The 'green' ingredients to use for beauty products with principles

Published: 2-Feb-2018

The sustainable sourcing and manufacture of predominantly natural and naturally-derived cosmetic ingredients that do not adversely effect the environment for future generations is an increasing focus for manufacturers – so where should you start?

The acceptance that the chemical industry must not adversely affect the environment for future generations has been the driving force behind the development of green chemistry.

This is not a separate branch of chemistry, but an approach that permeatesevery stage of process development.

Sustainability is at the heart of this aspiration, and sustainable development and manufacture meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs^[1].

Natural ingredients for cosmetic use that have been obtained by following the 12 principles of green chemistry are the focus of this feature.

A search for green chemistry on the Kosmet database retuned 7,722 references covering many aspects of cosmetic ingredients and production^[3].

Showing that the cosmetics industry was at the forefront of applying green chemistry principles is a paper published in 2005 that describes the eco-friendly synthesis of various aromatic esters for use as sunscreensand preservatives using microwave activation^[4].

The search for new non-toxic, environmentally friendly and biodegradable surfactants has increased with the development of green chemistry.

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