NATURALS
Green marks and green scores: a guide
Barbara Olioso - The Green Chemist Consultancy
The desire for sustainable and green cosmetics as well as the complexity behind their production and marketing, has been growing over the years and it is not stopping. Until recently, the answer to help consumers choose genuine green cosmetics was purchasing a beauty product certified according to one of the beauty standards available on the market, mainly COSMOS, Natrue and the EU Ecolabel. However, there are new scoring initiatives by
big brands on the scene: the Eco Beauty Score, the Green Score and the Green Impact Index. This is going to disrupt the way we differentiate, translate and validate green beauty, so in this article I give a general overview of these exciting six options we have in our industry today, starting with the classic ones.
1. COSMOS Born out of the alliance of five European certification bodies, i.e. BDIH, Cosmebio, Ecocert, ICEA and Soil Association, the COSMOS standard was quite a long time in the making, but the result is a system that includes several criteria expected in a beauty product with sustainability credentials.1 It promotes the use of green chemistry
ingredients, high renewable content (at least 98%), the avoidance of threatened plant species and of animal derived ingredients sourced unethically. The standard does not only require products formulas compliance, but also to other areas such as storage, manufacturing site and the detergents used for cleaning it, the packaging and the label to prevent misleading claims. This certification system is applicable
not only to finished products but also to raw materials and manufacturing sites, ensuring a consistency in the different stages of the product manufacturing. The standard has currently 250094
COSMOS organic and 8114 COSMOS natural finished products certified, plus 13280 COSMOS certified ingredients (ingredients with organic content) and 8981 COSMOS approved ingredients, with 12 certification bodies from Australia to South Korea, Europe and USA, making it the most global and popular certification system in the marketplace. Certified finished products can use the
logo of the certification body used stating the type of certification, i.e. COSMOS organic or COSMOS natural. This means there is no universal symbol for the products with the
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advantage of knowing who has granted the certification for additional transparency. Formulating according to COSMOS may
seem a bit complicated to begin with, however once the standard is fully understood one can appreciate the convenience of finding suitable ingredients via the data bases provided. Formulating according to COSMOS natural is more straightforward as there are fewer rules associated with it, however it does not have the same prestige as COSMOS organic. Therefore choosing between natural and organic requires careful consideration depending on the application and budget.
2. Natrue Founded by German brands WALA Weleda, Laverana, Primavera, Logocos and CEP (Dalli Group), Natrue follows a similar system as COSMOS (certified manufacturers, ingredients and products) and three levels of certifications, one for organic cosmetics, one for natural cosmetics with organic ingredients and one for simply natural cosmetics.2 However, there are two major differences with
COSMOS. One is the absence of petrochemical derived substances with the exception of nature identical preservatives and minerals, and the second is the rejection of the reconstitution of
organic dehydrated ingredients. These two key differences mean less
ingredients are available to formulate with and more difficulty in formulating organic cosmetics. However, as the name of the standard hints at, it is more in line with consumers expectations of avoiding petrochemical ingredients and more stringent requirements for organic products. Currently there are 4705 certified natural
cosmetics, 57 natural cosmetics with organic content, 1719 organic cosmetics and 2033 approved raw materials. In October, Natrue announced an incentive scheme for raw materials, given the low number in the database, allowing a transitional period until July 2024 to be either certified or approved. The Natrue website also gives a list of 133
certified manufacturers (TPMs, or third party manufacturers), present in several parts of the world, like Brazil, New Zealand and obviously Germany where the standard is more popular. Natrue-certified cosmetics hold the Natrue mark, making it more recognisable and familiar for consumers however the downside is anonymity of the certification body behind the granted certification. At present, there are ten certification bodies accredited to provide the certification, some of which with a global
March 2023 PERSONAL CARE
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