The Naked Chemist Sustainability Development Goals

Sustainable beauty can mean a whole host of things.

Maybe the packaging is recyclable.

Whether the ingredients are sourced in a responsible and low-impact way.

Or that you support local growers.

Whatever it is, it’s beautiful, making buying beauty even more fun.

We want our formulas to be as kind to mother nature as they are to your skin.

Or how far they have travelled to get to you.

In this article, we discuss what improvements we have accomplished.

Our upcoming sustainability development goals and what we hope to achieve in the future.

To help our world become a better place.

Q. What does sustainability mean to the Naked Chemist?

Sustainable” means that our product has been created with ingredients, materials, sourcing and farming practices that are not detrimental to the environment and reduce dependency on natural resources.

We believe that sustainable products should support long-term ecological balance. For example, in skin care, “sustainable” can apply to the formulas, the method ingredients are sourced, the packaging and so forth.

Q: How does the Naked Chemist as a company view sustainability?

Being surrounded by such diverse nature in New Zealand, we are highly conscious of our consumption’s impact natural world and that this planet is far too precious and beautiful to waste.

We have always been champions of sustainable living and always have considered the sustainability factors at every level of our production, from our products to where we source ingredients used in our formulations to our packaging.

We are proud to produce exclusively on New Zealand shores; event in our formulas is sourced locally and packaged in bio-degradable and/or recyclable packs.

Q. Should the consumer know using Naked Chemist products is an entirely sustainable choice?

A. When creating products, we analyse our entire supply chain, both up and downstream; what we mean by this is we look at all the processes that get the ingredients into our formulas.

Since inception, we have worked closely with New Zealand producers, so we have full traceability on how our ingredients are grown and processed, enabling us to achieve 100% traceability,

Our products are formulated, batched, filled, and shipped from our New Zealand premises. We call it “forest to face” and focus on sustainable methods of production that eliminate harsh synthetics from the process.

We are constantly monitoring their effect in the formulating phase through extraction and our impact on the environment around us to ensure the ring is not harmful to our products and nothing will harm our environment.

Q. You have said before your ingredients make a significant global impact. What do you mean by this?

A. We believe in harnessing the power of nature to enhance your natural beauty. With this in mind, we source our plant-based active ingredients from around our backyard.

We take care in processing ingredients —as we dont want to reduce their natural potency. That means careful selection of only non-toxic preservatives that will make sure you get the most out of each precious ingredient, prolonging your products’ shelf life without compromising on safety

We also select ingredients that are skin identical – proven to be biologically compatible with your skin and hair;

if we use an ingredient that isn’t available as an organic, we are committed to choosing the most non-toxic, safest and sustainable option available,

We are obsessed with ethical sourcing

Some plant-based ingredients that are ubiquitous in consumer products, like palm oil, have associations with the unjust treatment of workers or can have devastating impacts on the planet. That’s why the Naked Chemist ensures our ingredients don’t add to this problem. So we don’t use palm oil in our products.

We want to raise awareness to help reduce habitat destruction, clear-cutting, climate change and more.

Q: Can you share how the Naked Chemist views their packaging concerning sustainability?

A. When it comes to designing packaging, we make conscious decisions in every aspect of our packaging because we want to do justice to the natural, potent, luxurious formulas within.

We are making a move to more Eco-friendly packaging

This way of thinking has always influenced our ingredients, but more recently, we have about the packaging that holds our formulas.

One of the changes immediately visible to clients is our new packaging (being released soon). The design was not only an advancement in sustainability – recyclable varnish and vegetable–based inks and finishes on our boxes.

But many of our plastic containers will now move to the widely recyclable mono–material polypropylene (PP).

Because no one solution fits across every piece of packaging, we then have to assess each product individually to determine which packaging solution is right for which formula we are using, i.e. is it sensitive to light exposure, the usage and the environmental impact?

It is all of these elements that are helping to shape our packaging selection.

Q. Can you share your thoughts about using glass or plastic packaging when thinking about sustainability?

A. This is not a straightforward answer because whilst Plastic is harmful to the environment, it has the lowest carbon footprint. So, whilst switching to Plastic undoubtedly replaces plastic pollution, it certainly doesn’t solve all of our planet’s problems,

For instance, when you consider the smaller it, these instances are comparable to Plastic in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.

Recycling is a pervasive issue because even if a brand says its product packaging is recyclable, the subtle details that make up the packaging, such as finishes and the colour or metallic caps, can mean this packaging you put in your recycling bin, ultimately ending up in a landfill.

As a result, we choose the following.

• Whenever possible, we use plant-based materials — since they are a renewable resource.
• We use sustainable packaging components, either renewable or recyclable.
• We seek to ensure that our packaging can be recycled where possible.
• We choose not to use petroleum-based packaging, which is nonrenewable.

Q. Finally, what are sustainable development goals for the future?

A. We don’t have all the answers yet, but we ask with our minds and lead with our hearts.

Our sustainability development goals are ever-evolving, a learning journey where we constantly strive to improve and do our best.

Sustainability development is a dynamic journey in an ever-changing world where technology advances quickly; staying ahead of the game is not easy.

It requires thoughtful action. We don’t want to rush into implementing something to say we are doing it for sustainability; instead, we want to make sure it has the intended effect for the good of the environment and society.

In an ideal world, every day for us would be Earth Day, but we can only do our part by implementing small steps towards sustainability to guarantee a happier planet in the future.

And if that something happens to be a more eco-friendly beauty routine for our users, not just for how they make them look and feel but also to feel better about using skincare that more positively impacts our planet. then we think we are making a positive impact not only for society but also our planet as a whole.