METHOD OF PRODUCTION OF A PERSONAL CARE PRODUCT, AND SYSTEM

Abstract

Techniques for producing personal care products with environmentally-preferred ingredients may include, for each of a plurality of candidate components, determining a respective e-hazard adjustment indicative of an amount of environmental hazard posed by waste that is generated by utilizing components of a component category of the candidate component in ingredients of personal care products, and modifying an initial e-impact rating of the candidate component based on the e-hazard adjustment to obtain an enhanced e-impact rating of the candidate component. Techniques may additionally or alternatively include determining respective e-impact ratings for a plurality of component categories of components utilized in ingredients of personal care products. Component categories may be delineated based on component chemical structures, feedstock sources, and production processes. Ingredients may be selected based on comparisons of component e-impact ratings (which may or may not be enhanced), and selected ingredients may be utilized to produce formulations of personal care products.

Description

79 METHOD OF PRODUCTION OF A PERSONAL CARE PRODUCT, AND SYSTEM CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED DEPOSIT APPLICATIONS

[001] This application claims the benefit of the US provisional application no. 63 / 536,888, filed on September 6, 2023, and non-provisional application U.S. No. 18 / 516,663, filed on November 21, 2023. TECHNICAL FIELD

[002] This application refers generally to systems, methods and techniques for the production of personal care products with improved environmental and ecosystem sustainability. BACKGROUND

[003] The concept of degrading chemical components and ingredients into environmentally benign byproducts is increasingly important in the personal care products industry due, at least, to consumer sentiment and global regulatory directions. The personal care products industry has incorporated various green chemistry concepts and techniques to design chemical products and processes that attempt to reduce the generation of environmentally hazardous substances during the production of personal care products such as cosmetics, skin care products, sun care products, hair care products, personal cleansers, fragrances, and other products used for personal hygiene, beauty, and wellness.

[004] Green Score tools have been developed to assess and provide a measure of how well chemical components, formulations, ingredients, and the use of such components, formulations, and ingredients in the production of personal care products align with the principles of green chemistry and support environmental sustainability. Consequently, a Green Score generated by a Green Score tool for a component used in a personal care product ingredient can be a Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 7 / 101 / 79 quantitative indication of the environmental impact of processing a component for use in a personal care product. A company may consider the Green Scores of various components to develop ingredient formulations, which can then be used in the manufacture and production of final personal care products. Some current Green Score tools address four of the twelve principles of green chemistry that are widely used in most chemical industries, namely, the principles of safer chemical products and compounds, greater energy efficiency, use of renewable raw materials, and real-time analysis to prevent pollution.Thus, these current Green Score tools incorporate test endpoint metrics within three associated categories of green chemistry, namely, human health (HH), ecosystem health (ECO), and environmental impact (ENV). For example, a Green Score tool currently being used in the personal care products industry incorporates the metrics of acute toxicity, ocular toxicity, and dermal toxicity test endpoints from the human health category, the metrics of bioaccumulation, persistence, and aquatic toxicity test endpoints from the ecosystem category, and the metrics of raw material supply and greenhouse gas emissions test endpoints from the environmental impact category to generate Green Scores for components that can be used in personal care product ingredient formulations.

[005] Another endpoint of the environmental impact category test for green chemistry relates to the waste that is produced during synthesis and other processes used to produce personal care products and their ingredients. A commonly used metric for waste generation in the chemical industry is an E-factor, which refers to a measurement of the environmental acceptability of a chemical manufacturing process. The E-factor of a chemical manufacturing process can... Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 8 / 101 / 79, can generally be defined using the equation: Factor E = kilograms (kg) of waste produced / kilograms of desired product

[006] The amount (kg) of reaction waste generated can be determined by summing the mass of each material used in the reaction or process and subtracting the mass of the final product and materials that are generated by the chemical reaction or process that are not the final product and that are not environmentally friendly waste (e.g., any valued or recycled by-products, solvents, etc.). However, E-factors are typically calculated only for manufacturing or chemical processing steps and do not take into account the environmental impact of waste generated from other production steps or processes, such as the acquisition and initial processing of starting materials and other reagents, purification processes, etc. Consequently, E-factors are only able to provide an incomplete view of the holistic waste impact of total final product production.Consequently, E-factors solely from the chemical processes within the production of a final product, or an E-factor comparison between two synthetic pathways, may be meaningless or, at best, only marginally useful without the context of the total amount of waste produced throughout the entire final product production process, such as from raw material procurement to final product production (e.g., cradle to gate). Furthermore, current E-factors typically only address mass-based quantification, which is a significant factor in the personal care products industry, and attempts to do so are not standardized, further limiting the usefulness of current E-factors as a valid measure of the environmental sustainability of personal care products and their production processes. SUMMARY

