Zero Waste Ingredients for Skincare and Cosmetics

Looking at our environmental impact has never been more important and zero waste is a crucial elements of this. Zero waste ingredients can be used in cosmetics, skincare and hair care to improve our eco-system.

Zero waste ingredients present beauty brands with a wealth of opportunities to increase their sustainability. Upcycled ingredients mean that waste from agricultural, food and juice industries can be eliminated by extracting unwanted elements from the manufacturing process to become by-products and raw materials in their own right.

Did you know that the EU generates 88 million tonnes of bio-waste per year? 9 million tonnes of this comes from the primary stages of food production. 

By-products including seeds, leaves, peels and stones are usually discarded but these derivatives can provide a nutrient rich ingredient list for skincare and cosmetics.

The upcycled products that we supply often have a similar, if not higher, health value than the main industry use. Many by-products from seeds and fruit stones contain key bio-active compounds including high levels of essential fatty acids, anti-oxidants and vitamins that provide significant benefits for hair and skincare.

What does zero waste mean?

To us our zero waste products can be split into two categories.

Upcycled by-products

Firstly, upcycled by-products. This means taking a by-product from a different manufacturing process and using it to create a new product. any waste from this is then used for other processes resulting in 100% raw material use.

Zero waste to landfill

Secondly, zero waste to landfill. There are raw materials that are grown specifically for producing oil which results in some waste. This waste is managed to prevent it from going to landfill and is used as a natural fertiliser or for animal feed.

Where can you find our zero waste products?

The easiest way to find out if a product is zero waste is to see if it’s on our zero waste list.

Cold Pressed Oils

Upcycled cold pressed fruit oils are created using unwanted seeds, nuts and pulps from the food and juice industries. In the cold pressing process these seeds are crushed using a screw press mechanism to extract the oil. This method avoids using hear or chemicals which preserves the nutritional qualities of the product.

Our favourite zero waste, cold pressed oils:

Apple Seed Oil 
Apple Seed Oil upcycles waste apple seeds from the juice industry which are then cold pressed to extract the oil.

Avocado Oil (Organic)
Our Avocado Oil is made from collecting the unwanted and damaged avocados that can’t be sold as fruit. The flesh of these wonky avocados is pressed for the oil.

Exfoliating Scrubs 

Scrubs are a by-product and the final waste element in a raw material lifecycle. Scrubs often complete a zero waste circle for natural products. They are made by crushing nuts and seeds to extract oils and then irradiating them to steralise them.

Our favourite exfoliating, zero waste scrubs:

Ground Strawberry Seeds
This ground, powder-like scrub is perfect as a gentle exfoliator and is made from the discarded strawberry seeds of the jam industry.

Rosehip Shells (Irratiated)
Once we’ve used Rosehip Seeds to create one of our most popular cold pressed oils, the waste product is reclaimed to make this excellent natural scrub.

All of the products in our range of scrubs are zero waste, with the exception of pumice.

Waters

Steam distillation is used to create aromatic essentials. During the distillation, the aromatic water left over contains minute amounts of the essential oil and is its own by-product. All of the waters in our range which are ‘hydrolats’ are zero waste, this means that they are the left over product and don’t have any additional essentials added back in.