Haley Gershon, marketing manager, Beta Analytic, and Julie Anne Cote, claim and clinical research specialist, The Honest Company Inc.
As part of its mission to “inspire everyone to love living consciously,” The Honest Company is proud to offer many biobased products, which act as alternatives to conventional fossil-fuel-based products.
The Honest Co.
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In the last decade, there has been an increased awareness regarding the environmental impact of the ingredients used in personal care and cleaning products. Modern consumers, especially Gen Z and millennials, show a growing interest in more sustainable options. This trend has reinforced the use of renewable raw materials in the personal care and cleaning product industry. In fact, the global biobased cosmetics and personal care ingredients market, which was estimated in 2021 at $4,679.33 million, is forecast to grow to $8,122.74 million by 2031. To meet consumer’s demands and behavior, personal care companies such as The Honest Company are continually adjusting product formulations.
Selecting biobased ingredients helps decrease the use of non-renewable resources like petroleum-derived ingredients. The Honest Company takes pride in finding ways to ethically and sustainably source ingredients to help limit the amount of harm to the environment. Furthermore, the company acquires third-party verification of biobased content by having products tested for biobased content of ingredients through carbon-14 analysis.
Verifying Biobased Content
As part of The Honest Company’s product development and formulation process, biobased testing plays an important role in the validation of biobased derived ingredients. In order to ensure accurate results of biobased content, The Honest Company submits product samples to Beta Analytic, an ISO 17025-accredited third-party laboratory.
Samples received for biobased content testing are analyzed according to internationally recognized standards such as ASTM D6866, which requires the use of radiocarbon dating (carbon-14 analysis) to determine the biobased carbon content. This is applicable to solid, liquid, and gaseous samples. Samples are measured using an accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) instrument, which measures the amount of carbon-14 content present.
The carbon-14 method is viable for biobased determination because all living materials contain a known level of carbon-14 content, whereas petrochemical-derived material does not contain any carbon-14 content. Therefore, by measuring the amount of carbon-14 present in any given sample, the analytical results can be used to differentiate between fossil fuel-derived and biomass-derived content.
Coinciding with biobased testing to validate the use of biobased ingredients, there are several certification programs established that promote biobased products and offer biobased eco-labels for eligible products. This provides consumers with a means of easily identifying biobased products in the marketplace.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) BioPreferred Program is a certification program which aims to increase the purchase of biobased products through encouraging the use of biobased material and reducing reliance on petroleum-derived products. This program refers to biobased products as products that are derived in whole or in part from biological components such as renewable chemicals, forestry materials or renewable agricultural materials.
Two key parts of this program include a mandatory purchasing requirement applicable for federal agencies, and a voluntary labeling initiative for biobased products in the marketplace. There are currently 139 product categories established for biobased products, in which federal agencies and their contractors have mandatory purchasing requirements.
Once a product is certified, companies can include the USDA Certified Biobased Product label. This allows consumers to identify biobased products with the assurance that these products have been certified by a third-party.
USDA Certified Biobased Products
The Honest Company products that have been biobased tested display the official USDA Certified Biobased Product label on the certified product and/or the website, which represents the percentage of biobased content the product contains. This enables the consumers to easily identify products with verified biobased content at point of sale.
Currently, more than half of Honest products are USDA Certified Biobased through the BioPreferred Program. As of 2023, the company has more than 60 USDA Certified Biobased products. The alcohol used in The Honest Company’s alcohol wipes and hand sanitizer spray, for example, is 100% plant-derived. In addition, its Clean Conscious Wipes are made of a plant-based viscose cloth and are a 100% USDA Certified Biobased product.
The Honest Company strives to increase the number of products made with renewable biological ingredients and is committed to submitting all their products for biobased certification through the BioPreferred program, including new products to be launched in the future.
Building Trust in Biobased Content
Consumer preference for plant-based personal care and cosmetic products is driving companies to formulate and certify biobased-derived products. The Honest Company is serving consumer demand for more sustainable product development. By submitting product samples for biobased testing based on the ASTM D6866 standard, this ensures third-party verification of biobased content. In addition, The Honest Company allows for consumer trust of their product ingredients through certifying the biobased testing products under the USDA BioPreferred Program.
About the AuthorsHaley Gershon, marketing manager, Beta Analytic.Beta Analytic
Haley Gershon is the marketing manager for Beta Analytic, Inc., an ISO 17025-accredited dedicated biobased content testing laboratory. She joined the company in 2018. She is the VP of Marketing for subsidiary Isobar Science. Her primary role involves leading marketing initiatives on an international level for multiple laboratory services in addition to managing the company’s marketing and customer support teams. Haley has an environmental science background with a double degree in Ecosystem Science & Policy and Political Science plus a sustainability certificate from the University of Miami.
Julie Anne Cote is a research scientist, claims and clinicals, at The Honest Company, Inc., a digitally native consumer products company dedicated to creating safe, effective and high-quality products spanning baby care, beauty, personal care, wellness and household care. The company’s mission to inspire everyone to love living consciously, is driven by its values of transparency, trust, sustainability, and a deep sense of purpose around what matters most to its consumers: their health, their families, and the planet. As part of its sustainability journey, the company is committed to exploring and evolving to improve the use of renewable resources—from plant-derived ingredients to the newest innovations in green chemistry to the amount of recycled and/or recyclable material in their packaging.
Haley Gershon, marketing manager, Beta Analytic.Beta Analytic
Haley Gershon, marketing manager, Beta Analytic.Beta Analytic