[007] In a modality, a method of producing a product Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 9 / 101 / 79 for personal care with environmentally preferential ingredients includes obtaining a plurality of candidate components (e.g., candidate chemical components) for a personal care product ingredient and, for each candidate component included in the plurality of candidate components, determining a respective initial environmental impact rating for each candidate component, wherein the respective environmental impact rating for each candidate component is indicative of an environmental impact from the use of each candidate component in personal care product ingredients.The method also includes, for each candidate component included in the plurality of candidate components, determining a respective environmental risk adjustment indicative of a respective amount of environmental risk represented by the residue generated by the use of one or more components, from a respective component category in which each candidate component is included, in the ingredients of personal care products. The respective component category may be included in a plurality of component categories used or intended for use in the ingredients of personal care products, with each component category of the plurality of component categories including a respective plurality of components used or intended for use in the ingredients of personal care products.The plurality of component categories can be delineated based on the chemical structures of the components, the raw material sources of the components, and the production processes of the components, for example. Additionally, the method includes, for each candidate component included in the plurality of candidate components, modifying the respective initial environmental impact classification of each candidate component based on the respective environmental risk adjustment corresponding to the respective component category of each candidate component, thus generating a respective enhanced environmental impact classification for each candidate component. The method further includes... Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 10 / 101 / 79 select, based on a comparison of the enhanced environmental impact ratings of the plurality of candidate components, an ingredient that includes a particular component of the plurality of candidate components and provide an indication of the selected ingredient to at least one computer application or user interface in order to make the selected ingredient used in the manufacture of the personal care product.

[008] In one embodiment, a method of producing a personal care product with environmentally preferable ingredients includes obtaining an indication of a plurality of candidate components (e.g., candidate chemical components) for an ingredient of a personal care product and, for each candidate component included in the plurality of candidate components, determining a respective component category, from a plurality of component categories used in personal care product ingredients, in which each candidate component is included.The plurality of component categories can be delineated based on the chemical structures of the components, raw material sources of the components, and production processes of the components, for example, and each component category within the plurality of component categories may include a respective plurality of components used or intended for use in the ingredients of personal care products. The method may also include, for each candidate component included in the plurality of candidate components, determining a respective environmental impact classification for the respective component category, wherein the respective environmental impact classification for the respective component category may be indicative of an environmental impact represented by the residue generated by the use of at least part of the respective plurality of components within the respective component category in the ingredients of personal care products. The method may include... Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 11 / 101 / 79 additionally, for each candidate component included in the plurality of candidate components, designate the respective environmental impact rating of the respective component category as a respective environmental impact rating of each candidate component. The method may additionally include selecting, based on a comparison of the environmental impact ratings of the plurality of candidate components, an ingredient that includes a particular candidate component from the plurality of candidate components and providing an indication of the selected ingredient to at least one of a computer application or user interface, for example, to cause the selected ingredient to be used in the manufacture of the personal care product. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[009] Figure 1 represents a block diagram of an example system for producing personal care products with environmentally preferable ingredients.

[0010] Figure 2 represents a flow diagram of an example method for producing personal care products with environmentally preferable ingredients, which can be implemented by the system in Figure 1.

[0011] Figure 3 represents a flow diagram of an example method that produces personal care products with environmentally preferable ingredients, which can be implemented by the system in Figure 1.

[0012] Figure 4 represents an example of a component categorization structure or framework that can be generated and / or used by modalities of the systems, methods and / or techniques described herein. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0013] The attached Figures, in which similar reference numbers refer to identical or functionally similar elements throughout the Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, p. 12 / 101 / 79, separate views, together with the detailed description below, are incorporated into and form part of the descriptive report and serve to further illustrate concept modalities that include the claimed modalities and explain various principles and advantages of these modalities.

