Why Choose Biobased and Chemical-Free Household Products?
Going green has been becoming a trend since more and more people are eager to practice zero waste and sustainable living. In fact, more people are shifting to live an environmentally-friendly lifestyle. Today, many households and institutions like schools and businesses prefer using biobased and chemical-free household products due to rising health and environmental concerns because of using commercial cleaning products.
According to the recent forecast, the biobased cleaning products industry is forecasted to be growing by 8.2% from 2020-2025. Hence, it is predicted to increase since families and business owners are eager to switch to a safer and healthier solution that saves people and Earth.
This blog will dig deeper into biobased products, their cleaning effectiveness, and their benefits to the health, environment, and finance.
What Do You Mean By Biobased Products?
A common problem for people who are using traditional products is the harmful chemicals in the product itself. However, that is a different case for biobased products because they come from natural sources. In these products, the producers or manufacturers replace fossil-based ingredients with biobased ingredients such as plant oil and enzymes used to improve cleaning results.
List of natural ingredients in a biobased cleaner
Biobased products only contain some of the Earth’s purest organic ingredients, and here are some examples and their cleaning benefit/s:
- Citric Terpenes. These are cleaning agents made from citrus fruits, effective in removing stain grease, tar, and more messes.
- Natural Surfactants. The ingredient came from vegetable fats that improve cleaning power in a product.
- Essential oils. This ingredient brings antiseptic and antibacterial cleaning power. And, it has an aromatic smell.
- Natural colorants. These colorants are extracted from fruits, vegetables, spices, and herbs and contain no toxic chemicals.
- Deionized water. Ions were removed from the water, making it clean. These act as a thinner and solvent that maximizes cleaning power.
These ingredients have no effect on human health, making home cleaning healthier for families living in a home and workers in the office. However, not all “biobased” products are green. To know whether these products are biobased, The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) came up with certification to make it easier for consumers to purchase these products.
USDA gives certification to biobased products based on the BioPreferred program created by the 2002 US Farm Bill to increase the purchase and use of biobased products. The 2008 Farm Bill or the Food Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 expanded the existing preferred purchasing program for the federal sector. It reauthorized the voluntary labeling program for the broad-scale consumer marketing of biobased products.
Companies apply for the certification to display that the product is a USDA-certified Biobased Product and has undergone a third-party test and has verified biobased content. The organization established a minimum biobased content standard for many product categories. These products must meet or exceed the minimum biobased content percentage in their given category so that they can qualify for certification. Such products belonging in categories must contain at least 25% biobased content.