Ecodesign: the integration of sustainable collagen in your products
How does eco-design contribute to sustainability?
Eco-design is an approach that aims to reduce the negative impacts of a product or service while maintaining its useful qualities, and this throughout its life cycle (not only during its design or manufacture)¹.
An eco-design approach can be described in several steps²:
- Initial environmental assessment of the product
- Search for eco-design avenues: analysis and optimization of the product’s life cycle: optimizing production lines, improving raw material sourcing, resource use, etc.
- Comparative environmental assessment: GHG emissions, waste…
- Communication / information
The eco-design approach is therefore a process that covers the entire development of a product, from its idea to its marketing. Thus, eco-design can be anchored in the sustainability strategy of companies by focusing on the impact of the development of a product / service on the environment.
It is a concept that can be highly valued on the market because it is ethical and positively perceived by consumers.
Sustainable collagen to meet consumer expectations
Today, consumers are demanding more transparency in the products they consume, and are more and more concerned about their environmental impact. Ethical brands, which communicate on their efforts in favor of the environment or the preservation of biodiversity, are more and more popular.
Responding to consumer demands, as well as to society’s underlying trends, is therefore a key issue for brands. Consequently, a food supplement that does not integrate the notion of sustainability will encounter difficulties in positioning itself on the market today.
This notion of sustainability is integrated in the whole conception of the solution: from the product concept to the choice of ingredients and the packaging.
Ingredients play a key role in the design of a sustainable solution: in the case of collagen, choosing sustainable collagen permits the maintenance of a coherent approach to sustainability.
Why use Naticol®, a sustainable ingredient
The use of sustainable resources
Naticol® collagen peptides are of marine origin. Fishes emit fewer greenhouse gases than other sources commonly used for collagen production (beef, pork). Furthermore, Weishardt diversifies the origins of its fishes as much as possible in order to protect the marine ecosystem and, in order to limit its impact on the environment, uses the following sustainable resources:
- Farmed fishes, which are a renewable resource;
- Wild fishes used are all from non-endangered species.
A circular economy
Naticol® is extracted from fish skins that are separated from the fillets during the cutting process. These skins, rather than being disposed of, are used as raw materials to manufacture Naticol®. Its production thus uses by-products of the fishery industry, not valued elsewhere, in a circular economy and sustainable development approach.
A Naticol® range certified Friend of the Sea®
Fishing catches have increased fivefold over the past 50 years, causing a drastic reduction in biodiversity and putting some species at risk of extinction. The use of resources from non-overexploited species is a key requirement for Friend of the Sea® certification.
Friend of the Sea® is currently the leading certification system for sustainable fishery products and has assessed more than 10 million tons of fish products and 500,000 tons of aquaculture products. Sustainable products and their origin are verified during certification inspections performed by independent accredited certification bodies.
Thus, Naticol® meets many sustainability criteria. It is a 100% naturally occurring protein, without additives, that can be incorporated into eco-designed finished products.
Beyond sustainability, marine collagen is very well perceived by consumers: it is often considered as a value-added ingredient. It is therefore highlighted on the market, and is often used in the world of nutricosmetics.
You have a project integrating sustainable collagen? Contact our teams!
¹ Éco-conception : définition, caractéristiques et avantages. (2022, 7 janvier).
² Une démarche d’éco-conception – Pôle Eco conception. (2016).