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With Zerooo

We are not "climate neutral" and do not want to be. Studies have shown that the term is misleading. Many consumers believe that a "climate-neutral" company and its products have zero CO₂ emissions - and therefore no negative impact on the climate. But this is impossible: A manufacturing company cannot be emission-free. Therefore, you can only be "climate neutral" if you offset your emissions by means of compensation in environmental projects. By "overcompensating", you can even become "climate positive". And it doesn't matter how high the original environmental impact was. But climate protection is not a sale of indulgences. It is much more important for our planet that unnecessary emissions are prevented in the first place. We should compensate for those emissions that absolutely cannot be avoided.  We are doing that, too. But we want to invest even more in the continuous tracking, analysis and reduction of CO₂ emissions. All our activities should be as environmentally compatible as possible. 

As much as we like the word "environmentally friendly": we try not to use it ever. This may sound surprising, after all our products completely avoid plastic waste and unnecessary chemical pollution and save CO2 emissions. (Link to Impact Tracker)
BUT: No household cleaner or cosmetic product in the world can be "eco-friendly" or "environmentally friendly" per se. Washing, cleaning, rinsing... all these everyday things always involve some environmental impact. What distinguishes our products is that they reduce this environmental impact to the absolute minimum.

Clear answer: Yes, for us it is a matter of course. Also it is forbidden at EU level by the Cosmetics Regulation and in Germany by the Animal Welfare Act to sell products such as cleaning agents or cosmetics that have been tested on animals.

We only sell products that have been produced without animal components or animal testing. To make this visible, our products bear the "Vegan Flower", a seal of the Vegan Society. For a product to be awarded the Vegan Flower, it must not contain any animal ingredients, animal by-products or raw materials derived from animals in the final product. No animal materials may be used during production and no animal testing may be carried out at any stage of production. All raw materials must be produced without animal testing.

Palm oil is the subject of criticism. And rightly so! The environmental impact and social conditions of palm oil production are a problem. Unfortunately, however, it is not enough to simply replace palm oil with other vegetable oils - because that is often even worse for the environment. Alternatives such as coconut, sunflower, or canola oil have significantly higher land requirements and would therefore cause even higher greenhouse gas emissions. So the problem is not just the use of palm oil, but more importantly the significant consumption in all areas of our lives. The solution is therefore to use this valuable resource as sparingly as possible and to intensify research into truly more sustainable alternatives. Unfortunately, palm oil-based surfactants are currently indispensable for the performance of detergents and cleaning agents. We, too, have not yet found the perfect solution and use palm oil in the smallest possible proportions and only where absolutely necessary: However, this is RSPO-certified and was produced according to strict ecological & social criteria! 

No – not when you look at the bigger picture. Liquid products usually have a higher CO₂ footprint during transport because water is shipped. If this is the aspect of sustainability that matters most to you: stick with our powders and tabs – they reduce transport-related CO₂ emissions especially effectively!

However, we always think about sustainability holistically. If we want to significantly reduce plastic waste and chemical pollution in the environment, we also need to consider people’s behavior, needs, and how products are actually used in everyday life.

In other words: a 100% “perfectly sustainable” product that nobody uses has zero positive impact. A practical, waste-reducing product that many people use daily, on the other hand, can create real change – and ultimately have a greater positive impact on the environment.

There are five main reasons why we decided to expand our portfolio beyond powder and tab products:

As much as we like the word "environmentally friendly": we try not to use it ever. This may sound surprising, after all our products completely avoid plastic waste and unnecessary chemical pollution and save CO2 emissions. (Link to Impact Tracker)
BUT: No household cleaner or cosmetic product in the world can be "eco-friendly" or "environmentally friendly" per se. Washing, cleaning, rinsing... all these everyday things always involve some environmental impact. What distinguishes our products is that they reduce this environmental impact to the absolute minimum.

Clear answer: Yes, for us it is a matter of course. Also it is forbidden at EU level by the Cosmetics Regulation and in Germany by the Animal Welfare Act to sell products such as cleaning agents or cosmetics that have been tested on animals.

We only sell products that have been produced without animal components or animal testing. To make this visible, our products bear the "Vegan Flower", a seal of the Vegan Society. For a product to be awarded the Vegan Flower, it must not contain any animal ingredients, animal by-products or raw materials derived from animals in the final product. No animal materials may be used during production and no animal testing may be carried out at any stage of production. All raw materials must be produced without animal testing.

Palm oil is the subject of criticism. And rightly so! The environmental impact and social conditions of palm oil production are a problem. Unfortunately, however, it is not enough to simply replace palm oil with other vegetable oils - because that is often even worse for the environment. Alternatives such as coconut, sunflower, or canola oil have significantly higher land requirements and would therefore cause even higher greenhouse gas emissions. So the problem is not just the use of palm oil, but more importantly the significant consumption in all areas of our lives. The solution is therefore to use this valuable resource as sparingly as possible and to intensify research into truly more sustainable alternatives. Unfortunately, palm oil-based surfactants are currently indispensable for the performance of detergents and cleaning agents. We, too, have not yet found the perfect solution and use palm oil in the smallest possible proportions and only where absolutely necessary: However, this is RSPO-certified and was produced according to strict ecological & social criteria! 

In the interest of sustainability, we always weigh very carefully between the best possible biodegradability and environmental impact, as well as health compatibility. Those things are equally important to us. Some everdrop products contain synthetic ingredients – but these are not automatically worse for humans and the environment than natural ingredients. Take fragrances, for example: Here, synthetic substances are even often "better" than natural ones, as their production explicitly avoids substances that have a significantly worse/higher risk or allergy potential. It is also possible that a natural fragrance, which smells particularly long-lasting and intense, is not readily degradable.  Thus, natural fragrances are often worse for the environment and humans than synthetic ones.

Other non-natural ingredients that we use are so-called complexing agents (softeners), preservatives and flow agents – which are not automatically "synthetic", but at least "partly synthetic".  The background to this is that these are not present in nature on a 1:1 basis or are also synthetically replicated to protect nature because of the quantities required.

Our glass cleaner also contains a synthetically produced surfactant and our products with "active oxygen" (oxygen-based bleach) contain TAED as a bleach activator based on petroleum components. This is necessary so that we can achieve optimum effect even at cold application and washing temperatures in the interests of sustainability.

The term "organic" refers to raw materials from organic farming. For all our natural raw materials used, we strive to find "organic" certified manufacturers: For example, our ingredients safflower oil, oat oil, olive oil as well as aloe vera, which we use in our natural cosmetics, are all organically grown and therefore certified organic.

Our products have readily biodegradable ingredients. Why "readily" and not "completely"? Only very few substances, whether of synthetic or natural origin, are 100 percent biodegradable (according to OECD measurement methods). Minerals, for example, cannot be said to be biodegradable. Biodegradability only works for purely organic substances or compounds. Statements such as "completely biodegradable" can also be misleading, as the amount of time must also always be taken into account. However, we can tell you that our products have achieved very good results in the OECD measurement procedure.