What is it made from?
Ingredients: ISOPROPANOL, GLYCERINE, HYDROGEN PEROXIDE.
Where does it come from?
Made in the UK.
Is it sustainable?
I’m not going to lie; hand sanitiser doesn’t contain the most eco-friendly of ingredients, but at least we’ve got the packaging sorted. If you are going to buy hand sanitiser, the ingredients discussed below will no doubt be in whatever hand sanitiser you buy.
Isopropyl Alcohol – A kind of alcohol as its name suggests. It is used widely in common household cleaning and hygiene products that aim to kill pathogens/germs, including disinfectants, antiseptics and detergents. Hand sanitisers tend to contain this ingredient or another alcohol-based chemical. Isopropyl alcohol is used in these products because of its effectiveness at removing harmful pathogens, and also because it has low toxicity in comparison to other chemicals with similar properties, and so is much safer to use for everyday cleaning purposes. Isopropyl alcohol typically comes in a solution suspended in water, as the water helps to penetrate the outer pores of bacteria allowing the isopropyl alcohol to get inside and do its thing. This chemical is made by reacting propene and water and then distilling the isopropyl alcohol to separate it from other by-products of this method. Propene is a product of the oil industry, so I can’t say I’m a fan of this ingredient. I am unsure whether this can be made by an eco-friendlier method, or whether there are alternatives that could be used, so more research is needed here.
Glycerine – Can be synthesised, but is mainly produced using plants such as soybean and palm (because they are the cheapest oils, it can also be made from other oils such as rapeseed). Some glycerine is made using tallow (animal fat), a lot of soap traditionally used glycerine made from tallow. This method using tallow obviously is not vegan, but most glycerine is now produced using vegetable oils, as these are cheaper and easier sources of production. Glycerine is a viscous liquid which has moisturising and smoothing properties. Glycerine is also naturally antimicrobial and antiviral – pretty important qualities for a hand sanitiser ingredient! It is used to treat wounds and burns as it helps reduce inflammation and its moisturising abilities help it soothe damaged skin. Glycerine isn’t only used in cleaning and hygiene products, it is also used as a sweetener in foods due to its sweet flavour, many gummy sweets, for example, contain glycerine.
I am deeply saddened that the glycerine in this formula is produced using palm oil. This makes it vegan (as glycerine can be made out of tallow so worth checking out the source if you see this ingredient) but I’m very against palm oil so I’m loath to blindly accept this. As palm oil is the most widely used base substance to produce glycerine, I think I can probably say that unless otherwise stated, all hand sanitiser containing glycerine is most likely made using palm oil. It’s a sad fact, but I can’t change everything at once, and although I’m providing a plastic-free product with a zero-waste supply chain, (two ticks in the right direction) I have to accept that this is what the glycerine is currently produced from. Hand sanitiser is for some people quite vital to their wellbeing and health, so I’ll have to sit on my hands a little here for the time being. The manufacturers of this hand sanitiser buy their supply of glycerine from a company which does make a rapeseed version – and once I have shown that I will be a repeat customer for this product I could (very hopefully) push for them to buy this version in future. As it comes in huge amounts, I’m unlikely to make any headway unless I show I’ll be purchasing quite a lot of it. Don’t think I’ve given up here, I’m strategically retreating until I have a better advantage to push for more change. In the meantime, I will be offsetting my guilt through donations to SOS (the Sumatran Orangutan Society) if you’d like to join me in this please support this fab charity, I know they would love to hear from you.
Hydrogen Peroxide – If you dye your hair like me (not much of a revelation really) you’ll associate this chemical with bleaching your hair. Bleaching isn’t its only property, and you need a high concentration for the bleaching effect to become apparent, so don’t worry about this ingredient being in a hand sanitiser, as it is used in a much lower concentration here. In fact, hydrogen peroxide is present in the human body normally, so it’s actually quite natural. This doesn’t mean you should drink it though! Hydrogen peroxide is used to sterilise equipment and surfaces such as surgical tools. It is effective against a wide range of pathogens including viruses and bacteria. In low concentrations, it is a safe antimicrobial agent that is used in many over-the-counter products and cleaning solutions. Hydrogen peroxide is used instead of chlorine-based bleaches because it is safer for the environment, as it degrades into water and oxygen, unlike the chlorine bleaches, which persist longer in the environment and can react with other substances to form pollutants.
Is it ethical?
Manufactured in the UK so conforms to all labour standards and workplace regulations.
Conclusion
I’m not thrilled by the ingredients list, but if you buy from us here at ABP you will be cutting out plastic in the supply chain. No need to compromise your plastic-free pledge in trying to stay virus-free. This is the hand sanitiser for you!
