From energy conservation to recycled materials, industries are reinventing themselves to become part of a more sustainable future. The next wave of sustainable innovation? Recaptured carbon. Consumers are now wearing, spraying and washing with products made from recaptured CO2.

  • Unilever is releasing a detergent made from recycled carbon emissions. The personal care giant is teaming up with biotech company LanzaTech and green chemical company India Glycols to manufacture the laundry capsules, which hit the Chinese market on April 22. Part of Unilever’s Clean Future Program, the carbon recycling process recaptures industrial emissions and repurposes them into surfactants, a product normally made using fossil fuels.
WEB Coty CK Everyone 100ml pack
WEB Compounding
WEB Attention to detail
Coty
  • Gucci, Calvin Klein, and other Coty fragrances are turning to ethanol made from carbon-captured emissions for their perfume production. The process, which uses technology by LanzaTech, not only repurposes captured carbon but also uses less land and water than traditional perfume making processes. These forward-thinking formulations will hit shelves in October 2021.
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Air Company
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  • An award-winning startup is selling carbon-negative vodka. Air Company manufactures their alcohol from recaptured CO2 and takes an extra pound of carbon from the air in the process, compared to the average 13 pounds emitted when a standard bottle of vodka is produced. Since they began in 2020, Air Company has also generated hand sanitizer at their factories, and have since won one of Fast Company’s 2021 World Changing Ideas Award.
  • DS Automobiles’ clothing line will double as wearable air filters. The garments, unveiled at Paris Fashion Week 2021, take carbon dioxide from the air and release oxygen back into it, mimicking the process of photosynthesis.
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BP: The Teesworks Site (The UK’s Largest Freeport)
  • BP and major oil corporations are pulling carbon into underground reservoirs. In Teesside, England and other industrial areas, factory emissions and pollutants will be collected via a pipeline and stored underground before they ever enter the atmosphere, an expensive way to reduce carbon footprints that is gaining popularity due to government initiatives. Announced in late 2020, the project is ongoing and will be commissioned by 2026.

Why it’s interesting: Once focused on simply reducing their carbon footprint, consumers are adopting carbon-positive practices—and are pressuring companies to do the same, leading to creative innovation in captured carbon products.

Main image courtesy of Air Company.

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