Genomatica Brings New Level of Transparency to Personal Care

Genomatica, a leader in clean manufacturing and sustainability, today announced the launch of its sustainability impact calculator. The interactive calculator makes it easier for personal care companies to substantiate sustainability claims and achieve greater transparency with Brontide natural butylene glycol — an eco-friendly alternative to petroleum-derived butylene glycol.  

The impact calculator’s dynamic estimator empowers personal care companies to predict environmental footprint savings when replacing petroleum-derived butylene glycol — an ingredient commonly used in personal care products — with Genomatica’s plant-based alternative, Brontide natural butylene glycol. Personal care companies can instantly measure the environmental impact of using larger volumes of natural butylene glycol and delivering it to more consumers, in a single product or an entire product line, by simply entering the volume intended for use. 
 
The sustainability impact calculator uses data from Genomatica’s peer-reviewed Brontide life cycle assessment (LCA) ISO 14044. According to Genomatica’s independent, comprehensive LCA, Brontide natural butylene glycol can slash greenhouse gas emissions by about 51% compared to conventional production. The U.S. EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator is used to calculate this data further and provide users with three additional equivalencies, including greenhouse gas emissions from the number of cars driven for one year, emissions avoided by incandescent lamps switched to LEDs and carbon sequestered by tree seedlings grown for 10 years.   
 
“The personal care market can take a major step toward sustainability by formulating their products with Genomatica’s Brontide natural butylene glycol instead of petroleum-based alternatives,” said Damien Perriman, Genomatica’s senior vice president, Specialty Products. “Our new sustainability impact calculator is just one of the ways Genomatica is helping personal care companies to quantify their greenhouse gas savings and accelerate an industry-wide transition to more sustainable products.” 
 
Genomatica’s recent sustainability survey results underscore the importance of claim substantiation and greater transparency within the U.S. personal care products market, said the company.

A Greener Tomorrow

Genomatica’s recent sustainability survey results underscore the importance of claim substantiation and greater transparency within the U.S. personal care products market. Genomatica’s 2020 survey revealed that 85% of Americans have been thinking about sustainability the same amount or more during the COVID-19 pandemic, and of Americans who have been more sustainable lately, 1 in 3 (32%) say it’s because they’re buying more sustainable products.
 
The company’s 2019 survey uncovered that consumers want to make sustainable choices, but confusion and lack of transparency made for high hurdles to overcome. Fifty-five percent were surprised to learn baby sunscreen contains ingredients made from crude oil, 42% didn’t realize face moisturizer contains crude oil-based ingredients and 66% weren’t happy when they found out (32% were “disgusted,” 34% were “bothered”).
 
Genomatica’s Brontide natural butylene glycol reduces global greenhouse gases by 1.92 kg CO2 per kilogram used compared to conventional production. This means the ingredient has the potential to reduce global greenhouse gases by nearly 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per year and eliminate the use of 50,000 tons of acetaldehyde, a carcinogenic and mutagenic ingredient used in conventional production methods.
 
The debut of Genomatica’s sustainability impact calculator coincides with the relaunch of its Brontide website. The fully redesigned website features the calculator as well as a side-by-side comparison of a conventional petroleum-derived process versus Genomatica’s sustainable fermentation process. The new site also includes an extensive resource library with formulation guides for a variety of personal care applications, including skincare, masks, cleansers, body scrubs, serums and more. 
 
Genomatica has earned acclaim for its Brontide natural butylene glycol production process, including the prestigious 2020 Green Chemistry Challenge Award given by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the 2017 ICIS Innovation Award. To access Genomatica’s sustainability impact calculator, visit brontidebg.com/sustainability/sustainability-impact-calculator. To learn more about Brontide natural butylene glycol or to request a product sample, contact Genomatica at [email protected] and visit brontidebg.com. To learn more about Genomatica, visit genomatica.com.