Do you remember where you were 19 years ago (in 2002)?
Of course yes! If it seems like a lifetime ago, the truth is that it probably also seems like yesterday...
This is the same period of time, 19 years (that is, already in 2040), that we have, according to the World Resources Institute (WRI) 1, until Portugal appears listed as one of the 26 countries that are at high risk of water stress
two, This means that, in the current consumption scenario, we are preparing ourselves for a scenario of water scarcity, in just two decades, in Portugal
3.
Agriculture consumes around 75% of the water used in Portugal, followed by the urban sector - 20%, and industry 5%.4
What do soaps and cosmetics have to do with agriculture? Very!
To produce soap, for example, fat is essential; the percentage of vegetable oils used depends on the soap for soap, but can be in the order of 70-95% of the final weight of a handcrafted soap; Solid and dry shampoos also contain many ingredients that come from agriculture (various vegetable and essential oils, butters, extracts). All of these products have a water footprint, in addition to a carbon footprint.
How, at ec0p, do we contribute to a more resourceful future?
Continue reading below
Sources
1 - Water Resource Institute - WRI - you can explore the interactive map here, we collected this data between April and May 2021.
2 - The risk of water stress occurs when the ratio between water consumption and availability becomes imbalanced; ie: where consumption represents significant percentages of average annual availability. These forecasts indicate that, by 2014, consumption will correspond to around 40 to 80% of the country's average annual availability.
3 - 'Water Use in Portugal' - a study of the Gulbenkian Sustainable Development Program; Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and Return On Ideas, March 2020.
4 - Idem, Ibidem, pp. 39, citing data from the National Environment Agency, 2015, for mainland Portugal -
Does not consider water used in the energy sector
The challenge
Unfortunately, many fundamental ingredients for the production of natural cosmetics still do not have information on their water footprint (PH) available and many of the existing studies are years old when, ideally, the PH should be calculated each year, for each location because the Water needs and availability differ depending on these factors.
Despite these challenges and the lack of information, we inquired with suppliers about their origin, and tried to obtain more information about the content (percentage) of water used. We always share the available information, as it is not always available in the same detail, you will see that in some ingredients it is more extensive and in others it is more succinct.
The aim with this 'water label' is to raise awareness and awareness, so that we can do better and better manage the impact of our choices.
The ingredients
We choose the ingredients in our formulations with you and everyone's future in mind, by optimizing the natural resources we consume. It is like? It's not easy, but it's simple:
- choice of ingredients taking into account their water footprint
We give priority to materials with a smaller water footprint, reducing the final impact of our products. We also take into account the means of production, for example: the vegetable oils in our soap come from rainfed crops and the essential oil from wild crops. This means that there is no use of artificial irrigation for these ingredients, this is not always synonymous with greater water efficiency, but by having fewer energy inputs (greenhouses, automatic irrigation, etc.) we reduce the impact at that level.
- choice of ingredients taking into account proximity (avoiding carbon emissions)
Whenever possible we focus on national productions, and alternatively those closest to us, avoiding importing from very far away. Some fundamental products (such as coconut and derivatives, for example) only exist outside of Portugal and Europe, however we try to reduce their percentage in our formulations to the essential minimum.
We chose to sell in bulk, to enable sales with minimal packaging and in larger quantities. This step seems simple, but it's not easy! Packaging serves important functions (protection, packaging) and existing legislation in the European Union and Portugal requires a clear label to be delivered with the product. Our effort is to respect legislation and find creative and efficient ways to reduce waste with disposable packaging, enabling the use of circular packaging, in the case of our dry shampoo, and alternatives (such as composting) for packaging sachets. our solid shampoos.
