How Climate-friendly, Non-polluting Cosmetics Are Made
A growing number of climate-neutral products are focused on taking the global climate into account during production and offsetting CO2 emissions. A new generation of environmentally neutral products is now taking the next logical step.
The manufacture of most products inevitably has an impact on the environment and the climate. This is also the case for cosmetic products and hygiene items that have become an essential part of our daily lives.
Cosmetics also consume resources
Be it shower gel, toilet paper or facial cream, any product requires a raw material, energy and water for its production. Not only for the product, but also for the container or box.
Then you have to add the impact of storage and transportation at origin, distribution and points of sale. Everything is increasing the volume of CO2 emissions, the main gas with a climate effect. Finally the use, disposal or recycling also have an impact on the environment.
CO2 compensation is not enough
The most responsible companies are incorporating compensation systems for CO2 emissions so that the product can be presented as “climate neutral”. They do this by investing in reforestation, renewable energy or methane capture.
CO2 offsetting is a correct and important step in creating a more environmentally friendly product. However, the products not only produce CO2 emissions throughout their life cycle, but also pollute water, air and land.
Therefore, companies must go one step beyond climate neutrality and start to manufacture truly innocuous products that, in addition to not increasing the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere, also do not produce other negative environmental impacts.
Companies must take care of the manufacturing process of the products from the extraction of the raw materials to their disposal or reuse, with the ultimate goal of reducing the environmental impact as much as possible.
Only then can it be rightly said that a neutral impact has occurred. For companies, this means preparing research and development projects with a lot of trial and error, in which they must learn a lot.
What does “environmentally neutral” mean?
Environmental neutrality has a comprehensive approach. In addition to CO2 emissions, therefore, four other aspects are analyzed and balanced:
- Climate change: the amount of greenhouse gases is increasing. These allow solar heat to pass through, but prevent radiation from returning to space. The consequence is that it increases the greenhouse effect and global warming.
- Eutrophication: factories discharge nitrogen and phosphorus into the waters, which lead to increased growth of algae and aquatic plants. These deprive other plant species of light, which cannot produce oxygen, and aquatic ecosystems are severely damaged.
- Acidification: Soils and waters become acidic through acid rain or emissions of acid-forming substances, thus damaging ecosystems.
- Summer smog: In hot climates, the concentration of ozone and other photo-oxidants in the air is very high. Ozone at ground level attacks the respiratory organs and damages plants and animals.
- Ozone depletion: Due to the depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer, UV-B and UV-C radiation reach the earth unimpeded and damage our skin.
To achieve products with a positive balance in each of these aspects, a series of conditions are required:
1. Conduct a product life cycle assessment
The company must look at all phases of the product life cycle and ask itself: Where do the individual ingredients come from, where are the raw materials for the ingredients? All substances and energies that are used must be recorded.
You also have to analyze the use phase and even take into account what other resources are going to be consumed. For example in the case of products such as a shampoo or a dishwasher, there will be an associated consumption of hot water.
At the end of the product’s life, an analysis of how it is disposed of or recycled, how the packaging is disassembled, and whether it can be reused is necessary.
2. Reduce the environmental impact of manufacturing
Based on the life cycle assessments, in a second step, optimization options should be sought in all phases of the product life. The environmental impact of neutral products should be minimized.
3. Compensate for the remaining effects
Despite the reduction in packaging and ingredients , unavoidable environmental impacts persist. This is where another company must come into play to offset the remaining environmental impact.
As you can see, a natural and ecological product is not defined only by what its beautiful advertising communicates. There must be a very serious work behind it. To begin with, showing a recognized certification is a guarantee for the customer. Transparency about all your activity is another requirement.
