What biodegradable and zero waste mean, and why our thinking always stops at packaging.

BIODEGRADABLE

Biodegradable is a common label on consumer packaging today, but what exactly does it mean? After all, everything can biodegrade over time, although it can take thousands of years. While we usually focus on the biodegradability of packaging, there is also the issue of the product itself. What happens to face creams that have reached the end of their shelf life and are disposed of in household waste bins? Or what about hair conditioners that are washed out with shower water? So there are many ways in which we can understand the term biodegradable.

In particular, we need solutions that reduce the amount of product entering the life cycle, mainly due to the complexity of biodegradability.

It is very fashionable at the moment to talk about degradability and recyclability and so on, but consumers are getting confused with all the new terms and information bombarding us from all sides. The cosmetics industry, of course, immediately seized on the new terminology and turned it to its advantage, focusing on packaging rather than on how quickly – if at all! – the ingredients in a product break down.

Natural products are, of course, preferred to commercial ones when it comes to biodegradability, but it is important to remember that even if a beauty product is biodegradable, it may leave a certain environmental footprint when it is manufactured.

The rate and efficiency of biodegradation are related to the environment in which the product is released. Most personal care products are washed off and oils and fats are not water soluble. Water-soluble beauty products have a grey water footprint – this is the amount of fresh water needed to disperse the product into quantities that are no longer toxic to aquatic organisms.

ZERO WASTE

Zero waste means we don’t want to send anything to landfill, incinerators or the oceans. This ridiculous goal seems impossible to achieve, but it is worth serious consideration when we hear that the average person in the US throws away a body weight worth of rubbish every month.

Experts predict that by 2100, global solid waste production will exceed 11 million tonnes per day. Per day! Efforts to reduce waste, even in the beauty industry, are thus an essential requirement to prevent pollution.

We are all doing our part to help fight for a cleaner and healthier planet, whether it’s by shifting our recycling habits at home, adapting the way we travel or considering the impact of certain product purchases.

I myself am thinking hard about how to reduce waste, so I choose zero waste ingredients, returnable packaging and recycled paper as much as possible, but there is still a lot of work to be done. As producers, we also have a responsibility to encourage good consumption habits and to think about taking care of our beautiful planet.

Any formulator can tell you how amazing oils are in skincare and haircare. In fact, many formulators choose to work only with oils because they are really effective and beautiful ingredients. Fortunately, there are many of us who have also started to use waste ingredients, with the aim of creating zero waste waste oils. These are fantastic for us as formulators, but also for meeting important principles of environmental sustainability.

Supermarkets decided a few years ago, due to high demand, to include jams and juices without seeds or pulp. This decision created enormous waste in the production of jams, concentrates and juices, because the excess pulp and, of course, the seeds that were removed from the juices and jams were left as waste. Some of this waste was used as natural fertiliser, but most of it and all its nutritional goodness ended up as waste.

This soon led to the emergence of a micro market, mainly made up of natural cosmetics formulators who expressed an interest in using seeds and cellulose. Therefore, providers started to store them so that they could be further processed and the oil extracted from them.

A cosmetic gold mine has been discovered by creating oils that are made from waste, but which also have enormous benefits.

I like to use zero waste oils in my formulations. In my products you will find raspberry seed oil, grape seed oil, apricot kernel oil, pomegranate seed oil, etc.

I also encourage you to return the packaging (myron glass) of NANU products to me so that we can recycle them.

Together we are stronger – let’s make sure our planet stays as beautiful as it is for a long time to come.

Finally, here are some ideas on how you can reuse the beautiful Myron glass yourself:

• If you make your own St John’s wort or calendula oils, you can store them in Miron glass jars.
• Miron bottles are perfect for storing Bach flower essences.
• Use the packaging as vases for flowers.
• The packaging can be used to store pre-mixed silk painting inks or watercolours.
• Very topical at the moment: fill the bottle with hand sanitiser.
• You can also fill it with purified water or hydrolates and use it as a facial moisturiser.
• You can pour the oils you buy in brown glass into myron glass, as the unique properties of purple glass will keep the oil fresher for longer.
• Create your own room diffuser with essential oils.

And here’s another idea: Buster Bang is an Austrian artist who has gone one step further and decided to reuse his surplus Myron glass bottles, which is, of course, much more sustainable than recycling. So he actually recycled myron water bottles into beautiful club tables. You can find out more about his work here: https://busterbang.com/.