Biodegradability

The majority of ingredients used in Green People formulations are 100% compatible with nature and biodegrade very readily. These include ingredients such as plant oils, herbal infusions, floral waters and essential oils.

The active and functional ingredients used in our products are all from natural sources and again biodegrade readily. Examples are emulsifiers obtained from olive oil and palm oil, and foaming agents from coconut oil and corn oil. As well as being readily biodegradable, these ingredients are also environmentally-friendly and are all approved under the Scandinavian Swan Mark scheme, one of the most rigorous environmental standards in the world.

The preservative systems we use are also chosen because they have minimal environmental impact and are readily biodegradable.

The plastic we use for our packaging is either PP or HDPE. In both cases, the material consists of long molecule chains made from Carbon and Hydrogen. These materials are recyclable, are fully biodegradable and when burned release only Carbon Dioxide and water. They are inert substances and do not react with or adversely affect the products packed within them.

Please note that we never use PVC or any other form of plastic. None of the plastics we use contain phthalates in any form whatsoever. The reason we don't use glass packaging is three-fold. Firstly, glass is not a safe material to use in bathrooms and showers as it is prone to breakage if dropped onto hard surfaces. Secondly, glass is very heavy and expensive to transport and would add considerably to the cost of the products making them unnecessarily expensive. Thirdly, the cost to the environment of using glass is very high when compared to PP or HDPE.

Taking into account the energy needed to manufacture glass (whether from recycled material or from scratch), and then to transport it means that up to three times as much energy goes into making a glass container compared to a plastic one. Added to that is the fact that unless glass is properly recycled it never biodegrades and contributes the build-up of waste materials polluting the earth. On balance we believe that our use of selected plastics is fully justified, although we continually monitor the situation and review all developments in new packaging materials as and when they happen.

The symbols allocated to different plastics are largely unnecessary for the recycling process to take place.  The following description of the process is taken from www.wasteonline.org.uk

Mechanical recycling of plastics refers to processes which involve the melting, shredding or granulation of waste plastics. Plastics must be sorted prior to mechanical recycling. At the moment in the UK most sorting for mechanical recycling is done by trained staff who manually sorts the plastics into polymer type and/or colour. Technology is being introduced to sort plastics automatically, using various techniques such as X-ray fluorescence, infrared and near infrared spectroscopy, electrostatics and flotation. Following sorting, the plastic is either melted down directly and moulded into a new shape, or melted down after being shredded into flakes and than processed into granules called regranulate.

It is not necessary for the plastic type number to be placed on the packaging for either of the above processes to take place.

We currently use HDPE (type 2) for our tubes and PP (type 5) for the airless pumps.  The jars for Body Butter and Scrub are PS (type 6).  The reasons we don't put these numbers on the labels are a) because they are not needed in order to facilitate recycling, and b) in case the composition of plastics in the packaging materials changes in the future.