Symrise earns top BSB Innovation Award for its Hydrolite 5 Green

NETHERLANDS – Symrise’s Hydrolite® 5 Green has been honored with the prestigious BSB Innovation Award® Environment in 2025, winning first prize in the raw materials category for its exceptional sustainability and environmental innovation. 

This award recognizes solutions with a significant positive environmental impact within the cosmetics industry, highlighting Symrise’s leadership in sustainable ingredient development.

The BSB Innovation Award® Environment is granted by the globally recognized organization BSB-Beratungs- und Servicebuero Dr. Riedel, which focuses on environmental innovations in the cosmetics sector. 

Hydrolite® 5 Green is a best-in-class pentylene glycol produced entirely from 100% renewable and readily biodegradable raw materials, including upcycled agricultural by-products such as sugarcane bagasse and corncobs. 

These raw materials are certified by ProTerra, FSC, and PEFC, ensuring responsible sourcing. The ingredient adheres strictly to the 12 principles of green chemistry.

Francoise Michel-Salaun, Category Director, Micro Protection at Symrise, emphasized their pride in the recognition, stating,  “By harnessing upcycled sources, as well as opening a new production facility, we’ve taken important steps forward. And we will move on from here.“

“We want to further improve the sustainability performance of Hydrolite® 5 green while continuously delivering the same high-quality pentylene glycol to our customers.”

The production process of Hydrolite® 5 Green is highly optimized for sustainability, featuring reduced water and energy consumption. 

Functionally, Hydrolite® 5 Green is widely used in hair and skin care cosmetics, providing superior pigment dispersion, solubilization, stabilization, transparency, and reduced emulsion particle size. 

Its high performance is coupled with a low carbon footprint and minimal waste generation, reinforcing Symrise’s commitment to continuous sustainability and innovation.

Symrise recently opened a new production unit at its Granada, Spain, facility, dedicated exclusively to the manufacture of Hydrolite® 5 green, a high-quality, biobased pentylene glycol. 

This new plant will significantly enhance the European supply chain for this highly sought-after ingredient, reducing reliance on imports and shortening transport routes, thereby helping customers lower their Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions. 

The expansion embodies a significant investment by Symrise and is modelled on its successful Hydrolite® 5 green plant in Charleston, USA, reflecting a commitment to engineering excellence and sustainability.

This dual-site manufacturing boosts the supply chain’s speed, flexibility, and reliability, especially for European customers.

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