To select ingredients, method works with a team of independent
environmental researchers to research and identify the healthiest and most
environmentally friendly ingredients - our building blocks for green product design.
Our fundamental philosophy in choosing ingredients is the precautionary principle:
we believe that we should use only those ingredients that we know are safe. If we
are in doubt about any aspect of an ingredient's safety, we don't use it. The confidence
in ingredient safety is what we rely on our material science consultants for: comprehensive,
rigorous research into the health and environmental profile of any material we consider,
so we can be certain of the safety and environmental profile of our products.
We assess our ingredients based on a framework of the material's past (sourcing),
present (safety in use) and future (return to the environment). Through this framework,
we assess and score each ingredient across the full range of its possible effects
on people or the environment.
Past:
we believe in using materials that we know are produced in a sustainable way, that
use renewable resources wherever possible and that don't compromise the health of
an ingredient when converting it to its useful form. The factors we consider for
the past of an ingredient are:
- natural origin
- cultivation and harvesting
- refining and processing
- transportation
Present:
Starting inside the home, method is out to prove that we can do away with all of
the dangerous or suspect chemicals that we find around us. We have a team of environmental
toxicologists, chemists and engineers who make sure that all of the ingredients
are put together in a way that means people don't have to risk their health or their
family's health to get their home clean. the criteria we look at:
- Eye irritation potential
- Skin irritation potential
- Respiratory (lung) irritation potential
- Sensitization potential (allergic response)
- Acute oral ingested toxicity
- Carcinogenicity (causes cancer)
- Mutagenicity
- Developmental toxicity
Future:
we believe it is the responsibility of method as a product designer to make sure
that our products don't create an environmental burden that outstrips their benefit
as products. We design our formulations to biodegrade completely in the environment,
to not accumulate in the organisms found there, and to be non-toxic to animals and
organisms present in the environment. Our ingredient research considers the following
factors in evaluating the above:
- bioaccumulation potential (likelihood of an ingredient to accumulate in tissue or
the environment)
- biodegradability
- aquatic toxicity (to fish, daphnia, and bacteria)
