Capsum Opens Sustainable Production Site in Texas

Capsum's new 126,000-square-foot, carbon-neutral production site in Austin, TX is powered by solar energy. Capsum provides tailor made cosmetics solutions. Featuring 3,570 solar panels on the plant’s rooftop, the site produces the equivalent to 2 GWh (the consumption of 200 US households).

Capsum's LEED Silver-certified Austin site is also fully equipped with low-energy LED lighting to reduce energy consumption, as well as improve employees’ work conditions and comfort. LED lights offer a qualitative and sustainable solution, in that they have longer life spans, better efficiency, lower energy consumption, lower heat emission, and require less maintenance, according to the company.

To avoid any hydric stress, The Austin site offers a 360-degree approach to water management via:
• A unique, untouched, naturally salted water source (13g/L of salt), exempt from pollution, extracted at 1,200 feet on-site. The installation that desalinizes this exclusive water (via reverse osmosis) is powered by solar energy. The water has no trace of human-induced pollution: no pesticides, no plastic fibers, no synthetic hydrocarbons. According to geophysicists, the water was trapped here, at 1,200 feet below ground level, thousands of years ago.

• Ecological water ponds to filter and recycle rainwater. Storm/rainwater is collected and filtered through a series of ecological water ponds before refilling Austin’s local Onion Creek river.

“Listening to environmental research studies and experts, I’m convinced that water will be the next environmental struggle to come. Thus, the selection of a water source that doesn’t compete with human needs was essential for me in choosing the site location—and it was a tough aspect of the project!,” explained Company Founder Sébastien Bardon. “We selected this one because it granted us access to naturally salted water with a salinity level too high for human use and agricultural purposes. Today, I’m proud to produce cosmetics that avoid hydric stress.”

In addition to the carbon-neutral, local production offered by the Austin site, Capsum's research & development team creates cleaner formulas and more sustainable packaging choices to help brands create eco-designed products. In fact, most Capsum formulas:
• Are free of silicon, EDTA and phenoxyethanol;
• Are vegan (not of animal origin);
• Contain as many sustainably sourced raw materials (RSPO mass balance) as possible;
• Are able to reach >95% naturality, based on the ISO 16128 standard; and
• Allow for light packaging to improve sustainability (less plastic and recyclable).

Company executives envision embracing a farm-to-face concept, with active ingredients grown and extracted on-site in a controlled, pesticide-free environment. For example, Capsum's 2020 SENS collection features Golden Amaranth microgreens.