I posted the following: "I am trying to make a shower gel that has a scent but is not toxic to either humans or aquatic life. And I have a hard time finding anything for the latter. Essential oils and derivatives? Nope. Synthetic ones? Nothing. I could go the unscented route, but it’s going to be hard to sell. So, considering that most of you are better informed about this topic, is there a specific ingredient that I can use for a rose fragrance that’s truly non toxic? Thanks "
On fragrange, zerowaste and sustainability. The post got deleted by mods in a manner of minutes. What the hell is going on there? I am going to stay here for much longer since that place is turning very weird. Also, can anyone here actually help me find a fragrance ingredient that won’t kill aquatic life when poured down the drain? Thank you in advance
I could, but I need to check whether this is a perfectly safe option since the aim is fragrance and zero toxicity to water life. I didn’t consider this option before, so thank you.
Organisms have incredibly complex biochemical makeup. Flowers will contain minute levels of formaldehyde and other toxic compounds. If there is no floor on what it takes to be “toxic,” then only 100% purified chemical compounds could be included.
It would be better to determine what “safe” levels are based on regulatory body recommendations and then try to stay under those.
I admit I was taken aback by the certifications provided by pure oils. I will talk about it with a few labs and see if perhaps things could work. Although I still would have preferred to go with something 100 percent safe.
Even a large volume of water can be toxic to humans. I learned this by playing The Sims.
I assume you mean by
investingingesting and not aspiration / drowning. Yes, this is the case.As someone else wrote more succinctly in this post, “The dose makes the poison.” If we don’t quantify the risks from a given exposure, saying something is toxic or non-toxic really has no meaning.
How sad is it that fresh water is probably long term a good investment
I’ll correct my typo.
Well, in The Sims it more involved a swimming pool and a disappearing ladder.
https://www.today.com/health/news/water-intoxication-death-rcna99472
When it comes to toxicity to water life you have to think of the dose. If a rose bush sheds a few petals and it falls to a lake will anything bad happen to the life in the lake? No absolutely not. That happens naturally. The petals will quickly decompose and become nutrients that will feed the ecosystem in the lake. However if someone would drop a dozen truckloads of petals in the lake then that would be way too much organic matter for the ecosystem in the lake to handle. But some shower gel is never gonna come close to that. It’s more gonna be on the magnitude of the bush shedding some petals naturally in the lake. Same with the essential oil. Concentrated essential oil can be quite toxic to both human and other life. But in dilution it’s something else completely. A natural rose bush will evaporate tonnes of essential oil straight into the air during its whole life time and nothing takes damage from it. That’s why you can smell a rose plant when standing next to it. Dilution is sometimes actually the solution. A single drop of essential oil into the sewer drain once a day would not cause any negative effect at all when it’s diluted with tonnes of shower, toilet, sink and even industrial waste water. Diluted it won’t damage any life, especially since essential oils are biodegradable.
Also think what else gets down into the sewer. In most places your toilet and your shower are connected to the same system. The poop you put in your toilet is multiple magnitudes worse than anything you could use while showering. If your waste water treatment plant can’t even treat the poo then you have bigger problems then anything you could put into your shower gel. If it’s good enough to treat poo however then it’s good enough to treat whatever’s in your shower gel.
I admit I got quite a bit worked up with the constant greenwashing found everywhere and got a bit paranoid about contributing to the problem. I will have to talk a bit more with some specialists from the labs that I will be collaborating with (hopefully they won’t tell me what I want to hear, but be honest) and perhaps I find a solution. If all fails, then fragrance free it is…
Poop is really not as bad for the environment as tensides etc. Unless you eat hazardous stuff it is more like manure.
Largest problem with manure, including human manure in this case, is the algal blooms that result from the phosphorous and nitrogen getting into water. That can cause eutrophication that can cause the collapse of entire ecosystems. But of course with proper sewage treatment this risk is minimized. You peeing in the lake while swimming is more akin to the bush by the lakeside dropping leaves. However when it’s an entire town’s untreated sewage then it’s a whole other issue and the results can be catastrophic.
But yes 1 tonne of pure tensides is much worse than 1 ton of poop. However poop tends to come in humongous quantities which is where the real problem lies.
I second this—you can distill your own rose water from flowers. I’m sure you can find flowers to ethically source that would be quality for this purpose.
Edit: oh I see you said rose water is toxic to marine life? That’s unfortunate