Snowberry has been recognised for outstanding commitment to reducing carbon emissions, with their recent win at the Enviro-Mark Solutions Awards in Auckland.
The maker of natural skincare products has reduced its carbon footprint by 79 per cent, in part by cutting half the ingredients in its beauty products, earning them the award for Excellence in Climate Action in the Product Carbon Footprinting category.
The main ways Snowberry was able to lower its carbon footprint so significantly, from its base year 2012/2013, was by reducing product ingredients and processing some of the ingredients on its bio-discovery plantation instead of importing them.
Starting with 188 ingredients, these have been whittled down to less than half of this number, says Snowberry Operating Manager Mark Henderson. The ingredients that do make the cut are low emission, with all products holding carboNZero certification through Enviro-Mark Solutions, the leading provider of environmental certifications in New Zealand.
Another way Snowberry is able to reduce its carbon footprint is through production techniques.
The brand’s bio-discovery garden, dubbed Snowberry Garden, plays a big part in helping offset carbon emissions too, replacing the need for importing ingredients like Omega 6, rich oils, gels, Harakeke seed oil and Kanuka honey extract that would otherwise be bought in from other countries such as France and Germany.
Snowberry has always had a focus on protecting the environment, since the brand’s inception in 2006 – an ethos that stems directly from founder Soraya Hendesi.
“The commitment we made as a team to be environmentally sustainable simply reflected our personal values,” explains Hendesi.
"We all have children and as far as we’re concerned, Snowberry had to be environmentally sustainable for their sakes. Ensuring our product is carbon neutral to any point of sale in the world is a huge part of that, as it is our small but significant action in an effort to combat the climate emergency.”
Henderson agrees, saying, “It is incredibly important to us that the social and pragmatic values we hold as individuals are communicated through the business.”
Image: L-R – Mark Henderson, Soraya Hendesi, Denise Gray (Snowberry Marketing Manager)
