packaging indicates that it contains recycled materials; it is always better to specify the percentage of recycled material in a packaging to be fully transparent. 'Recyclable' means that the packaging is made of material which can be treated to be recycled, though the effectiveness of recycling depends on customer behavior in sorting it into the correct bin, as well as the recycling infrastructure available in the region.

Forests are our largest land-based carbon sinks and are impressive carbon pumps. As trees absorb carbon dioxide to fuel their growth, they transform it and release oxygen, thus storing the CO2 and purifying the air. At the same time, forest ecosystems harbour 80% of land-based biodiversity, from plants and animals small and large to fungi and bacteria, which all depend on one another for life. The forest also plays a vital role in the water cycle. Among other things, it helps cool the air and contributes to rain cloud formation, while purifying the water and retaining it in the soil. Plus, using paper derived from sustainably managed forests is much more energy-efficient than other materials and helps store carbon. (Source: Reforest'Action)

Today, we are all aware of deforestation issues, causing the loss of forests. At Lagardère Travel Retail, we know we have a role to play in preserving biodiversity. For this reason, in all our operations globally, we join forces to support a meaningful organization developing quality projects to restore forests around the globe.