Get Us PPE partners with Evolved By Nature to get sustainable hand sanitizer to underserved and under-resourced communities.
The Massachusetts-based company is in the business of advancing the world’s health by reducing our reliance on petrochemicals. To that end, they’ve developed an extensive offering of personal care products using chemicals derived from silk cocoons. In partnership with Get Us PPE, they’ve donated sustainable, non-toxic hand sanitizers that are reaching many underserved and under-resourced communities.
Creating Sustainable Hand Sanitizer
At its core, Evolved By Nature exists to improve the chemistry between people, the things they love, and the planet. To achieve this, Evolved By Nature makes natural, sustainable products out of elements derived from pure, natural silk. Evolved By Nature harvests silk cocoons to produce chemicals and polymers that can help replace petrochemicals derived from fossil fuels.
The idea to create new chemicals to replace petrochemicals came out of a desire to fill a need Evolved By Nature CEO, Greg Altman, told Get Us PPE. “The need was to create ultra-clean skincare that was non-toxic and non-allergenic.”
This was the mission Greg and his business partner and co-founder, Dr. Rebecca “Beck” Lacouture–a cancer survivor, had in mind when creating Evolved By Nature. According to Greg, the products needed to be safe enough for cancer patients going through chemotherapy. “For me,” Greg added, “my oldest child had severe eczema and food allergies, and I was not comfortable with the idea of coating him in some of the moisturizers that were out there.” Many of the moisturizers and soaps used to treat eczema and other skin allergies are petroleum-based, mineral-based, or contain paraben-like preservatives. A lot of these ingredients are linked to infertility among other complications. “Thinking about covering a [two-year old] in some of this stuff was really not exciting,” Greg told Get Us PPE.
Thus, Evolved By Nature sought to use a chemical that came from nature and posed no threat of toxicity to the human body, making their products less toxic and more sustainable.
Commitment to Underserved, Under-Resourced Communities
The broader mission of Evolved By Nature is to address health disparities that arise, and the organization seeks to do this by decreasing the communities’ reliance on petrochemicals. Upon seeing the need for hand sanitizer that grew during the COVID-19 pandemic, Evolved By Nature created a sustainable, non-toxic hand sanitizer.
“Hand sanitizer chemicals can be very harmful,” Greg told Get Us PPE, “Evolved By Nature focuses on creating products that are free of toxic chemicals.” In fact, this past year Get Us PPE reported on the rise of hand sanitizer formulas containing carcinogens and other toxic chemicals.
Many under-resourced communities are largely made up of people of color and disproportionately exposed to hazardous waste, air pollution, lead poisoning, and climate change. To serve these communities and provide sustainable hand sanitizer, Evolved by Nature created the Helping Hands Program. Proceeds from every bottle purchased are used to fund donations to communities in need.
“In partnering with Get Us PPE,” Greg says, “we have been able to get the most hand sanitizer donations out to the right people.”
To date, Evolved By Nature has donated over 4,500 bottles of sustainable hand sanitizer to over 155 organizations, including healthcare centers, food pantries, community organizations, and hospitals.
