FORMULATION DESIGN

Our R&D department strives to keep up with the latest technology and research to offer dermocosmetic and nutraceutical products of superior quality to preserve the health and well-being of skin, yet also to make our products increasingly eco-sustainable.

We have always sourced biotechnological and natural ingredients based on their quality, efficacy, purity and tolerability profile. While naturally-derived ingredients are certainly renewable, it is also true that ingredients derived biotechnologically are a better choice, both in terms of efficacy and tolerability on skin and in terms of sustainability, the latter because they are created in a laboratory, thus do not involve the consumption of natural resources.
The careful selection process adopted to source the natural and biotechnological ingredients we use has been designed to both achieve skin well-being and improve environmental compatibility.

Per le revisioni formulative e per lo sviluppo di nuovi prodotti, ci poniamo come obiettivo la scelta di emulsionanti, tensioattivi, ingredienti lipidici e funzionali dei quali il fornitore sia in grado di fornire documentazione a supporto dell’ecosostenibilità in termini di processi di sintesi, utilizzo fonti rinnovabili e attività di responsabilità sociale. Quando optiamo per ingredienti di origine naturale, privilegiamo materie prime vegetali da coltivazione sostenibile e che supportano le comunità di appartenenza.Upon revising a formulation or developing a new product, our objective is to select emulsifiers, surfactants, lipidic and functional ingredients for which the supplier is able to provide documentation to prove eco-sustainability in terms of synthesis processes, use of renewable sources and promotion of social responsibility activities. When we decide to use natural ingredients, we select vegetable raw materials from sustainable farming practices and that also support the local community the plants grow in.

In 2022, BioNike decided to join the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). As a consequence, all newly sourced raw materials derived from palm oil, as well as all raw materials already in use (when raw material availability has allowed it), have been replaced with alternative, RSPO-certified raw materials, that is, from sources certified as sustainable.

We put special care in reducing the environmental impact of our formulations in those products that come more in contact with the environment, especially with water, such as:

-rinse-off products that reach sewer systems upon being rinsed with water, like washes for the face, body and hair
-sunscreens, which can end up in our seas, rivers and pools if we take a swim after applying them.

Our sunscreens are tested to be eco-compatible with the marine environment (tested by an independent research laboratory, specialized in ecotoxicology studies) and are designed to offer the best defence possible to skin against damage from sun exposure and, at the same time, to respect the aquatic ecosystem.

As for the microplastics issue, even though cosmetics are estimated to contribute to only 2% of the overall emissions of microplastics into the environment, we are committed to finding viable alternatives to polymers classified as potential microplastics, thus contributing to reduce plastic pollution (for further details, click the link to read our article on this issue: https://www.bionike.it/it/magazine/sostenibilita/microplastiche-nei-cosmetici-e-da-cosmetici). Finding these alternatives has meant triggering research work, which has already yielded results and will see us meet important goals in the foreseeable future

As of the year 2017, we have replaced microplastic polyethylene granules in scrub products with microbeads made of cellulose, jojoba wax or the mineral perlite.

As of the year 2020, we have totally excluded the use of potential microplastics in our product development processes.

By 2023, approximately 95% of our rinse-off products will not contain ingredients potentially classifiable as microplastics.

By 2024, BioNike aims to eliminate ingredients potentially classifiable as microplastics from all its rinse-off products.

By 2025, all facial and body skin care products, as well as all our sunscreens, will not contain ingredients potentially classifiable as microplastics.

Currently, 60% of our makeup products do not contain ingredients potentially classifiable as microplastics. By 2027 BioNike has set the ambitious goal of eliminating ingredients potentially classifiable as microplastics from all makeup products, replacing them with alternatives with a lower environmental impact, such as biopolymers.