We have used ingredients based on renewable raw materials for many years to optimize the overall characteristics of our products, wherever this is compatible with ecological, economic and social considerations.

A core objective of our research and development is to replace ingredients derived from mineral oil. Raw materials from renewable sources are being sought for this purpose. Starch- and cellulose-based raw materials are examples of ecologically and economically interesting alternatives. This is because they are available from numerous sources, such as corn, potatoes, cotton, and bast plants, and because their utilization reduces dependency on mineral oil, which is a finite and increasingly expensive resource. Renewable raw materials are already key ingredients in many of our laundry detergents, shower gels, glue sticks, wallpaper pastes, and packaging adhesives.

Renewable raw materials are historically one of the major sources of raw materials for detergents and household cleaners. Soap – which has traditionally been used to wash laundry as well as for personal hygiene – has been made for centuries from vegetable or animal oils and fats. Today most detergents and household cleaners consist of a large number of ingredients, each with its own special function.

Most bulk ingredients of detergents and household cleaners are inorganic and cannot be replaced by ingredients based on renewable raw materials. Surfactants are an important exception. They consist of a lipophilic – fat-loving – part, which is obtained from vegetable or mineral oils, and a hydrophilic – water-loving – part, which is usually based on mineral oil or is inorganic. Surfactants which consist only of renewable raw materials, such as the alkyl polyglycosides (APG), are the exception. To achieve the best possible washing performance, we use a mixture of different surfactants. In more than half of them, the lipophilic part is based on renewable raw materials – a result of

Henkel’s many years of experience with ingredients based on renewable oils and fats such as palm kernel oil, which can only be used for industrial purposes. The proportion of renewable raw materials in surfactants for detergents and household cleaners is about 35 percent. The other 65 percent are accounted for by inorganic and mineral-oilbased ingredients.

In the cosmetics sector, natural raw materials are used in all product groups. Soaps, shower gels, and skin care products are all largely based on them. Our shampoos contain about 45 percent renewable raw materials relative to their dry weight. The use of ingredients obtained from renewable raw materials is also on the rise in styling products. For example, thickener systems derived from mineral oils (polyacrylates) are being replaced by starch- and cellulose-based systems. Renewable raw materials make up one third of our new hair styling cream, Osis Buff.

Renewable raw materials such as starch, cellulose, dextrins and proteins are used in many consumer and craftsmen adhesives and in industrial adhesives for a large range of applications. For example, we utilize renewable raw materials in glue sticks, wallpaper pastes, and packaging adhesives. Bottle labeling adhesives contain as much as 45 percent. In the year 2000, we switched our Pritt Stick to a formulation based on renewable raw materials, which now account for 90 percent of its dry weight.

When using renewable raw materials, economic factors are not the only criterion. Special attention must also be paid to ecological and social effects. This becomes clear when one considers the increasing competition between the food and the fuel industries for land to cultivate the appropriate crops. Another example is the growing pressure on uncultivated areas (e.g. rain forests), which is posing an increasing threat to biodiversity and the livelihood of local populations.

Henkel uses – indirectly, via its raw materials suppliers – less than 0.2 percent of the world’s palm oil and palm kernel oil as a raw material. Within our industry, however, our products occupy in fact a leading position regarding the use of these resources, as about 35 percent of the surfactants we use in our laundry detergents and household cleaners are derived from coconut oil and palm kernel oil. This is why we see it as our duty to exercise responsibility by taking part in the Round Table for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

The Round Table for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) was launched in 2004 by all stakeholders as a worldwide initiative. It aims to develop new solutions for sustainable harvesting and use of palm oil throughout the value chain and to prevent the destruction of rain forests. In 2007, Henkel took part in the fifth meeting of the Round Table (RT5) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The key theme of the RT5 was to approve a certification and marketing model for palm oil from sustainable plantations.