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What is Sustainable ?

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Hillary Peterson

Chairman, True Botanicals

Founder of True Botanicals, one of the industry leaders in clean cosmetics, first to receive "Made safe" certification

What was your goal when conceptualizing True Botanicals?
I want more women to know they don’t need to risk unnecessary exposure to toxins in order to get results. As someone who knows what it feels like to find out that you have cancer as a young Mom - which is truly terrifying - I want to inspire more women to use products that do not contribute to their toxic load. But safety alone is clearly not enough - if we are going to invest in products, we want them to work. True Botanical puts our products to the test in clinical trials proving that they outperform iconic beauty brands. True Botanicals has proven that you don’t need to choose between safe, natural products and luxurious, effective ones – You can have both.
What is the legacy you would like True Botanicals to imprint on the industry?
I would like to show that we can build one of the largest and most successful beauty brands in the world while carefully considering the well-being of people and the planet. My hope is to inspire a shift not only in the beauty industry, but also in many other industries.
What is the biggest change you’ve seen in the industry since starting the brand?
I am so excited to see that consumers are more informed than ever – they are looking into the sustainability of the companies that they purchase from and the safety of their products at the ingredient level. As a result, they are demanding transparency and realizing there are better options out there. It is so exciting to see that people are less and less willing to use products made with toxins in order to get results. It is not necessary.
What is the most important aspect of the beauty industry you want consumers to be conscious of when purchasing skincare products?
When it comes to personal care products, the bar for human and environmental safety in the US is alarmingly low. We have banned fewer than 20 chemicals, whereas the EU has banned or restricted more than 1,300. True Botanicals goes significantly further by adhering to the Made Safe certification, which prohibits thousands of chemicals in personal care products, ensuring that products are unquestionably safe for ourselves and the planet.
Can you talk about your sustainability initiatives?
With the health of our customers in mind, we prioritize both certified-organic and wild-harvested ingredients, and we take sourcing seriously, tracing ingredients to their origins and ensuring that their cultivation and production are sustainable for the local community as well as the environment. Sustainable farming is as important for the farmers as it is for our customers because studies have shown extensive long-term and short-term health effects in farmers exposed to pesticides. And when it comes to packaging we set a very high bar with glass packaging, since glass is the most easily recycled material.

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