Valencia Hartono

Global Challenge: Engineering Sustainable Consumption in the Global Beauty Market

Abstract:

This paper explores how the beauty industry’s reliance on single-use packaging and limited consumer education around product safety have created both environmental and trust challenges. Today, over 120 billion units of cosmetic packaging are produced annually, much of which is discarded after one use, while consumers often remain uncertain about product expiration, ingredient stability, and safe usage.

To address these issues, this paper proposes ÉcoBelle, a modular and refillable cosmetic packaging system designed to embed sustainability, transparency, and safety into everyday beauty routines. The system combines reusable outer containers with standardized refill pods and integrates simple smart features, such as expiry tracking and QR-based product information, to help users better understand what they are using and when to replace it.
Beyond physical packaging, ÉcoBelle extends into a brand-integrated digital platform that enables products across different beauty brands to become scannable and trackable within one unified system, allowing consumers to monitor product usage, expiration timelines, and ingredient information in a centralized and accessible way while improving both convenience and trust.

Through analysis of consumer behavior, existing refill systems, and industry trends, the paper identifies key gaps in current solutions, particularly around usability, affordability, and transparency, positioning ÉcoBelle as an accessible-premium alternative that maintains a high-quality aesthetic while lowering long-term costs through reusable design and recurring refills and aligning with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) and SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being).

Over the past three years in GLASS, I’ve become increasingly interested in how sustainability challenges are often not driven by a lack of awareness, but by a lack of accessible and well-designed solutions. Exploring the global challenge of cosmetic packaging waste helped me realize that consumer behavior is deeply shaped by convenience, pricing, and trust, not just intention. It also pushed me to think more critically about planned obsolescence and how many products are intentionally designed for short lifespans, shifting environmental and social costs elsewhere. This project reflects my focus on designing systems that align sustainability with real user habits, showing how more durable, transparent, and accountable design can make responsible consumption intuitive and scalable.

Bio:

Valencia Hartono (Class of 2026) was a Chinese-Indonesian international student who grew up in Shanghai and studied at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, where she pursued a B.S. in Business and Technology Management with a concentration in Finance, along with minors in Computer Science and Mathematics. As part of the Global Leaders and Scholars in STEM (GLASS) Honors Program, she developed a global perspective through study abroad experiences at NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Paris.

Throughout her undergraduate career, Valencia gained cross-industry experience spanning luxury automotive retail, large-scale CPG manufacturing, and early-stage fashion startups. At Coca-Cola Swire Beverages in Shanghai, she worked closely with engineers and plant managers to identify operational inefficiencies and contributed to standardizing workflows across multiple production lines. She also played a key role in NYU Motorsports, where she developed structured sponsorship strategies by aligning technical outputs with commercial objectives.

On campus, Valencia was an active member of Theta Tau Professional Engineering Fraternity, where she pursued multiple leadership positions and developed strong mentorship, collaboration, and organizational skills. She was also a co-founder of Club Très Chic, where she helped build and scale fashion-focused programming and partnerships, and the founder of En Lumière, a film club established during her time at NYU Paris to foster creative and cultural engagement.

Valencia is particularly interested in roles at the intersection of business and technology, with a focus on strategy, operations, and data-driven decision making in innovation-driven industries.