Dubbed Metsä (the Finnish word for “forest”), Ole Hyvä’s new line features three products: a shower gel, a shampoo and a liquid hand soap. Developed in partnership with Montinutra, a start-up developing forest based ingredients and a Metsä Spring’s portfolio company, the new line utilises Montinutra’s Boreal Bioproducts SpruceSugar as a key ingredient. This is the first time that SpruceSugar has been used in an application for consumers.
Upcycled antioxidant
SpruceSugar is a 100% natural hemicellulose extract, obtained from sustainable spruce sawmilling side streams. It substitutes analogue chemicals and polysaccharides, with the potential to increase the antioxidant capacity of personal care products.
All products in Ole Hyvä’s new range are vegan, biodegradable, and contain SpruceSugar. "Our goal is to develop and offer consumers high-quality and environmentally friendly cleaning products based on nature’s biocapacity. We are particularly happy that we can support a domestic innovation that promotes the responsible use of natural resources and respects the well-being of nature. We believe that the cooperation helps us to offer our customers even better and more environmentally friendly products in the future as well,” commented Elli Unger, Managing Director of Ole Hyvä Luonnontuote Oy.
Nordic wood as an alternative to oil-based chemicals?
Thanks to this partnership with Ole Hyvä Luonnontuote, Montinutra was able to place its Boreal Bioproducts SpruceSugar on the market at a record speed – it went from testing phase into consumer product in just 14 months.
“With the successful launch of the first product range, Montinutra is ready to sell the product to other natural cosmetic players in Europe,” says the start-up in a statement.
Montinutra bets on a rising global demand from consumers for natural and sustainable cosmetic products, as well as on the consumers interest for upcycled ingredients.
“SpruceSugar is a prime example of how underutilised side streams can be upcycled into a novel product that has a large variety of usage cases,” says Katariina Kemppainen, SVP, Group R&D at Metsä Spring, Metsä Group’s innovation company, which mission is to seek and support sustainable innovations and technologies that find new purposes and higher value for Nordic wood.
In addition to SpruceSugar, Montinutra’s Boreal Bioproducts range features two other products: SpruceLigno, a sulfur free, natural anti-oxidant and UV-absorbing lignin extract; and SpruceFiber, a thermally treated dry lignocellulose.
