During the recent 2016 United Soybean Board (USB) Biobased Stakeholders Dialogue that took place in Washington, D.C., Cindy Zimmerman spoke with Martin Wolf with Seventh Generation, founded in 1988. The company produces biobased household cleaning products that are renewable and sustainable. These products are also designed to protect the health of the individuals as well as the environment, said Wolf. Products range from baby diapers to laundry and dish detergents to personal care products.
One of the things that the Wolf did during the Biobased Stakeholders Dialogue was help review the Purdue students soy pods for a laundry detergent. Wolf said his interest was peaked because laundry pods are the fastest growing segment in laundry due to their convenience. However, right now they are made with a petroleum based polymer film. “And because we only want to use biobased ingredients, although we do it, we don’t like to do it. So seeing a soybased alternative is extremely exciting to us and we would like to see this technology developed rapidly so we can use it commercially soon.”
Zimmerman asked Wolf how specifically Seventh Generation uses biobased products in their efforts. He answered, “We have a philosophy of sustainability for our products. We believe that materials should come from the earth and be returned to the earth so they can again become available as materials we use. So we make cleaning materials out of biobased materials. For example, they take plant oils and convert them into an ingredient. That ingredient then biodegrades so it can become a nutrient to grow plant oils, which we can they harvest and use again.”
Learn more about Seventh Generation’s bio-based philosophy and products here: Interview with Martin Wolf, Seventh Generation