Previously, we address the competing needs of plant crops as conventional food versus beauty products. Instead of it being a win-lose situation, what if both agricultural and beauty industries can be on the same page, enabling a win-win situation? While the ideal scenario will be the reduction of food waste in order to address the pressing issue of food hunger, how about finding alternatives to food waste in the meantime, rather than seeing them toss into the bin directly? One such alternative would be the incorporation of food into beauty products. While superfoods such as goji berries and flax seeds have long been used in the beauty industry, we are specifically looking at food waste which is a much newer innovation (Fleming, 2021).

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, an estimated one-third of all food produced in the world is wasted. Food such as orange peels, grapes, and olive oil pomaces, sugarcane bagasse, wheat straw among others, all of these are derived from food production processes such as pulping, peeling, straining, and branching. Being by-products of these processes, they are deemed as waste. While they may be waste in the agricultural industry, these food are considered as primary sources of starting materials of beauty products.

For example, aquafaba (simply put, chickpea water) has similar properties as egg whites which are beneficial for haircare (McQuarrie, 2019). It is great to thicken and is often touted for its benefits of cleansing the scalp of excess oil and promoting growth. It also addresses specific hair needs such as dandruff and the protection of fine hair. As such, global cosmetics retailer, Lush, which is known for its fresh and natural homemade beauty products, is no stranger to incorporating this innovation into their products. The brand has announced that it will no longer be using eggs in any of its products (Petter, 2019). Instead, aquafaba acts as one of the replacement ingredients. For example, many of their hair products such as the Wasabi Shan Kui and Angel hair contains protein-rich aquafaba (Webber, 2019).

While the innovation of food waste-incorporated beauty products is not yet in its mature stage, investment and research will continue to transform food waste into valuable products for a cleaner planet.

 

References

Fleming, S. (2021). These 4 companies are turning food waste into cosmetics, clothing and more. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/03/food-waste-cosmetics-clothing-packaging/

McQuarrie, L. (2019). Vegan protein shampoos. TrendHunter.Com. https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/protein-shampoo

Petter, O. (2019, March 20). Lush removes eggs from all beauty products. The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/lush-egg-products-animal-suffering-beauty-vegan-welfare-a8831166.html

Webber, J. (2019, February 9). Lush launches vegan protein shampoo made with chickpea juice. LIVEKINDLY. https://www.livekindly.co/new-favorite-shampoo-made-from-chickpeas/