Covalo x The Upcycled Beauty Company
The reuse of materials, or in other words upcycling, is not only a trend found in personal care. Other industries such as fashion and food are also rethinking how to reduce and reuse resources to become more circular.
Motivations
Did you know that one-third of all food produced globally is lost? This amounts to around 1.3 billion tonnes per year. In addition, 1.4 billion hectares of land are used to grow this lost food—that’s the size of Canada and India combined! Not to mention the lost water, resources, and labour.
While this may seem like an issue we can help solve at home, an estimated 40% of fruits and vegetables are discarded simply because of their appearance. They don’t even make it to supermarket shelves.
In addition to wasting perfectly good produce, the other looming issue is methane. When food is sent to landfill, it decomposes and becomes a significant source of this potent greenhouse gas, which has 21 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide.
According to Project Drawdown, the world’s leading resource for climate solutions, reducing food waste is a key factor in mitigating the climate crisis.
The fashion industry is also responsible for a substantial amount of waste; over 92 million tonnes of textiles are thrown away annually. This includes discarded clothing, off-cuts and unsold inventory.
A significant portion of this waste ends up in landfill where synthetic fibres, such as polyester, can take centuries to decompose, leading to long-term pollution in the form of forever chemicals and microfibers. Even natural materials like cotton, when treated, can take a long time to break down and leave a footprint. The environmental impact of the fashion industry in terms of waste is significant and multifaceted, it affects ecosystems, land, people and water.
The upcycling of food by-products, ‘imperfect’ produce, material off-cuts, and old or unworn clothes provides many unique opportunities across different industries to reduce the demand for primary materials and reduce waste. Simultaneously, upcycling aligns creativity with sustainability within fashion, food and personal care.
Influencing Factors
So, what is initiating this shift to upcycling across these different industries? Let’s explore the different influencing factors:
- Reducing Waste: Upcycling helps minimize waste by repurposing items that would otherwise be discarded. Similarly to personal care, in the context of food, this means using food scraps, by-products, or imperfect produce that might otherwise be thrown away. In fashion, it mainly involves transforming old clothes or fabric into something completely new. However, there are some companies transforming food waste into textiles too. For example, PIÑATEX®, a vegan leather alternative made from upcycled pineapple fibres.
- Sustainability: Consumers are increasingly aware of environmental issues and beyond mere product functionality, individuals are aligning themselves with brands that champion clear missions and ethical practices – the ‘why’ behind the products. Legislation is also changing to push waste reduction and promote circularity. Upcycling supports this shift to a more circular economy by extending the lifecycle of materials and reducing the need for new resources.As a result, many companies are adopting upcycling to help them meet new regulations and corporate social responsibility goals.
- Creative Opportunities: Upcycling encourages creativity and innovation. Chemists, chefs, designers, engineers and manufacturers experiment with new ways to use discarded materials, leading to novel products and techniques. Researchers who analysed consumer feedback from Etsy discovered what consumers value most about upcycled products, and it’s not the sustainability, but the creativity!
- Unique & Personalized Products: Upcycled items often have a bespoke quality conveying a sense of surprise and delight. In fashion, this means one-of-a-kind pieces that stand out. In food, it can result in innovative flavours and products. One example is the Siloaf ice-cream sandwich from Silo a zero-waste restaurant in London. They use the waste bread and butter from their first course to create a caramel, wafer and ice cream that’s described as an umami crowd-pleaser.
- Storytelling & Authenticity: Customers are drawn to the stories behind upcycled products, valuing the authenticity and creativity involved in transforming so-called waste into something valuable and completely different.
- Economic Value: By creating unique or even exclusive products, upcycling adds value and can allow for premium pricing.
The Upcycled Food Association
The Upcycled Food Association (UFA) is also significantly driving the upcycling trend within the food industry. The UFA currently offers the world's only third-party certification program for upcycled food ingredients and products, known as the Upcycled Certified® Standard. This certification helps set industry benchmarks and aids consumers in identifying products that contribute to reducing food waste. The UFA has certified 92 companies, 317 products and 164 ingredients worldwide, promoting transparency and trust in upcycled products.
This standard has also been extended to include upcycled personal care ingredients coming from a food supply chain (read our blog post regarding the Upcycling Regulatory Landscape for more information).
The UFA has been instrumental in raising consumer awareness about upcycled foods—a trend which helps raise awareness within personal care too. This growth is driven by increasing consumer demand for sustainable and environmentally friendly products, as well as retailer adoption of upcycled goods. Research indicates that once consumers are informed about upcycled foods, 80% are likely to start looking for and consuming them due to their clear environmental benefits.
Other Examples in Fashion & Food
One company that has opened exciting new opportunities in both fashion and beauty is German-based QMILK. Did you know 2 million tonnes of milk are disposed of in Germany every single year? As pioneers in sustainable products and manufacturing, QMILK is spinning sour milk into silky fibres, and they are claimed to have the smallest CO2 footprint of all fibres around the world!
QMILK upcycles milk protein into renewable raw materials. Their patented process provides possibilities for new material properties, including soft as silk, antibacterial, temperature regulating, skin protecting, and hydrophilic—just to name a few! Taking their environmental pledge one step further, this circular company has also launched a line of cosmetics rich in upcycled milk peptides and proteins.
In January 2024, Miu Miu (part of the Prada Group) announced its launch of a limited-edition campaign Miu Miu Upcycled: Denim and Patch bags. Initiated in 2020, to uphold the precious nature of vintage clothing and encourage circular design practices, Miu Miu Upcycled captures stories of the clothes and the people who have worn them.
Freitag is a Swiss brand known for its upcycled bags and accessories. Each unique piece is crafted from discarded truck tarps, airbags, and other upcycled materials. The company emphasizes circular design practices, ensuring that their products not only have a long lifespan but can also be recycled at the end of their use. They provide services to help customers repair and maintain their bags, further extending their usability. Freitag even offers customization options, allowing customers to design their own distinctive bags from truck tarp materials.
How It Influences Personal Care
Fashion and food trends often have a significant influence on the personal care industry, whether it’s the adoption of the most recently hyped superfood or the latest looks coming off the runway. Upcycling is resonating in these industries due to its alignment with environmental sustainability, but the creativity is what really captures customer interest, engagement and demand. Here at The Upcycled Beauty Company, we believe this influence will continue to drive awareness and the subsequent demand for upcycling within personal care. In other words, upcycling is having a moment and is inspiring change from one industry to another, having a positive ripple effect.
In partnership with the Upcycled Beauty Company, Covalo's mission is to enable brands to bring sustainable products to market faster. Upcycling is a promising practice that we’re seeing in the personal care industry that is here to stay.
👉 Curious about Upcycled ingredients for personal care? Discover them on Covalo for free.
References:
1. https://hbr.org/2024/04/research-why-people-really-buy-upcycled-products
2. https://www.ananas-anam.com/
3. https://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/hype-dish-silos-food-waste-defying-ice-cream-sandwich
4. https://www.upcycledfood.org/
5. https://www.doneproperly.co/en/news/upcycling-ingredients-gain-traction-in-the-food-industry/
6. https://www.qmilkfiber.eu/?lang=en
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