Aveda is First Beauty Company to Achieve Cradle to Cradle Ingredient Certification
TweetAs a global leader in corporate environmental sustainability for 30 years, Aveda(TM) is proud to announce that it is the first beauty company to receive Cradle to Cradle certification for four botanical ingredients: sandalwood oil from Australia, rose oil and lavender oil from Bulgaria and uruku from Brazil.
The certification follows three years of rigorous independent assessment by the Environmental Protection and Encouragement Agency (EPEA) to ensure that each ingredient meets ecological and health criteria based on the Cradle to Cradle Design Concept (C2C), which replaces the “waste model” concept with the concept of “nutritional cycles.”; 2C materials must be either continually reusable or biodegradable and renewable, and must be healthy for users and for the environment. Their production and use must also offer social and economic benefits for its producers.
For beauty and personal care products, the Cradle to Cradle concept means that ingredients are extracted from natural materials, or, “biological nutrients,” that are given back to nature after usage to become part of the ecological cycle.
“The Cradle to Cradle concept supports the Aveda mission of environmental and social responsibility,” says Dominique Conseil, president of Aveda. “Our goal is to reduce the need for and use of ingredients that persist unnaturally in the environment and help to replace synthetic ingredients with plant-based alternatives. Cradle to Cradle certification of four of Aveda’s most prominently used botanical ingredients is an important first step towards our end goal of achieving C2C certification of all Aveda final product and packaging. And, the important social responsibility aspect of the C2C certification is fully consistent with the way Aveda conducts business around the world.”
“The trans-Atlantic partnership EPEA has enjoyed with Aveda for several years combines European thoroughness and American creativity in a mutually beneficial way,” says Professor Dr. Michael Braungart, CEO of EPEA. “Aveda has been at the forefront of the environmental movement within the beauty industry since 1978, and they continue to innovate by becoming the first beauty company to fully embrace Cradle to Cradle design. Published in 2006, Aveda’s Green Ingredients Policy for naturally derived raw materials was the first public commitment to Cradle to Cradle design activities,” added Braungart.
Aveda consistently strives to do business in a way that enhances its mission “to care for world we live in.” A commitment to the mission, and to responsible business practices, inspired Aveda in 1996 to become the first beauty company to adopt the CERES principles (Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economics) - formerly know as the Valdez Principles. Cradle to Cradle supports the precepts of the CERES principals and C2C ingredient certification represents a natural progression for the Aveda brand.
“Aveda is, in essence, a C2C culture,” Conseil continued. “The Company always considers the potential impact on its varied stakeholders, as well as any environmental and/or social impact, at the outset of the design process.”
The first Aveda ingredients to meet or exceed the stringent standards of Cradle to Cradle certification are:
- organic uruku sustainably harvested by the Yawanawa people in the Brazilian Amazon;
- rose and lavender essential oils grown and processed on a sustainable organic farm in Bulgaria;
- sandalwood oil which is wild harvested and processed by the Mardu peoples of Western Australia.
Each of the four key ingredients is a “biological nutrient,” grown or harvested sustainably. The methods used by the cultivators and collectors are traditional and assure the long-term sustained production of their ingredients. Uruku, rose and lavender are grown to certified organic standards; sandalwood is wild harvested by methods that meet the standards of an indigenous raw materials certification developed by the Songman Circle of Wisdom, an indigenous group developed to oversee the sustainable production of Australian sandalwood.
News and information regarding Aveda’s Cradle to Cradle certified ingredients will be provided during a joint Aveda/EPEA press conference scheduled to take place in Hamburg, Germany on April 9, 2008.
Aveda’s numerous corporate and social responsibility associations include CERES (Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies), ISO (International Organization for Standardization), Coop-America/Green Business Network, SVN (Social Venture Network), BSR (Business for Social Responsibility), Environmental Grant Makers, American Botanical Association, Organic Trade Association, Cosmebio, National Recycling Coalition, and the U.S. Green Building Council.
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