At Yifixia, in Montpellier (Hérault), we imagine the cosmetic products of tomorrow. The mysterious work of this company created just a few months ago even arouses the curiosity of behemoths in the sector. The start-up recovers agricultural or agri-food waste, to extract precious molecules from it, which could soon be used to make face creams, shampoo or make-up.
The goal ofYifixia, is that these ecological materials “replace, in the long term, the ingredients resulting from petrochemicals, which are still widely used in the manufacture of cosmetic products, explains Nicolas Gaboriaud-Kolar, the founder of the company. Some, moreover, lead to health problems, in some consumers, endocrine disruption, allergies, etc. Among the waste, which usually ends up in the trash, recovered by the Yifixia team, there may be, in particular orange peels, which fruit juice manufacturers do not use, or leftovers branches of apple trees, abandoned by farmers during pruning.
“Green extraction technologies”
From these debris or natural peelings, the company is able to extract different molecules, using “green extraction technologies”. “We use water and alcohol, in particular,” says Nicolas Gaboriaud-Kolar. Yifixia pushes its ecological commitment to a total recovery of bio-waste, where some manufacturers will throw everything, or almost, in the trash, when they have finished recovering what they need. “The plant material that we have left, we can give it back, for example, to the agriculture that sold it to us, so that it can be used for spreading, continues the entrepreneur. So that he can enrich his soil, with his own waste. »
Yifixia will not manufacture creams or makeup directly. The objective of this flourishing company, housed in two incubators in Montpellier (Bic and Agro Valo Méditerranée), is to offer, from 2023 or 2024, a catalog of green ingredients (preservatives, gelling agents, etc.) , for cosmetics manufacturers. And that is trendy. “All the studies in the sector show a real desire on the part of consumers to have the healthiest possible products,” continues the entrepreneur. We look more and more carefully at the composition of cosmetic products. »