Sustainability+

A Message from Carta Founder and
Perfumer, Heather D’Angelo

Sustainability +

In my work as a perfumer, I use the word “sustainability” (harmless to people and planet) instead of “regenerative” (producing a net positive) because it more honestly expresses how far we still have to go as an industry. We need comprehensive reformation to normalize sustainable practices before we can graduate to regenerative ones. But we can work towards sustainability with a regenerative development mindset, beginning with supply chain evaluation. We need to think beyond sustainability towards a future utilizing renewable resources and actively repairing the harm done to our planet—the plastic waste polluting our oceans, the overharvesting of endangered species, the exploitation of farming communities. The list goes on and on.

As an ecologist and maker, I care deeply about Carta’s impact on our planet and its inhabitants. To me, having a conscious business means always striving to find solutions that will take Carta a step closer from merely sustainable to regenerative. I often feel like David fighting Goliath, but each year I’m privileged enough to do this work, I find new footholds that keep this business moving forward in the right direction.

Environmental Stewardship

From farm to fragrance

I source every ingredient I use from farms, manufacturers, and distributors that I trust. These relationships are forged through shared values of conscious production and nurtured through ongoing dialogue as the bar continues to rise. By celebrating one botanical per perfume and sharing its story from plant to product, I seek to solidify fragrance as an agricultural product in my customer’s minds and foster a greater appreciation of the tremendous resources it takes to grow and distill plants. By visiting farms personally, I bear firsthand witness to the agricultural practices behind my ingredients, confirming they’re employed ethically and sustainably.

These journeys also instill enhanced mindfulness for how I use resources as a perfumer and the potential shifts that may come in response to our ever-changing world.

Climate change will continue to play a critical role in agriculture, affecting both the crops and farming communities’ livelihoods. As a perfumer who relies on natural ingredients, scarcity may constrain access in the future, requiring modifications to my formulas and potentially a greater reliance on safe aroma molecules. I promise to you that I will always use the highest quality ingredients for my pure parfums, where quality is a measure of excellence, inclusive of both purity and integrity.

A Zero-Waste Future

I dream that the use of single-use plastic in the beauty industry will one day come to an end. Eighteen trillion pounds of plastic have been produced to date, and eighteen billion pounds of it ends up in our oceans each year. I see no reason why my business should contribute to this global travesty.

Since launching in 2017 with a limited edition of 300 large-format Moena 12|69 bottles, I have strived to eliminate single-use plastics at every turn. While the 50 ml bottle is recyclable, it is not refillable; for that reason, I’ve removed this bottle from production for future perfumes. I designed Carta’s signature splash with both beauty and sustainability in mind. The bottle features a fitted ground-glass globe stopper, eliminating the need for plastic pumps, caps, and tubes. Each one is hand-sealed using an artisanal technique called baudruchage, involving the application of a biodegradable wrap laced with silk threads and secured with a wax seal. This technique ensures that bottles remain both air and watertight during their journey and free from tampering. Our refilling & recycling services encourage customers to keep bottles out of landfills by offering incentives to return or reuse them.

In addition to the 15ml splash bottle, I’m proud of my 1ml sample vial, which replaces traditional plastic stoppers with eco-friendly cork. The vial is made of glass, and its packaging is fully recyclable.

Lastly, all of Carta’s packaging uses Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified recycled paper, which ensures adherence to environmentally and socially responsible forestry practices. Our parfums are shipped using biodegradable and/or recycled shipping materials.

Community Building for Change

Launched on Earth Day 2020, I founded the Coalition of Sustainable Perfumery with three fellow perfumer friends, Mauricio Garcia of Herbcraft Perfumery, Molly Brennan of Sacred Scents, and Sydney Buffman of Syd Botanica. Frustrated by our industry’s lack of transparency, the four of us united in seeking answers to our sustainability-related questions and solutions to our supply chain problems.

Today, through resource sharing, inter-industry relationship building, informed discussion, and collaborative accountability, we aim to help others create and distribute scent products that are as sustainable for people and the planet as possible. We are committed to that goal, whether it’s tackling supply chain and packaging issues or addressing challenging topics such as toxicology and colonialism. As part of our outreach, we conduct interviews with people from all over the perfume industry—chemists, essential oil manufacturers, packaging experts, etc.—to investigate and influence industry reform from the ground up.

Lastly, I value investing in regenerative development. That is why a portion of all sales is returned to Camino Verde to help fund their work to reforest hundreds of species of Amazonian trees, protecting the regions’ unparalleled biodiversity, and improving the livelihoods of forest communities.