Our criteria
- READY BIODEGRADABILITY (OECD Tests 301 A-F):
- LOW TOXICITY FOR PEOPLE:
among chemicals commonly used in detergents, there are many substances with long-term toxicity. Bensos chose to exclude chemicals considered to be mutagen at low dosages, chemicals with a reproductive and developmental toxicity, allergizing chemicals.
- LOW TOXICITY FOR AQUATIC ORGANISMS:
most detergents are toxic for fishes, shellfishes and algae, but selecting carefully every components may lead to low toxicity formulations, like Bensos' ones. Concerns about this item may create if wastewater containing detergents don't pass through a treatment plant, but go directly into a river:
if the chemicals composing the detergent are toxic or very toxic for aquatic organisms, proportionally to their concentration the aquatic life could be seriously damaged.
If components are low toxicity chemicals, environmental risks reduce too.
- TENDENCY TO BIOACCUMULATE:
if a chemical is well diluted in water, there's no concern; instead, lipophyle substances (well dissolved in fats) may show the bad tendency to get into human body tissues. This tendency is measured by Kow, that is the Octanol-Water Ripartition Coefficient: octanol is an alcohol which polarity is alike with human tissues one. Safe chemicals show LogKow < 3.
- ANAEROBIC BIODEGRADABILITY:
with no or lack of oxygen (soils and sediments, sewage, etc.), some bacteria exist that biodegrade carbon based chemicals, on condition that those chemicals are anaerobically biodegradable; Bensos has excluded anaerobically non-biodegradable chemicals; instead, Bensos accepted to use in a very few quantity some relatively slowly biodegradable chemicals.
This is a little investigated parameter: anaerobic biodegradability data available for chemicals are really few, maybe because of the complexity of the method in front of the aerobic biodegradability one (OECD 301).
More about it: EN ISO 11734 (june 2004).
- LOW ETHOXYLATION DEGREE:
ethoxylated surfactants have been selected to have a low ethoxylation degree (max 6 moles/mole of non-ionic surfactant, max 3 moles/mole of anionic surfactant), aimed to avoid to expose less and less chemical mills workers to the toxic chemical named Ethylene Oxide, used as reagent in surfactants production; such surfactants are common in detergents and cosmetics (ethoxylated tensides, PEG). Propoxylated tensides are excluded.
- INTERNATIONAL PATENT (PCT):
More about it: International Patents Office
in few days (max. 28) each chemical is biodegraded by environmental bacteria, living in rivers and surface waters or in activated sludge plants, in a percentage variable from at least 60% to at least 70% (according to the specific method). Essentially, such chemicals don't accumulate in the environment, but rather they're soon removed.
More about it: OECD documents website
This method is validated for single chemicals. Bensos, applying a very advanced idea, is analysing such a way FULL PRODUCTS: we know that reactions among ready biodegradable chemicals are possible, so that reaction products (that is: detergents) may be slowly biodegradable. This matter has been treated by university researchers, who are going to publish their studies on scientific papers.
