Helping Hands: Pipette’s Sustainable Hand Sanitizer.

June 24, 2021

While COVID-19 cases are thankfully beginning to decline and we are returning to some semblance of “normal,” it was only a year ago that hospitals were overcrowded, convenient store shelves were empty, and a general sense of uncertainty loomed. At a time when many people were unable to access basic cleaning items, like hand sanitizer, antibacterial soap, and disinfectant wipes, Pipette™ acted quickly to help meet this urgent need and give people a product that helped them move about more safely.

Pipette, an Amyris skincare brand for babies and mothers, immediately pivoted its entire production model to focus on hand sanitizer, a product that saw an 838% increase in sales from February to August 2020. Understanding how vital hand sanitizer is to the well-being of the general population and healthcare workers alike, the Pipette team rapidly sped up development of its hand sanitizer and brought it to market in March 2020.

Pipette sprung into action, scaling up its manufacturing and supply chain to respond to the growing demand for its hand sanitizer and ensured it was accessible to underserved communities and frontline healthcare workers:

In early April, Pipette donated over 20,000 bottles of 32 oz. hand sanitizer to medical facilities in U.S. regions that were hit hardest by COVID-19, including New York State, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Los Angeles.
Additional cases of hand sanitizer were delivered to organizations who support our most vulnerable, including shelters for people experiencing homelessness.
Most recently, Pipette partnered with non-profit organization, Baby2Baby to donate 200,000 units of our hand sanitizer to families living in poverty nationwide.

Pipette’s hand sanitizer contains plant-derived 65% ethyl alcohol, exceeding CDC-recommended levels to eliminate 99.99% of many harmful germs and bacteria, and can be used by all ages. Additionally, it contains sugarcane-derived squalane, a moisturizing ingredient so hands stay soft and sanitized, without drying the skin. Clinical studies showed that Pipette’s hand sanitizer showed significant improvement in hydration immediately after application and that it helped restore and improve the skin’s moisture barrier even two hours after application.

Pipette’s hand sanitizer is not only effective, it is also EWG-Verified™ (Environmental Working Group), which consumers recognize as the nontoxic stamp of approval and gives people confidence that a product meets the strictest safety and sustainability standards. In fact, Pipette bans over 2,000 potentially harmful ingredients from its formulations, because safety is the number one priority—for context, the U.S. bans only 12 ingredients from skincare, and the E.U. bans 1,376.

While demand for hand sanitizer may have steadied as people continue to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, we’ve learned an important lesson in how essential hygiene products are to protect our society from health threats—and no one should be without them. Amyris was founded on the principle of making the planet a healthier place for future generations. So, while crises ebb and flow, our urgency to do good persists. Nurturing the communities around us is in our DNA and we’re proud of our work to respond and act immediately to bring a product to market that helped people stay safe during a global health crisis.

To learn more about Pipette’s hand sanitizer, read the FAQ on the Pipette blog.