Symrise corporate headquarters are in Holzminden, Germany. And the company has 40 locations in almost as many countries across Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the US, and Latin America.
In 2015, the company opened its Symrise Amazon facility in the Ecoparque in Belém, which is located in the Brazilian state of Pará. Now that division of the company has become “the first manufacturer of cosmetic ingredients, fragrances and flavors in Latin America certified by the Union for Ethical BioTrade (UEBT),” according to a press release about the new accreditation.
From the land
The facility sources 19 ingredients for cosmetics and perfumes from the Brazilian Amazon region, ingredients like acai berry puree, passion fruit oil, andiroba oil, and cupuaçu butter. The fruits, seeds, and other raw materials coming out of grower cooperatives and communities are hand-harvested.
And the new certification adds to the company’s credibility in the region and in the global beauty market place, where all things clean, green, and natural are rising in popularity. “UEBT certification is an important step in our plan to make the treasure trove of ingredients from the Amazon region available to consumers around the world,” says Eder Ramos, global president of cosmetic ingredients for Symrise, in that press release.
“It underscores our voluntary commitment to ethical standards in the extraction of natural raw materials from biological resources,” adds Ramos.
From the union
The UEBT acts as third-party, reviewing processes, products, and procedures all along the supply chain. The Union considered how Symrise runs its Amazon sourcing projects in-house: “The focus of the independent review lay on Symrise Amazon’s internal monitoring process, which verifies and documents the origin and path of the products and oversees compliance with standards,” explains the press release.
The reviewers also looked over the company’s Brazilin ingredient supply chain as well as conditions in the 14 grower communities it works with to make its determination about certification. Lastly, the UEBT considered the information sharing practices in place at Symrise Amazon. “Regulations [that] seek to ensure that the benefits of research, development and commercialization linked to biodiversity are shared fairly and appropriately with grower communities.”