As far as perfumery and cosmetic ingredients are concerned, upcycling is one of the most powerful trends of the moment. The growing interest in these new generation of sustainable materials, led the way to the launch of several ingredients resulting from this “creative reuse” at the last edition of the in-cosmetics Global show, which was held in Paris at the beginning of April. In perfumes, this desire to bring new value to previously neglected resources was illustrated by Cosmos’s Golden Berry, an ingredient made from the dried calyx of physalis, and by Eurofragance’s L’Âme du Bois, a captive fragrant ingredient derived from wood chips.
Co-products from the food and wooden furniture industries
TechnicoFlor perfumers saw in this trend a new olfactory playground and at in-cosmetics Global presented a collection of eight responsible fragrances developed from upcycled raw materials, in compliance with stringent environmental specifications. The challenge was to highlight an upcycled raw material within formulas that would be "free from skin sensitizing danger", 100% vegan, with a high percentage of biodegradable ingredients, a controlled environmental impact, and with fair trade materials.
Within their palette of upcycled raw materials, TechnicoFlor perfumers selected white wine lees (resulting from the deposit generated during the aging period of wine and champagne in barrels), oak wood (resulting from woodchips of wine barrels upgraded by CO2 extraction), carrot seeds (derived from seeds with low germinative potential), cocoa absolute (derived from cocoa pods), tangerine (extracted from the peel of the fruit), cypress absolute (derived from waste from the wooden furniture industry), or rose essential (derived from the distillation of petals that have already been used to create rose absolute).
Eight original fragrances
The selection process led to the creation of eight new, original and responsible fragrances — Raisin Divin, Up To Wood, Bois Tonic, Purple Fiction, Cacao Rosso, Sorbet Corse, Cypress’tige, Rosylicious — thus demonstrating that it is possible to transform "waste" into small olfactory treasures!
An ingredient can be considered upcycled when it is obtained by recovering by-products from industrial or agricultural transformation processes. Upcycled ingredients can be of natural or synthetic origin. By giving new life to materials that are often intended to be discarded, upcycling helps to decrease the waste of resources and is part of the circular economy movement and the regenerative culture. It also contributes to add unexpected materials to the perfumers’ palette.
This initiative from the French fragrance house is in line with its strategy of becoming a key expert in natural and responsible perfumery, which includes the creation of 100% natural ranges that comply with COSMOS Organic requirements (NatFlor perfumes), a committed purchasing policy, the sourcing of eco-responsible raw materials (BetterTomorrow®), a tool for measuring the biodegradability of perfumes (BioD-Scent®).
