Delivering on UN Sustainable Development Goals

Looking for ways to make your everyday choices a little more sustainable? Look no further.

When it comes to sustainability, KADALYS is all in. We are constantly looking for new ways to reduce our environmental impact and help preserve our planet.

Sustainability is more than recycling

Sustainability activism is integral to the vision and mission of KADALYS. It defines our brand manifesto and is demonstrated by every aspect of our company.

From upcycled, organic ingredients to recyclable packaging, Kadalys strives to be earth-friendly in everything we do. We work to make the planet and our oceans healthier for the next generation. That's why our efforts include both Green and Blue Beauty initiatives.

What does Green & Blue Beauty mean?

There are two main types of "eco-friendly" beauty brands: those that strive to make the planet healthier, including the health of the oceans ("blue beauty"), and those that focus on more general environmental concerns ("green beauty.")

Blue beauty brands typically use biodegradable or recyclable packaging, avoid harmful chemicals, employ sustainable activism, and work to improve ocean health.

Green beauty brands are eco-friendly in a more general way. They might use natural ingredients, donate to environmental charities, or be vegan or cruelty-free.

Both types of brands are committed to making the world a better place.

We're proud to share that KADALYS was awarded Blue Beauty Brand of the Year in 2021 and has initiatives that address 12 of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

What are the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals?

"The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries - developed and developing - in a global partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests."

These 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to transform our world, ultimately improving lives and spreading prosperity throughout a healthy planet. The UN goals guide governments, businesses, civil society, and the general public to work together to build a better future for everyone.

How does Kadalys Address the UN's Sustainable Development Goals?

Here is the impact KADALYS is making against each of the UN's development goals. Thank you for supporting us on this journey.

Goal 1: No Poverty.

KADALYS directly addresses the job market by creating new opportunities and better pay in the Banana industry. Identifying new ways to upcycling banana agri-waste has created new employment opportunities, directly addressing one of the three main causes of poverty. KADALYS has gone one step further by incorporating 100% of the banana growers as shareholders of KADALYS. In expanding capitalism to be inclusive and reward those who create value,

KADALYS is helping to improve the livelihood of workers in the French West Indies. Creating employment opportunities positively affects the job market and helps elevate wages in the French West Indies.

Additionally, through a partnership with Project Greenspark, KADALYS helps people in Haiti earn a fair, sustainable income by recovering and recycling plastic waste from the Caribbean Sea.

The collectors receive a premium for the materials they rescue, which helps them provide basic family necessities. The collected material is reborn as Social Plastic®, which can be easily reintegrated into products and packaging as part of a closed-loop supply chain.

Goal 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture.

Through its partnership with the Banana Producers, KADALYS has created a positive trajectory for sustainable agriculture in the French West Indies. KADALYS works closely with local producers in Martinique and Guadeloupe to promote sustainable agriculture and reduce food waste.

KADALYS’s support and partnership enable the producers to grow the best possible crops while also considering environmental conservation concerns like climate change. We support their expertise, environmentally friendly practices, and research program for new sustainable farming systems and varietal discovery. Our close partnership also ensures optimal traceability, quality, and safety of the ingredients.

Importantly, KADALYS works closely with the producers to ensure they continue to innovate for sustainable agricultural sciences that generate effective, organic bananas while respecting the environment and people.

Thanks to these best practices, the banana farms of Guadeloupe and Martinique are now a refuge for many animal species. For example, this ecosystem now has more than 214 species of insects and twice as many species of birds as there were ten years ago. This biodiversity both protects crops and improves the health of the overall ecosystem.

Goal 3: Good Health And Well-being.

KADALYS products promote the health of skin, which is our largest organ. Regular use of KADALYS products will lead to a stronger and balanced skin barrier, a critical characteristic of skin health. All our formulas are clean, ethical, and natural formulas. They give back rather than take. We do this with ingredients that are natural and do not negatively impact people's health or the planet. In fact, certain sterols can only be found in the banana tree, thus giving it unique virtues in the plant kingdom. We follow the principles of green extraction (non-polluting methods) to develop our patented banana bio-active ingredients, ensuring safe and efficacious products. Our products are all non-toxic, vegan, organically certified, and cruelty-free. We adhere to the highest safety standards and most stringent ingredient list in the world.

Goal 5: Gender Equality.

KADALYS amplifies and creates educational and economic opportunities for women through its dedicated effort to educate women from the French West Indies to empower a new generation in science and business, areas that are under-represented and lacking in Martinique. Investing in young women offers an invaluable benefit to Martinique, where the levels of unemployment are twice as high as in mainland France, particularly for those under the age of 30.

Goal 8: Decent Work And Economic Growth.

KADALYS has helped to drive growth in the French West Indies banana industry. As the largest private employer in Guadeloupe and Martinique, the banana industry plays a key role in preserving local employment, generating nearly 10,000 direct and indirect jobs. These men and women are committed to working together to guarantee quality, sustainable and responsible agricultural production. Their actions promote more sustainable agriculture and prevent food waste from being sent to landfills. They also enable the island to be less dependent on tourism and rum and sugar cane export.

KADALYS’s commitment to growing the banana industry has created new economic opportunities for its residents. Further, KADALYS is building the first eco-extraction/biotech factory in Martinique. This new factory will reduce food waste and create even more jobs and economic opportunities for the people of the French West Indies.

Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, And Infrastructure.

KADALYS is diverting tons of agri-waste into new innovative ingredients while creating a new biotech industry on this remote island. We're building the first eco-extraction/biotech factory in Martinique, which will allow us to offer sustainable raw materials to different industries. Expanding the use of upcycled raw materials will reduce food waste in more markets and for more consumer products. Shirley Billot’s vision, persistence, and innovations will transform the banana industry for decades to come. KADALYS is more than a beauty brand. It is a manifestation of the blue economy, tapping the full value of what nature has to offer, with a social impact that creates jobs and opportunity and advances an industry.

Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities.

KADALYS believes capitalism should be more inclusive and that it should reward everyone who creates value. That’s why we incorporated 100% of the banana growers as shareholders of KADALYS. In all efforts, KADALYS look for opportunities to bring together all farmers -- poor or wealthy, black or white -- to reduce the interracial and intergenerational gaps contributing to the social and economic challenges in the French West Indies in the early 2000s. Further, our new biotech factory in Martinique will reduce food waste and create economic opportunities for the people of the French West Indies.

Goal 12: Responsible Consumption And Production.

KADALYS follows the principles of green extraction (non-polluting method) to develop our patented banana bio-active ingredients. Our ingredients are sourced and manufactured ethically and eco-responsibly, respecting the environment and the local economy. In manufacturing our products, we strictly follow the non-polluting principles of eco-extraction and green chemistry, which include:

Reducing energy consumption
Using alternative, non-polluting solvents
Giving priority to renewable plant resources
Guaranteeing safe and high-quality bio-actives
Designing our packaging and shipping materials to be sustainable, eco-friendly, and FSC certified

Goal 13: Climate Action.

KADALYS is the first eco-conscious skincare beauty brand to upcycle banana agri-waste into patented organic bio-actives, making no compromises when it comes to sustainability. Globally, 22 million tons of bananas are thrown away each year. This represents 20% of the world’s banana production. That's the equivalent of more than 2,000 Eiffel Towers!

KADALYS gives these discarded, “forgotten, ugly, and single bananas” a second chance and transforms them into quality skincare that is good for your skin and the environment. According to Project Drawdown, reducing food waste is one of the top three ways to reverse climate change.

Founded in 2014, Project Drawdown is a nonprofit organization composed of leading researchers who studied ways to help the world reach the future point in time when levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to decline steadily. By their estimate, reducing food waste has the potential to reduce global carbon emissions by 87.45–94.56 gigatons (1 gigaton is equal to 1 billion tons!). Reducing waste also avoids the deforestation of additional farmland, preventing 74.9-76.3 gigatons of additional emissions. Reducing Food Waste is the most effective way to reduce global emissions, better than even rainforest management, wind turbines and other alternative energy sources, and recycling.

Finally, we want to enable more companies to have a positive impact on the environment. That’s why we are building the first eco-extraction/biotech factory in Martinique, which will allow us to offer sustainable raw materials to different industries. With this factory, we will be able to reduce agri-waste by two tons each day. At KADALYS, we never stop trying to find new and innovative ways to positively impact the environment.

Goal 14: Life Below Water.

Plastic pollution is one of the greatest threats to our oceans and marine life. The United Nations estimates that 8 million tons of plastic waste end up in landfills every year. More than half of plastic produced is single-use, and less than 9% of this plastic is recycled.

Through its partnership with Project Greenspark and Plastic Bank, KADALYS supports the recovery of plastic from the Caribbean Sea. Plastic Bank builds ethical recycling ecosystems in coastal communities and reprocesses the materials for reintroduction into the global manufacturing supply chain. Kadalys rescues ocean plastic bottles with every email subscription and order.

Goal 15: Life On Land.

KADALYS has increased the biodiversity and sustainable agriculture practices of the French West Indies. KADALYS works closely with the banana producers to ensure they continue to innovate for sustainable agricultural sciences that generate effective, organic bananas while respecting the environment and people.

Goal 17: Partnerships For The Goals.

KADALYS works with several different partners to increase our carbon footprint and the carbon footprint of others.

Banana Producers. KADALYS was an early adopter of the now much-talked-about circular economy model. 100% of Martinique’s Banana producers are KADALYS shareholders, and 100% of the French West Indian (FWI) banana producers are KADALYS partners.
Suppliers. We’re working with packaging suppliers to make more of our packaging reusable, not just recyclable Other Brands. We’re forging partnerships with other like-minded brands to create bigger educational initiatives to help consumers find sustainable options for all their needs.
Consumers. We’re creating educational content to help consumers partner with us in recycling our packaging once they have used the product. Importantly, our educational efforts also include teaching the next generation. KADALYS is building educational workshops for students to help them learn about science, upcycling, and sustainability.
Future B2B Customers. We’re building the first eco-extraction/biotech factory in Martinique, enabling the brand to offer sustainable raw materials to different industries so we can reduce food waste in more places and for more consumer products.

Please Join Us

KADALYS is a sustainable business because we believe that it is the only way forward. We are committed to making a positive impact on the planet and its inhabitants, and our initiatives reflect this commitment.

We can all play a part in helping to address climate change. We hope you'll join us in this journey towards sustainability by taking our quiz to create your personalized sustainable skincare routine.

Thank you for being part of the KADALYS community!

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