One manufacturer, DSM, has gone down the route of plugging the small carbon footprint of its vitamin E ingredient, for example.
The Dutch ingredients multinational says it recently conducted a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of its vitamin E production, which confirmed that the production methods being used have the lowest carbon footprint in the industry. “Now DSM customers can calculate its environmental impact for themselves,” the company asserts.
Tangible sustainability and impact
The company says that the evidence of the recent life cycle impact assessment of the synthetically produced forms means that DSM can now claim to have the lowest carbon footprint for vitamin E in the industry.
Designed to evaluate the environmental impact of vitamin E production over its complete life cycle (creation, use, end-of-life), says DSM, the assessment compared vitamin E production by DSM and major alternative suppliers.
It reportedly found that the DSM production method generates up to 85% less particulate matter and uses up to 60% less non-renewable energy.
The ingredients firm is keen to plug the accolade in terms of the tangible impact such sustainability efforts can make.
“It’s often difficult to grasp the real world effect of sustainability innovations. What difference does it really make if 85% less particulate matter is generated, or 60% less non-renewable energy used?” the company says.
“To make its impact on sustainability tangible, DSM calculated that the lower carbon footprint translates to a saving of 3,200 tons of CO2 for every 100 tons of Quali® E [a DSM synthetic vitamin E product] purchased – a saving equivalent to the entire carbon sequestered by 82,000 tree seedlings grown for 10 years.”
Aline Huber, head of marketing vitamins personal care at DSM, says the research into the its vitamin E’s LCA forms part of its wider push to minimize its carbon footprint.
“As part of our ongoing commitment to reducing our global carbon footprint we regularly analyze the environmental impact of our products and processes before going on to create and implement programs for improvement,” she confirms.