Upcycled Fragrance Ingredients

Upcycling in the fragrance industry involves transforming by-products, waste materials, or unused substances into new, high-quality ingredients. This process reduces environmental impact and provides sustainable scent profiles.

Where do they come from?

In the fragrance world, upcycling often involves taking side-streams (byproducts) from other industries – such as wood pulp processing, fruit juice production, or even spent botanicals from essential oil distillation, and transforming them into new aroma materials. Advanced techniques (like green chemistry and extra distillations) help isolate fragrant molecules from these leftovers. The result is high-purity oils and aroma compounds that give your candles and soaps wonderful scents, while also making use of resources that would otherwise go to waste.

Common Upcycled Ingredients

Nerol

Nerol is a naturally occurring monoterpene alcohol known for its fresh, sweet, and citrusy aroma, reminiscent of roses and lemons. Manufacturers extract turpentine from softwood used in cardboard manufacturing. Through a fractionation process, they obtain alpha and beta pinenes, which are then chemically synthesized into Nerol. This sustainable approach repurposes waste materials, resulting in an ingredient that imparts a delicate, floral-citrus note to fragrances

Alpha Terpineol

Alpha-terpineol is a naturally occurring terpene alcohol renowned for its delicate lilac and fresh pine-forest aroma. A sustainable method of obtaining alpha-terpineol involves upcycling byproducts from the paper industry. During the manufacturing process, pine wood is processed, yielding turpentine rich in valuable compounds like alpha-pinene. Through chemical synthesis, alpha-pinene is transformed into alpha-terpineol.

Geranyl Acetate

Geranyl acetate is an ester that occurs in many essential oils (like lemongrass, geranium, and rose oils) and can be isolated from the leftover fractions of production. For example, after distilling citronella or refining geranium oil, there may be portions rich in geraniol that have little use on their own. Through an extra step (combining geraniol with a natural acetic acid), those portions are turned into geranyl acetate. The result is a sweet, rosy and slightly fruity aroma ingredient.

Upcycling in Action

Many upcycled fragrance ingredients actually start from nature, just like essential oils. For example, imagine heaps of orange peels left over after oranges are juiced. Instead of discarding these peels, our partners extract the aromatic oils from them (rich in natural citrus compounds like limonene) to create Orange Terpenes Natural. This upcycling process transforms what would have been food waste into a valuable fragrance ingredient with a bright, juicy orange aroma.

Check out all of our fragrances with upcycled ingredients!

Having close relationships with raw material suppliers means we know exactly where each upcycled ingredient comes from. We can trace the journey of an upcycled material from its origin all the way into the fragrance oil we deliver to you. This transparency means you can be confident about the quality and ethics behind the ingredients in your products.

Smoked Plum

From $2.65

Fig & Olive

From $2.93

Heatwave

From $2.45

Deep Blue

From $2.93

Black Poppy

From $3.26

Sultry Santal

From $3.24

Ocean Minerals

From $2.63

Dune Grass

From $4.46

Key Lime & Coconut

From $3.13

Caramel Apple Butter

From $2.87

Mahogany Coconut & Teak

From $1.79

Fruity

Gourmand

Floral

Aromatic

Fresh

Wood

Amber

Fougere

Spice

Fragrance2U Full Set

After Hours

Going Coastal

Sweet Tooth

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Upcycled Ingredients