Our long-term involvement for over 40 years
Since our founding in 1980, we have strived to operate ethically in relation to nature and humankind, making environmental preservation and the respect for local ecosystems a core part of its decision-making process.
In addition to measures already implemented directly at our farms and subsidiaries around the world, as well as strict compliance with all applicable regulatory requirements, we continue to take concrete action toward ambitious goals for environmental sustainability and human well-being.
Limiting our footprint, a major challenge in the perfume industry
We know that our distillation and extraction operations for perfumery rely on processes that require the considerable consumption of heat and fuel resources.
To find a solution, we have made a special effort to develop an effective energy management program, implemented directly at our production sites.
Our continuous distillation process, an economic and ecological revolution
Biolandes founder Dominique Coutière pioneered this ingenious process, created 40 years ago.
This process consists of conducting uninterrupted distillation operations using a completely automated system.
It not only reduces repetitive and time-consuming manipulations, but also eliminates the need to stop and resume operations, thus significantly reducing energy loss.
Our biomass boiler fueled by the combustion of co-products
Biolandes’ main production site, located in Le Sen in the Landes region of southwestern France, has been powered by biomass energy, in other words the combustion of renewable organic matter.
Rather than burning virgin wood, the biomass boiler runs on fuel derived from industrial by-products and plant wastes resulting directly from the company’s distillation and extraction operations – a virtuous circle that we continue to perfect.
As of today, all of the industrial tools in operation at our Le Sen site are powered by this revolutionary process, which produces an average of nearly 4,000 tons of steam per month.
The Biolandes factory in Andalusia (Spain) where cistus, labdanum and eucalytus are distilled is also equipped with a biomass boiler.
It permits production of extracts and ingredients derived from wild cistus, harvested in the surrounding plains.
Solar energy, a sustainable solution for our activities
The electricity needed to power the buildings and equipment of the various support services at our Le Sen site represents Biolandes’ second biggest source of energy consumption.
Efficiency analyses, which are already conducted in the form of regular energy audits, will be further increased.
A number of actions have been carried out for the purposes of saving energy and of achieving self-sufficiency in electrical production through the installation of solar panels.
As of today, solar panels produce one-fourth of the daytime electricity consumption at our Le Sen site and our goal will be to reach 100% self-sufficiency by 2023.
To that end, we have launched a project to cover several buildings with photovoltaic panels in 2022, and to build a solar canopy over a storage area spanning more than one hectare (2.5 acres) in 2023.
The same program is being adopted at Biolandes’ subsidiaries around the globe, with the aim of achieving electrical self-sufficiency.
The creation of new extracts for perfumery from co-products
To limit our waste, we recycle the by-products resulting from the production of extracts from botanical raw materials.
This enables us to offer our clients an alternative supply derived from these by-products while limiting the environmental impact of our operations.
We are proud to have applied this circular economy scheme on an industrial scale.
The wealth of nature is such that several extracts can often be obtained from a single plant.
To enhance the raw materials value and explore all its properties and olfactory facets, we develop our lines by producing, whenever possible, additional derivative extracts from the initial natural raw material, provided that they have been shown to possess desirable organoleptic or biochemical qualities.
Our technical and research teams systematically conduct carefully controlled development trials before embarking on large-scale extraction and production operations.
Range « By »
This research effort is exemplified by our “By” range, launched nearly 30 years ago, which consists of products made by reprocessing distillation residues whose essential oils have already been extracted.
It comprises several extracts derived in cascade from the same by-product, with decidedly distinctive olfactory profiles that enrich the perfumer’s palette.
Vegetable waxes and hydrolates are other examples of by-products that are reprocessed to be offered as functional ingredients.
