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Ask the expert
Antony Buck
As co-founder of REN cosmetics, Antony Buck explains that the company never decided to "go green," but was created green. Fed up with dirty chemicals in skincare products, Buck and co-founder Robert Calcraft created clean cosmetics with ingredients harvested from all over the world. REN means 'clean' in Swedish, and interestingly enough, it also means 'honorable endeavor' in Chinese. Their endeavor is so honorable and their line is so clean that just hearing about it makes us feel beautiful, naturally.
How is your line green?
Our products contain bio active ingredients in a base that is free from as many skin and eco-unfriendly synthetic compounds as possible. We do not use sulfates, synthetic fragrance, synthetic color, petrochemicals, etc. We call our approach Clean Skincare.
In addition, our packaging cartons use 100% recycled fibers and 100 % vegetable ink and will soon be complying with Forest Stewardship Council regulations, the body supported by Greenpeace that ensures and promotes sustainable sourcing [of wood-derived materials]. Our bottles are made with recyclable PET and non recyclable parts can be easily detached. We offer our customer the possibility to send us their empty containers for free and we will recycle them.
As a company, we buy our electricity from a wind-generated source, we print as little as possible and use recycled paper. The company directors come to work in an electric car and by bike respectively. We donate a minimum of 2.5% of our profits to campaigns that promote a better environment and a better life for those less fortunate than ourselves.
However, we make no claim to being environmental saints and are constantly trying to be better environmental citizens.
Can you talk about how some of your ingredients are harvested?
Our best seller, the Moroccan Rose Otto Shower Wash, contains rose oil, one of the world's most revered and expensive essential oils. It comes from El Kelaa, a small locality in Southern Morocco, near the Atlas Mountains. It is steam-distilled at dawn every May. Ximenia seed oil, used in our new Rose Synergy O12 Restoring Facial Serum, is extracted from the kernel of the tree Ximenia, a small shrubby tree found in the African savannah also known in Creole as "macabi." The single kernel of the fruit contains up to 75% oil, concentrated in nourishing essential fatty acids to lock moisture in.
Argan oil, used in our Moroccan Rose Ultra-Nourishing Body Oil, comes from the fruit of Argan tree in the region of Souss, Morocco. Traditionally harvested and extracted by a cooperative of women, the oil is rich in essential fatty acids and known for its anti-aging properties.
Both oils are accessed under fair and sustainable conditions: improvement of health, education and housing, direct contact with local producers and only functional middlemen.
How are you green?
Again, I make no claim to be a saint but I cycle everywhere, don't have a car, recycle like a good boy should, and do my best to be as un-wasteful as possible.
