As more and more products we use in our daily lives are starting to be made out of recycled CO2, Nivea Men has also taken the leap. The company launched its first-ever moisturizer made with recycled carbon dioxide.
The German cosmetics company Beiersdorf, which is a parent of numerous beauty brands including Nivea, has launched the moisturizer. It is called Nivea Men Climate Care Moisturizer and contains CO2 collected from industrial sites that is then directed to a bioreactor where it is transformed into cosmetic ethanol.
The moisturizer contains 14% ethanol obtained using this alternative method. The product is created through the entire value chain having the environment in mind. It contains no microplastics, silicone, or mineral oil. From packaging to end of life, the product is designed to be carbon neutral.
The moisturizer is manufactured using electricity from renewable sources. Apart from containing recycled CO2, the formula is almost entirely biodegradable and the packaging is recyclable. Launching this product, the German group is pursuing its goals of significantly reducing its carbon emissions by 2025.
This is the first skincare product of Nivea to be made using recycled CO2. Many cosmetic brands now are interested not just in utilizing CO2 for the packaging of their products, but also in the skin formulas themselves.
Relevant: Air Company Starts Making Perfume From CO2
Another CO2 utilization company called Air Company has produced the world’s first carbon-negative perfume from captured CO2 emissions. What these products have in common is ethanol, which traditionally is made from the fermentation and distillation processes of grains, such as corn.
Growing crops is a resource-intense process that requires land, water, and results in carbon dioxide emissions from the use of fertilizer and fuel. These carbon utilization processes not only do not add emissions to the atmosphere but they take them away or capture them from industrial sources and use them to create ethanol.
Another company called Twelve captures CO2 and utilizes it into making materials out of carbon dioxide. Its technology called “CO2Made” can turn the emissions into consumer products like electronics, cars, or lenses for sunglasses.
Relevant: Carbon Capture Sunglasses Are The Latest Sustainable Fashion
The list of carbon capture and utilization companies is growing which is an indication of the simultaneously growing industrial demand for CO2. As consumers demand more environmentally friendly products, companies are starting to line up to take advantage of CO2 recycling tech as carbon dioxide is an abundant resource in our environment that can make up pretty much everything.
