At MDSolarSciences, we believe that achieving healthy, glowy, youthful skin doesn’t have to come at the expense of our planet’s health. From recyclable packaging to safe ingredients to ethical sourcing, our team is dedicated to ensuring everything we produce is safe and effective for your skin AND our planet.
Why? Because we think future generations - including our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren - deserve a better future. One not bogged down by dealing with waste, pollution and global warming.
In an effort to remain totally transparent with you, we’re sharing exactly how we hold ourselves accountable with our ever-evolving sustainability practices.
Recyclable Packaging
The beauty industry has a bad habit: It produces 120 billion units of packaging annually, a lot of which is single-use, made from plastic, not sustainable, often isn’t recycled properly, and never ever breaks down.
Often they end up where they shouldn’t. A staggering 91% of packaging from the beauty industry and beyond fills landfills and oceans, finding its way into the bellies and around the necks of innocent sea creatures.
As a brand that prides itself on reef-safe, chemical-free and vegan formulas, it didn’t sit right with us knowing we could be killing nature in another way due to our packaging. That’s why in 2021, we made a change.
If you’ve been with us for a while, then you probably remember our old packaging. As much as we loved our colorful tubes, they were only contributing to the problem. Which, in turn, made us part of the problem.
Knowing this, we traded in our glam packaging for one that was much more Earth-friendly. Now, all of our tubes, sticks and bottles are recyclable. Our spray cans are made with 48% recycled aluminum, and our supplier is the only one in the US to incorporate recycled content in its cans. Our cardboard cartons carry the Forestry Sustainability Initiative seal, a world-renowned certificate that ensures our cardboard comes from responsibly managed forests.
Even the shipping packing that gets delivered to your door is recyclable, from the cardboard shippers to the filler paper.
All of this is to say… please be sure that when you’re done loving and using our products, you recycle them appropriately! This means not tossing them into the trash, but using proper recycling bins depending on your town/city’s requirements.
Responsible sourcing
Just as we take care in choosing the source of our packaging, we carefully source what goes in our formulas as well. For example, did you know we’re part of the Responsible Mica Initiative?
Mica, an ingredient in our Daily Perfecting Moisturizer SPF 30, is coveted for giving skin a glowy, dewy finish, but is often sourced unethically. That’s why we partnered with the Responsible Mica Initiative in India to build a fair, responsible and sustainable supply chain.
Clean ingredients, clean formulas
It’s what’s not in our formulas that also makes us unique. Our formulas have received high ratings from the Environmental Working Group (EWG). This highly-regarded organization of scientists, policy experts, lawyers and data experts are solely dedicated to ensuring everything you put in or on your body is truly safe. Here are a few reasons why our formulas are deemed clean, natural and safe:
- We have always been + will always be reef-safe. All products are rigidly tested and formulated without oxybenzone, octinoxate, or aminobenzoic acid (PABA), commonly-used ingredients in sunscreens known for bleaching coral reefs.
- All products are 100% vegan. That means we don't use any animal-derived ingredients. Thankfully, due to an increasingly environmentally-conscious population, vegan cosmetics is growing exponentially and is projected to be worth $20.8 billion by 2025. We are proud to be at the forefront of such a massive change.
- We only use natural fragrances in our formulas. Many of our formulas are actually fragrance free but when we do use fragrances, they are natural, not synthetic. Synthetic fragrances can be dangerous to humans because the ingredients are undisclosed and can potentially contain dangerous carcinogens, or disrupt hormones. The only natural fragrance we use in a few products is a natural lavender essence.
We make everything in small batches
What goes into our products is one thing… how they’re made is a whole other aspect that often gets overlooked by most brands. It’s actually where our small size is hugely beneficial.
We make everything in small batches. What does that mean? Compared to large brands that mass produce, small batch production allows for less over-manufacturing and waste. It also reduces our environmental impact. Less energy used means lower emissions. And lower emissions means less greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere to contribute to the rise of global warming.
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While we’ve come a long way, there’s still work to do. Every initiative counts and the collective impact of our individual efforts adds up! If more brands continue to improve their sustainable practices , the impact on the health of our planet will be massive.
It may be a more expensive way to run a business or a more difficult way to formulate products. No one said it would be easy. But if we can do it, so can anyone else! The truth is, it’s all up to us. The health of our planet, our own quality of life!
If you’re here, it means you value healthy skin. But a huge part of maintaining healthy skin relies on the quality of air you breathe and water you drink and wash with. It’s all connected. WE’RE all connected in this world and we must all do our part in meaningful ways, big or small. It all matters. And we promise our team will work hard to continue bringing you the cleanest, safest formulas without sacrificing their luxurious feel and efficacy.
To read more about our founder, check this blog.