128 SUSTAINABILITY
Using the BRAG system to evaluate sustainability
Tony O’Lenick - SurfaTech Corporation ABSTRACT
Sustainability as a broad concept can be complicated to understand. This is because not only it is affected by technical, economic and social issues, but also there is confusion as to how to holistically evaluate sustainability. Sustainability in a broad sense means meeting our own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.1
The establishing of a specific metric that is meaningful for personal care formulations as well as raw materials is still a challenge. As we look at this more deeply, beyond this broad definition there are four pillars of sustainability.2 In this article, I look at some concepts that
have been combined to start helping in the establishment of a unified method to evaluate sustainability. An effective programme for sustainability in the personal care market, requires as the first step that we focus on the environmental pillar and how to establish metrics by which sustainability in an environmental sense can be measured.
TABLE 1: THE FOUR PILLARS OF SUSTAINABILITY
The term sustainability is broadly used to indicate programmes, initiatives and actions aimed at the preservation of a particular resource. However, it refers to four distinct areas: human, social, economic and environmental – known as the four pillars of sustainability
PERSONAL CARE April 2023
When the ability of a raw material to deliver its function without exceeding environmental and ecological boundaries along its entire life cycle, while providing welfare, socio-economic benefits and reducing externalities.3
Table 1
gives a good definition of what is known as the four pillars of sustainability.4
Approaches to increase sustainability True sustainable development requires a convergence of many interests (Figure 1).5 Evaluating all these areas at once is a daunting task. It is helpful to compare personal formulations
with road transport to illustrate the important incremental steps being taken towards the sustainability goal.
1. Synthetic-based formulations versus petrol engine cars Considering the car analogy, formulations that are made up of only synthetic ingredients are like the petrol engine using only synthetic fuel. The formulations that fit into this classification
Sustainability is an important concept and laudable goal for the personal care industry yet there are many aspects of it that, when combined, can become overwhelming to the scientist, the brand manager and - most importantly - the consumer. In the broadest sense, sustainability relates to all aspects of our interaction with each other and with our environment. When we attempt to apply all aspects of sustainability we find there are some areas in which different major concepts will be in conflict with each other. For example, social and economic aspects can be in conflict. Our recommendation is to break such a conflict into workable segments and address the inter-pillar conflicts in a subsequent evaluation. This article will attempt to look at one pillar of sustainability, the environment aspect, that is broad enough to contribute to the understanding and application of a sustainability model and be focused enough to provide an approach to establishing a working approach to this critically important topic.
are based only upon if synthetic, i.e. principally petroleum-based raw materials are used. Petrol engine cars have been used
successfully for many years. They are available in many different models with different features, but they lack the desired property of sustainability. The cosmetic formulations likewise are based upon synthetic ingredients. They function and have been used for many years but, like petrol engine cars, are not sustainable.
2. Hybrid formulations versus hybrid engine cars Hybrid cars have the capability to use both electric and petrol fuels, offering alternatives that provide an improvement over the older vehicles. Similarly, personal care formulations of this class have some sustainable and some synthetic ingredients. While not being able to operate only using on sustainable ingredients, they are an improvement over fully synthetic raw materials.
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