Cluster Updates

Interview with CleanO2 - Canadian Carbon Capture Tech

24/1/2022

Kathi Fischer and Michelle Regel with the CleanO2 CarbinX unit

The Canadian Cosmetic Cluster would like to shine a spotlight on this amazing Canadian company that combines innovation and sustainability. Clean O2 develops technology to produce an ingredient that is essential for soap. We share the interview we had with Kathi Fischer and Michelle Regel as they tell us more about Clean O2.

1. Tell us a little bit more about your cosmetic business. What makes it unique?

Every CleanO2 soap product is made with carbon that would otherwise have been released into the atmosphere if not captured by our CarbinX™ units and turned into amazing soap products that are great for your body, the community, and the environment. Proceeds from the sale of CleanO2 soap products support the deployment of more CarbinX™ units around the world to capture more carbon and reduce the impact on our climate.

2. What products do you specialize in?

Liquid body wash
Liquid hand soap
Cold process soap bars

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Industry Voices with Alejandro Franco of Kaffe Bueno

18/1/2022

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The Canadian Cosmetic Cluster had the pleasure of speaking with Alejandro Franco of Kaffe Bueno. Alejandro is an inspiring individual who is one of the co-founders of Kaffe Bueno. We ask him to share his story and vision to making the world a better place through upcycled ingredients.

1. History of the company - why did you start?

I’m from Colombia, as well as my two co-founders, Juan Medina and Camilo Fernandez. Growing up there enabled us to see coffee as more than just a beverage. As a kid in Colombia, if you fall and get a wound, you can be almost certain some coffee grounds are going onto that wound. As an adult in Colombia, coffee is used to dye your hair when grey hairs start to pop up.

When we were studying business together in London (2013-2016), we realized how people from around the world have different perceptions of coffee. Most of our friends were from Scandinavia, and they saw coffee as a symbol of time with friends and family, as well as their caffeine fix. No more than that. While we ask ourselves, how come a coffee shop owner in London runs a lucrative business while the people who we owe the existence of coffee – farmers in Colombia – cannot even cover costs?

How much coffee grounds are thrown to waste when they can be put to good use. Less than 1% of coffee's health promoting molecules end up in your cup, the rest remain intact in the spent coffee grounds, which often end up in landfills, emitting 340m3 of methane per ton. Or in less bad cases, being incinerated or used for fertilizers. There are 10 bn kgs of coffee consumed yearly worldwide, 30% in the EU.

The cosmetics industry is full of synthetics and petrochemicals. Could coffee serve as a bridge to transition into natural? Then, we started getting deep into coffee from a biochemistry perspective, looking into all the molecules that compose it and what could they be used for to help humans improve and extend their lives, technologies to make this happen, etc.

We established Kaffe Bueno in 2016 in Copenhagen, Denmark. We’ve never been here before, but after analyzing many countries, we decided Denmark was the most suitable for us to start our business.

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New Active from FullCircle Beauty

18/1/2022

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The Canadian Cosmetic Cluster is happy to announce one of our ChemBox Partners - Full Circle Beauty is launching a new ingredient to add to their amazing up-cycled line of raw material. We share their latest press release on the product.

Break the cycle of irritated skin: The upcycling experts at Full Circle are back with their most advanced active yET

Brewery by-products are a hot topic when it comes to cosmetics, with recent studies showing that they are a treasure trove of skin-loving actives. Full Circle’s new Barley TONIQ® is no exception; by utilising clever enzymatic extraction, they have supercharged fermented barley to create a potent skin-soothing active that rapidly rebalances irritated skin.

With a single application, Barley TONIQ® soothes skin redness by up to 23% in just 2 hours, stopping irritation in its tracks; and the results get even better over time. Given its potency, Barley TONIQ® can be incorporated into skincare formulations at use levels as low as 1%.

Barley TONIQ®’s soothing action is largely attributed to its high amino acid content, made possible by green enzyme extraction. The result is a concentrated mixture of carbohydrates, short-chain proteins and polypeptides, and data reveals that Barley TONIQ® comprises 8 of the 9 essential amino acids that are known to help reduce the appearance of irritated skin and boost the skin’s barrier function.

Continuing to push what’s possible when it comes to zero waste, Barley TONIQ® is preserved with a microbiome-friendly grade of propanediol which comes from an upcycled, non-GMO feedstock.

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Interview with CleanO2 - Canadian Carbon Capture Tech

Industry Voices with Alejandro Franco of Kaffe Bueno

1. History of the company - why did you start?

New Active from FullCircle Beauty

Break the cycle of irritated skin: The upcycling experts at Full Circle are back with their most advanced active yET

Canadian Cosmetic Cluster Team

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​1. History of the company - why did you start?​

Break the cycle of irritated skin: The upcycling experts at Full Circle are back with their most advanced active yET​

Canadian Cosmetic Cluster Team

Archives

Categories

1. History of the company - why did you start?

Break the cycle of irritated skin: The upcycling experts at Full Circle are back with their most advanced active yET