Sustainability at the heart of Hera Beauty

If you’re looking for a personal care manufacturer that’s not just ‘eco-conscious’, but one that’s actually making measurable, impactful steps for positive environmental action, then look no further than Hera Beauty.

From the start, we recognised that our day-to-day manufacturing processes would inevitably have an impact on the environment. Therefore, we committed to continually improving our organisation’s sustainability performance to reach Net Zero; when greenhouse gas emissions are balanced by the amount removed from the atmosphere or offset. We take our responsibility to people and the planet very seriously.

As a business, we’re guided by the following principles: leadership, inclusivity, transparency, integrity and continuous improvement. By adhering to these values, we’ve managed to reduce environmental impact even while Hera Beauty continues to experience rapid growth. To demonstrate transparency and help make sustainability the norm in our sector, we opted for an independent auditing process. For this reason, we joined the national certification scheme Investors in the Environment (iiE).

In recognition of our sustainability improvements, we achieved Bronze level accreditation in autumn 2023, before reaching Silver level (with an audit score of 84%) in December 2025. Hera Beauty was awarded the accolade after demonstrating a commitment to iiE’s recognised environmental standard. Accredited organisations must provide comprehensive evidence that they’ve set targets to reduce their carbon footprint over a sustained period.

 

Our environmental objectives 

For us, it’s not simply about our own sustainability achievements. We aim to set a market-leading example of climate action for other manufacturers in the UK. If your skincare, haircare, or wellness brand chooses to work with Hera Beauty, then you can be assured of our commitment to leading the way in environmental progress.

Our objectives and goals include:

●       Striving to achieve Net Zero emissions.

●       Publishing an annual sustainability report to track and share our progress.

●       Ensuring full compliance to meet all relevant regulations and customer expectations.

●       Using only approved contractors for the safe and environmentally responsible disposal of waste materials.

●       Monitoring key resource usage to meet our environmental targets.

●       Implementing a comprehensive waste and recycling policy.

●       Reducing unsustainable transport through a strategic travel plan.

●       Collaborating with suppliers to reduce the environmental impact of their products.

●       Providing transparency on the eco impact of our formulations and processes.

●       Promoting environmental awareness within our business and among stakeholders.

●       Encouraging energy conservation and recycling practices across our team.

 

Our actions

So, what have we done? We measure electricity, gas, water, waste and travel and set targets of a reduction of 2% for each measured resource. How are we achieving this? Firstly, we’ve invested in physical improvements for our energy-rated A factory building, which is located in Cambridgeshire. Our sustainability measures include PIR motion sensor lighting, alongside high-efficiency LED lighting in offices, the factory, and warehouse. We’ve also installed strip curtains on all shutter doors to maintain heat and hygiene, and incorporated insulated water storage heaters to reduce energy loss.

Alongside this, over the last three years, we’ve formed a strong ‘green team’ - with eight members coming together from across all departments to collaborate, understand resource use, and develop ideas and actions for optimising processes. Monthly meter readings are taken for all utilities and compared against bill totals. Through this work, our team has identified key aspects that contribute to the organisation’s carbon footprint and worked hard to create an Environmental Management System (EMS).

These actions have enabled Hera Beauty to reduce gas usage by 21% and electricity consumption by 16% since 2023. Water efficiency initiatives include: installing a tap with a trigger spray in the wet room to minimise unnecessary water usage, placing water bags in toilet cisterns, and uncovering leaks quickly through the monthly audit. This has resulted in a 26% reduction in financial costs too.

Waste can often be a big issue with manufacturers, so we provide waste management training for the team to build knowledge and confidence in segregating discarded products. A new waste management system has been introduced, with streams for general waste, mixed recycling and cardboard. In addition, we are supporting a circular economy by shredding and reusing cardboard to secure our outgoing parcels - saving 906kg of waste! Switching to a paperless invoice system has saved 6,000 sheets per annum, and we now use 100% recyclable shrink wrap on all pallet deliveries too.

 

A team effort

From new starter induction packs to team noticeboards and internal communications: for us, it’s of the utmost importance to communicate eco initiatives effectively to the whole team. We want everyone to be involved with making a difference and to feel part of the company’s sustainability journey. We use a feedback and ideas suggestion box to find solutions that work for everyone.

Recently launched team ideas have included switching to plant-based milk in the staff canteen, encouraging people to walk or cycle to work, and engaging with our landlord on green initiatives - such as the potential installation of solar panels on the roof and creating a mini bee-friendly wildflower garden. From the day-to-day initiatives, such as promoting virtual meetings to minimise unnecessary travel, through to bigger events such as a recent team litter pick (where 10 bags of rubbish were collected in Peterborough) - the ideas keep coming!

But it’s not just about internal sustainability initiatives, it’s about promoting eco-awareness among our partners, suppliers and customers too. We want to make sure our supply chain has responsible social and environmental practices in place and that they are educated about their part to play in protecting our planet. We feel it’s important to support our local community by volunteering and donating resources too.

 

Ethical manufacturing

But how does this affect your products? We’ve talked about our facilities and internal processes, but we also want to ensure our private label and product development formulations are as ‘green’ as possible.

Where we can, we manufacture our extracts in-house and use local suppliers who source their ingredients sustainably. Our new product development pipeline includes upcycled, waterless, and cold-process formulations. And it’s not just about the formulations themselves, we also meet with our packaging suppliers to research the latest sustainable alternatives, and actively encourage our partners to consider eco-packaging options.

Not only are our beauty products vegan-friendly and cruelty-free, but we’ve also met the official requirements for the Soil Association standard for organic health and beauty care products. This means our formulations can now be certified to the highly-regarded COSMOS-standard. Hera Beauty is also part of a global partnership to make palm oil sustainable - helping to protect the environment, communities, and wildlife.

Our environmental ambitions don't stop here. We’d love to reach the highest level of Green iiE accreditation next and we’re also planning further engagement in community initiatives over the next few months.

Want to see how we can support your brand to achieve its sustainable skincare ambitions? Get in touch to discover how we can help.