In the theme of green (Happy St.Patrick's Day!), we're looking into how we can create a more sustainable future. That's why our hand sanitizer only uses sustainable, renewable ingredients and avoids petroleum-based ingredients like many other common hand sanitizers. See how making the switch to Lemyn Organics can help reduce our carbon footprint! 

Image by Sydney Rae on Unsplash.

Hand sanitizer: particularly in recent months, it's been a staple in our cleaning regimens - you can find it in our purses, our kitchens, and in our cars. Today, you'll most likely find it on stand by on most business countertops in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19. It's just one of those items you need if you're going to stay clean, especially while on the go. But how are hand sanitizers making an impact on the planet?

In addition to ingredients (see our article here on what to avoid) that can be harmful to you, many hand sanitizers contain ingredients that are harmful for the environment. One of those ingredients are petroleum - also known as fossil fuels. That bottle of off-brand hand sanitizer on your desk may seem harmless, but in reality, it probably contains petroleum derivatives such as petroleum-derived ethanol, propanol or isopropanol. If you're opting for the cheapest available hand sanitizer on the shelf at your local convenience store, then you're probably getting something with all sorts of harmful chemicals such as methanol (a dangerous byproduct) and 1-propanol, which can be toxic and even life-threatening when absorbed through skin or ingested.

Keep an eye out for hand sanitizer recalls that the FDA has deemed unacceptable for consumers to use. 

Image by WORKSITE Ltd. on Unsplash

Why are petroleum-based hand sanitizers harmful for our environment?

There's no doubt that petroleum is a valuable resource. Accounting for about 80% of our energy needs, it fuels our cars, powers our businesses, and even produces our electricity at home. However, using these resources comes with a major price tag.

Not only does burning these fuels create air pollution resulting in global warming, but the entire process of "unearthing, processing and moving underground oil, gas and coal deposits can take an enormous toll on our landscapes and ecosystems. The fossil fuel industry leaves vast stretches of land for infrastructure such as wells, pipelines, access roads, as well as facilities for processing, waste storage, and waste disposal. In the case of strip mining, entire swaths of terrain - including forests and whole mountaintops - are scraped and blasted away to expose underground coal or oil. Even after operations cease, the nutrient-leached land will never return to what it was" says Melissa Denchak over at NRCD.org, the Natural Resources Defense Council.

That doesn't even cover the damage caused by water pollution, which threatens our waterways and groundwater with acid and oil spills. As you've probably heard about in past tragic accidents, oil leaks and spills sometimes happen during extraction and a result, can cause catastrophic disasters by polluting drinking water sources and harming entire ecosystems.

So why are petroleum-based alcohols in hand sanitizer in the first place?

Petroleum-derived ethanol helps to pull dirt and germs away from the skin by breaking apart proteins, the same proteins that comprise COVID-19 and other harmful viruses. This is great, but considering the terrible price tag that comes along for the ride with using fossil fuels, it's important to take a hard look at our methods and discover some less harmful ways to achieve the same level of clean when we don't have access to a sink.

How switching to Lemyn can help reduce our carbon footprint:

Lemyn Organics eliminates the need for petroleum-based products by using 100% renewable biological ingredients. By replacing petroleum-based ethanol with 100% pure organic sugar cane alcohol, Lemyn is able to reduce the need for the mining and burning of fossil carbon, ultimately avoiding the release of new carbon into the atmosphere - and helping to control climate change.

Lemyn Organics is a Certified Biobased product by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, meaning that Lemyn has submitted test evidence of its formula to the USDA and American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). To learn more about the ingredients in Lemyn Organics, visit our FAQ page or check out our articles on Lemyn. 

Join the conversation! How do you try to reduce your impact on the planet? Let us know in the comments section below! 

Have a #Lemyn moment to share? Follow us on social.