Part I
Part II
In this part, Part III, I will be comparing the
sustainability of the different crystal deodorant types. In the future I hope
to compare all deodorant types, buy my research has not progressed enough yet.
Manufacturing Type
As mentioned in my first post, most crystal deodorants are
manufactured synthetically, while some are mined from pure deposits. The
synthetically produced stones are most likely manufactured using mined bauxite
ore. The process for synthesis involves combining aluminum hydroxide with
potassium or ammonium sulfate and sulfuric acid.1 This is a more
complex process than the mining of pure deposits and more chemical intensive.
This process uses chemicals that are environmentally problematic and the
resulting waste products are also an environmental concern. On the other hand,
the resources used to make these types of stones are relatively abundant.2
The stones mined from pure deposits are relatively rare.
Some locations of these deposits include Arizona, Nevada, and Tennessee in the
U.S. and the Andes in South America.3 The process for making these
stones is a lot simpler – stones merely have to be extracted and shaped. Heavy
chemical use is not needed the way it is for the synthetic stones.4
The downside is that these deposits are a more rare than bauxite ore.
The question of which is more sustainable depends on what
you value. If you are concerned about immediate environmental impacts, then the
pure deposit stones could be considered more “sustainable”. If you are more concerned with
resource depletion and the availability of resources to future generations,
then the synthetic stones could be considered more “sustainable”. This is a problem of time scales.
Formulation
One of the biggest sustainability benefits the solid deodorant
stones have over all other types of deodorants is lifetime of the product. One
stone will last on average four times longer than other deodorant types.5,6
This means less packaging, transportation, and manufacturing, overall.
Deodorant stones are basically a concentrated product. Other deodorants include
water or other liquids for application, while deodorant stones have the water
added when they are actually used.
With concentrated products there are tradeoffs. The benefit
of concentrated products is the environmental savings of not shipping the
water. The downside is that the burden of environmental responsibility is
shifted to the consumer and location of the consumer. For products like laundry
detergent, consumer behavior is not affected – they just add less detergent to
the load. For deodorant stones, however, it can be easy to over-use water by
the consumer. If the consumer runs their faucet for a long time to wet the
stone, they may be reducing the concentrated benefit of the deodorant stone. Also,
the location of the consumer matters. If
the consumer lives in a drought-stricken area, the environmental impact of
water use is higher.
Based on these points, my suggestion for the most
sustainable use of deodorant stones would be to first choose the solid stones
over the liquid crystal deodorants, because they last a lot longer. My second
tip would be to keep the stone near the shower or bath and apply the stone to
the already wet skin after showering/bathing, rather than drying off first and
then turning on the faucet to wet the stone to use.
Packaging
With the variety of crystal deodorants out there, there is
also a variety of packaging used. Some crystal deodorants are packaged just
like regular deodorants to make them more palatable to consumers who are used
to regular deodorants. Then there are stones that come without application
packaging. Obviously, the less packing the better, but the free stones (without
applicators) are not always the best choice. I found some free stones with
quite a bit of packaging. I also came across a stone that came in an unlabeled
plastic travel bag that, to the senses, seemed a lot like polyvinyl chloride
(PVC), which is not the best plastic choice in my opinion.
At the same time, the benefit of the liquid crystal
deodorants was that their plastic containers were clearly labeled with plastic
type and, where often made from what I think are the most sustainable plastics
– polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
These plastics can be recognized by the recycling symbols 1, 2, 4, and 5 on the
bottom of the packaging. These plastics can be considered more sustainable because they are easier to recycle, and PP and PE have the simplest manufacturing process when comparing plastic types.
So, for the most sustainable packaging, look for the least
amount of packaging possible; paper packaging over plastic; and PP, PE, and PET
when plastic is used.
Update (9/12/12):
Post about recycling deodorant tubes
Manufacturer
Another aspect of sustainability is corporate or business
responsibility. GoodGuide rates products on health, environment, and society on
a scale of zero to 10, with zero being a bad score and 10 being a good score. While crystal
deodorant products generally get an excellent score for health, they tended to
get lower scores for environment and society. My impression from reading the
details is that the main issue is one of transparency. The crystal deodorant
companies are not very transparent about their activities and do not have
robust policies for potential social and environmental impacts. The ratings did
not seem to take into account packaging, but did take into account ingredients.
The best rated crystal deodorant companies on GoodGuide are NOW and Lafe's with
average scores of 7.4 and 6.0, respectively. 7, 8, 9 The other crystal deodorant brands, Thai
Deodorant Stone; Crystal/French Transit, Ltd.; and Naturally Fresh had average scores of 5.5, 4.9, and 4.9, respectively.10, 11, 12 Table 1 is a rating summary for top rated products in each brand:
Table 1. Top rated crystal deodorant for each brand on GoodGuide and their GoodGuide scores (scale is zero to 10 with zero being a bad score and 10 being a good score).
|
Health
|
Environment
|
Society
|
Now Nature's Deodorant Stick7
|
10
|
7.2
|
5.0
|
Lafe's Natural Body Care
Deodorant Spray13
|
10
|
5.7
|
3.7
|
Crystal Body Deodorant Travel
Stick14
|
10
|
3.2
|
3.8
|
Thai Deodorant Stone Crystal15
|
10
|
3.2
|
3.4
|
Naturally Fresh Crystal
Deodorant with Aloe Vera, Unscented16
|
10
|
3.2
|
3.2
|
Summary
- Go for “synthetic” stones if you are concerned with
long-term resource depletion, and “natural” stones if you are concerned with
direct environmental impacts
- Choose solid deodorant stones over liquid forms and apply
right out of the shower before drying off (to save water)
- Choose a product with the least amount of packaging as
possible, paper packaging over plastic, and plastics 1, 2, 4, and 5 over
plastics 3 and 6
- Top brands to choose for corporate responsibility are NOW
and Lafe’s
References:
(1) Andes Minerals. Potassium alum:
A naturally occurring mineral crystal.
http://potassiumalum.com/
(accessed September 11, 2012).
(2) Wikipedia. Bauxite. September 3, 2012.
(3) Andes Minerals. Potassium alum crystal quarries.
http://potassiumalum.com/en/potassium-alum-crystal-mines.html
(accessed September 11, 2012).
(4) Verdan. Shaping a deodorant stone. 2010.
(5) Crystal Body Deodorant. FAQ.
http://thecrystal.com/faq.cfm (accessed September 11, 2012).
(6) Bernardo, Melissa. Evaluation
of ecolabelling criteria using life cycle assessment. Master's Thesis. Arizona State University. May 2012. UMI Number: 1509397.
(7) GoodGuide. Now Nature's Deodorant Stick. 2012.
(8) GoodGuide. Now Nature's Deodorant Stone.2012.
(9) GoodGuide. Best Lafe's Natural
BodyCare ratings. 2012. http://www.goodguide.com/brands/123438-lafes-natural-bodycare
(accessed September 11, 2012).
(11) GoodGuide. Best Crystal ratings. 2012.
(12) GoodGuide. Best Naturally Fresh ratings. 2012.
(13) GoodGuide. Lafe's Natural Body Care Deodorant Spray. 2012.
(14) GoodGuide. Crystal Body Deodorant Travel Stick. 2012.
(15) GoodGuide. Thai Deodorant Stone Crystal. 2012.
(16) GoodGuide. Naturally Fresh Crystal Deodorant with Aloe Vera, Unscented. 2012.
