L'Oréal - 2018 Registration Document

L’Oréal’s corporate social, environmental and societal responsibility POLICIES, PERFOR MANCE INDICATORS AND RESULTS

Reducing water consumption in industrial processes L’Oréal has specifically targeted the reduction of water consumption for cleaning production equipment and packaging lines at its plants. Cleaning of this nature is necessary in order to maintain very strict hygiene standards; it represents 35% of total water use by the industrial sites. Firstly, the quantity of water used for these operations is reduced to a minimum, without affecting product quality (specific optimisation of use of cleaning water, determined on the basis of the formula for each product manufactured and the equipment used). In addition, improvements to equipment have made it easier to clean facilities. Finally, training courses in best cleaning practices are provided to the operational teams all over the world, thanks to the OPTICIP (OPTimisation Cleaning In Place). Reusing industrial water without treatment The exhaustive mapping of water consumption within a plant also enables the identification of opportunities for the direct reuse, without specific treatment, of water initially used for other purposes, primarily the direct reuse of unpolluted cooling water for equipment cleaning requirements, or the reuse of water from the on-site treatment plant to dilute the chemical products used in the treatment of industrial effluents. Recycling wastewater The principle involves re-treatment of effluent when it leaves the site’s treatment plant, using various technologies (ultra-filtration, reverse osmosis, etc.). These operations make it possible to obtain very high quality water that meets the Group’s standards for reuse in certain industrial processes. Water treated in this way may be reused to clean or cool production equipment, for example. As of the end of 2018, 12 of the Group’s plants had recycling facilities of this kind, a first in the cosmetics industry, which enable them to reuse water. The rollout of these technologies on production sites is continuing. For some plants, the volume of recycled water covers more than 50% of their utility water requirements.

the mapping of consumption; s the implementation of reduction equipment and processes; s and more specifically for plants; reuse of industrial water s without treatment, for a new purpose and recycling of the water used, after a specific additional treatment stage. Since 2005, L’Oréal has reduced the water consumption of its plants and distribution centres by 28% in absolute terms, on a 38% increase in the production of finished products, thereby demonstrating its ability to decorrelate its growth from its environmental impact. This led to a 48% reduction in its water consumption in litres per finished product at the end of 2018. Since 2016, L’Oréal has reduced the water consumption of its administrative sites and research centres by 11% in litres per hundred hours worked. The Group has pledged to increase this performance to 20% by 2020. A standard tool for the exhaustive mapping of water consumption is now deployed in each of the Group’s plants – the Waterscan tool. This tool allows for categorisation of the different water utilisation items (cleaning of production tools, cooling, sanitary facilities, etc.) and to identify consumption in each of these categories. The best performances for a given use are established as a Group standard, and are then set as a target for each plant. The projects making it possible to achieve these targets are identified and quantified on each site and the completion of such projects scheduled over time. This forms the Group’s “Water roadmap”, performance of which is monitored on a monthly basis. A TOOL TO MAP PLANTS’ WATER CONSUMPTION

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REGISTRATION DOCUMENT / L'ORÉAL 2018

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