Haeckels x Pangaia: Lab-Grown Palm Oil
Published 16 August 2023
As highlighted in Rethinking Sustainability: Beauty’s Biotech Future, eco-friendly alternatives to industry “nasties” – like palm oil – are developed to tackle the destruction caused by their production. Commercialising this, British beauty brand Haeckels has collaborated with materials science company Pangaia (UK) and New York-based C16 Biosciences on a new soap formulated with a lab-grown palm-oil alternative.
The Rewild Body Block – an updated version of Haeckels’ seaweed soap – leverages fermentation and naturally occurring microorganisms that are more sustainable and richer in antioxidant carotenoids and triglycerides. It’s formulated with biodesigned Palmless Torula oil (which helps bind the soap’s nourishing ingredients and prevents melting), made from yeast that contains carotenoids found only in the fungal kingdom to help promote skin barrier function and hydrate skin and hair. The formula also harnesses the skin-barrier-supporting restorative properties of seaweed extract and squalane.
“Lab-grown ingredients are the next frontier for sustainability,” says Charlie Vickery, managing director of Haeckels. “The resource intensity of farming natural ingredients is staggering; what C16 Biosciences has done through [its] efforts is replicate something made by nature but in a much less resource-intensive – and destructive – manner.”
The product is fragranced with natural oils that recreate the smoky scent of the rainforest burning down – signifying the way in which biodiversity is cleared to make way for palm-oil plantations. The soap is encased in treeless packaging made from cotton and bamboo.
This innovative palm-oil alternative showcases the commercial potential brands have to sustainably satisfy consumer demand for palm-oil properties in beauty products as well as ensure stability of supply.
For more biotech developments, see Marine-Centric Beauty: Blue Is the New Green.