Avril, this young environmental friendly brand

Avril’s objective is to become more and more virtuous and to limit at the maximum their impact on the environment. To do so, they try, on the one hand, to take as many steps as possible in their day-to-day operations, and on the other hand, to engage in bigger projects.

Products

About the products themselves, none of them are tested on animals, 70% of their range is vegan, and most of them are Made in France.

Then, the brand is also trying to minimize the packaging of its products. None of them have over-packaging, and they favor recyclable packaging. They also developed the bulk, refills systems for shower gel and solid products.

Avril is also working a lot on the development of zero-waste alternatives. Instead of being thrown away, non-marketable products, with short expiration date or damaged packaging, for instance, are given to organizations.

Stores

All of their buildings, including stores, are using green electricity, furnished by Enercoop. Also, they always turn off the light of their stores at night, so no Avril’s window is lighted, compared to a lot of other brands that leave the lights on all night long, which represents a huge source of consumption.

About the in-store experience, they decided to print sales receipts only if customers ask for them. Shopping baskets are made of recycled cardboard in a place called « ESAT » in France, which is an institution reserved for people with disabilities, helping them with their social and professional integration or reintegration. This is a wonderful initiative from Avril, showing once again their involvement in causes such as human welfare.

Finally, they are taking the risk of altering a bit their customer’s experience by only offering paper bags for purchase in their stores. However, this is going along with its brand values so, in my opinion, they took a great decision!

Source: https://www.instagram.com/avrilcosmetiques/?hl=fr

Logistics

Avril is also being careful of its impact on the environment from its logistics. Their stores in Lille city are all resupplied through bike couriers, which is kind of funny and original! They also reuse packing boxes from previous deliveries to prepare orders.

Projects

For a few years, Avril is involved in different projects aiming at reducing its impact on the planet.

The brand is participating in reforestation projects. First, they did a partnership with the organization « Canopée Reforestation », and managed to plant 512 trees in 2018 and 638 in 2019. Their goal in doing that is to compensate for their CO2 emissions.

Secondly, they conducted an operation called « Green Friday » at the end of 2019, during the one they donated 5% of their sales to the tree nurseries Naudet. The brand managed to raise enough money to plant 7560 trees adapted to the climate change as this type of trees can tolerate more droughts.

Another project in the one Avril is involved in the funding of the installation of wind turbines and photovoltaic panels by a French company called Innovent. Thanks to the brand’s contribution, more than 240 000 KWh of green electricity are produced per year. This quantity represents more than what Avril’s buildings consume, so both their headquarters, warehouse, and stores are positive energy!

All of these project’s involvements prove that Avril is really concerned about the impact on its activity on the planet, and is trying to reduce it at the maximum, by becoming energy self-sufficient.

You should now have a clearer idea of how Avril is engaging on sustainability issues. What do you think? Is the brand going far enough, or are there other things that Avril could do in terms of sustainability practices?

In my opinion, Avril is already deeply and strongly involved in the different dimensions of sustainability, by not only having respectful practices towards the environment, including the development of zero-waste alternatives, but also considering the human dimension.

Considering this second dimension, however, I think that Avril could go further by, for example, favoring local producers for the cultivation of the raw materials used in their products, or by setting up actions to collect funds for associations involved in causes like animal protection, human rights, and environmental protection.

Sources:

Delissen, M. (2019, 8 octobre). Avril et les emballages. Avril. https://www.avril-beaute.fr/blog/post/avril-et-les-emballages.html

NOS ENGAGEMENTS - Avril. (s. d.). Avril. https://www.avril-beaute.fr/content/162-nos-engagements-ecologiques