Upcycling in cosmetics uses residual materials or by-products from other production processes to create new, high-quality cosmetic products. It's called 'upcycling' because it adds value to a raw material. It is one step more valuable than recycling. With recycling you reuse something. With upcycling you add value because you use something that would otherwise be thrown away.
Upcycling is good for your skin and the environment
This is a sustainable approach that is not only good for the environment, but also for your skin. Why?
Upcycling is good for the environment
There is still a lot of waste in the production of food, for example. Remains are now often made into animal feed or destroyed. However, beautiful cosmetic raw materials can still be extracted from these (organic) residual flows. Upcycling helps reduce waste and contributes to a cleaner and greener world for future generations.
The quality remains high with upcycling
Upcycling certainly does not mean sacrificing the quality of the products. In fact, (organic) high-quality ingredients are often used that might otherwise go to waste. Lycopene would normally come from 'new' tomatoes, for example. Lycopene is a cosmetic ingredient that many brands add to creams because it provides fantastic protection. But Food for Skin believes that food should primarily be intended to feed mouths. And if there is any left over... we like to use it to strengthen the skin! If we can choose, we always choose upcycled ingredients. In our case we use the skin, seeds and liquid of tomatoes from a pasta sauce factory in Italy, which they do not use for the sauce! Unfortunately, that choice is not always available yet, but it is a work in progress.
The strength of the products comes first
Food for Skin only chooses those natural ingredients that really make your skin stronger and more resilient according to our skin philosophy. And then we investigate which of those ingredients we can obtain from upcycling. And not the other way around! Why not? To really make an impact, the product must be of top quality. Because a good story alone won't get you there. So we always go for top quality (of course 100% natural, vegan and as local as possible) and then we go the extra mile to obtain the ingredients from upcycling. Strangely enough, those ingredients are still more expensive than new/virgin ingredients because those flows are not yet optimally organized and a lot of manual work is involved, but that doesn't matter to us. We make no concessions on price or quality!
Upcycling ensures innovation
Upcycling encourages cosmetic companies to be creative and find new ways to reuse materials. In this way we hope to positively inspire the beauty industry that it is possible! Maximum impact on your skin, minimum impact on the planet!
How Food for Skin uses upcycling for cosmetics
- Lycopene (antioxidant) from tomato peels. It is of course in our bestseller, the Tomato Base Cream . We use the leftover seeds, peels and liquid left over from an Italian pasta sauce factory.
- Avocado oil. Avocados themselves are not very sustainable, because you need a lot of water to grow them. That is why Food for Skin uses oil in the Avocado Serum from rejected avocados that are too 'ugly' for the market.
- The SPF30 contains no fewer than 3 upcycled ingredients. 1 of these is raspberry seed oil. A byproduct of a juice producer. They use the juices, but not the seeds. These are captured and beautiful oils are pressed from them in a cosmetic lab. The bisabolol and bilberry seed oil also come from upcycling. The berries and flowers are processed in the food industry, leaving oil and extract behind, which are then formed into an approved cosmetic ingredient.
- In the Soothing Lipbalm we use a beautiful plum seed oil (plum) to retain moisture in the lip. This is extracted from the pit of the plum that remains after processing in food.
How can you integrate upcycling in cosmetics into your daily skincare routine?
- Read the labels: Look for cosmetic products that contain ingredients obtained through upcycling. Look for terms like "upcycled," or "repurposed."
- DIY options: Consider making homemade beauty products with leftover materials from food or other natural sources. There are countless recipes and tutorials available online. Please pay close attention to hygiene. It is not without reason that cosmetic companies are closely monitored for hygiene and shelf life of products!
Let us take the path together towards a brighter future, both for ourselves and for the generations that will come after us.