[0014] Figure 1 represents a block diagram of an example system 100 for producing personal care products using environmentally preferable ingredients. System 100 may include a combination of computing-related components, parts, or portions, such as hardware, firmware, and software components, portions, units, modules, and / or other types of computing-related components, as well as various data communication channels for communicating data between and among the various computing-related components, parts, or portions of system 100. In embodiments, system 100 may include additional and / or alternative computing-related components, parts, or portions different from those shown in Figure 1, and / or system 100 may omit one or more of the computing-related components, parts, or portions shown in Figure 1.Furthermore, System 100 may be owned and / or operated by a company or organization, such as a formulator, manufacturer, or other type of supplier or producer of personal care products.

[0015] System 100 for producing personal care products using environmentally preferable ingredients may include one or more mechanisms 102-110. For example, as illustrated in Figure 1, System 100 includes a component category environmental impact rating generator mechanism 102, an environmental risk adjustment generator mechanism 105, a component environmental impact rating generator mechanism 108, and an ingredient selector mechanism 110, one or more of which, in embodiments, may be implemented, at least in part, by a respective set of computer executable instructions that are stored in one or more memories or storage devices. Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 13 / 101 / 79 data 112 of system 100 and which are executable by one or more processors 115 of system 100. As used herein, the prefix e- generally refers to environmental. Thus, an environmental impact rating (e-impact) refers to an environmental impact rating, an environmental risk adjustment (e-hazard) refers to an environmental risk adjustment, and the like. As additionally used herein, in addition to the discussion of computing-related components discussed above, the term component generally refers to a chemical component and, particularly, when the term component is used in relation to the production of personal care products and / or environmental concepts such as environmental factors, environmental impact ratings, environmental hazards, and the like.Thus, the component category 102 environmental impact classification generating mechanism and the component category 108 environmental impact classification generating mechanism are respectively and interchangeably referred to in this document as the chemical component category 102 environmental impact classification generating mechanism and the chemical component category 108 environmental impact classification generating mechanism, a candidate component may be a candidate chemical component, a component category may be a chemical component category, a component environmental impact classification may be a chemical component environmental impact classification, etc.

[0016] The one or more memories 112 may include one or more tangible non-transient memories that may be included, for example, in one or more computing devices, a database, a data cloud, or any suitable data storage platform.Memories 112 can store various modules or components of system 100, such as mechanisms 102, 105, 108, 110 and one or more data stores 118-122. For example, as illustrated in Figure 1, one or more memories 112 of system 100 store a data store of. Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 14 / 101 / 79 environmental risk adjustments of component category 118, a data storage of environmental impact classifications of component 120 and a data storage of enhanced environmental impact classifications of component 122. One or more memories 112 may additionally store other data 125 and other computer executable mechanisms and / or instructions 128 that may be used by the system 100 to produce personal care products using environmentally preferable ingredients. In general, at least a portion of the system 100 may include and / or be implemented on one or more servers or computing devices that may be implemented, for example, by a server bank, a cloud computing system, one or more networked computing devices or any other suitable arrangement of one or more computing devices.

[0017] System 100 may include one or more communication interfaces 130 that can communicatively connect System 100 to one or more communication and / or data networks. Such communication and / or data networks may include one or more public, private, wired and / or wireless communication and / or data networks that can communicatively connect System 100 to one or more other remote computing devices and / or systems (which may include, in some implementations, one or more personal electronic devices (PEDs) or computers, formulation systems, manufacturing systems, process control systems, automation systems, other types of computing systems related to the production of personal care products, etc.).In some embodiments, one or more communication interfaces 130 may additionally or alternatively connect the system 100 communicatively to one or more local computing devices and / or systems which may include, in some implementations, one or more computers associated with the enterprise or. Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 15 / 101 / 79 organization of system 100. Local computing devices may include personal electronic devices (PEDs) operated by company or organization agents, such as laptop computers, tablet computers, smartphones or devices, vehicle computers, etc. In some embodiments, system 100 may include one or more user interfaces 132, which may include any type of user interface that is locally provided by system 100, for example, screens, touch screens, keyboards, touchpads, mice, microphones, speakers, scanning devices, cameras and / or other optical, auditory and / or physical user interface devices.

[0018] It should be considered that each of the data stores 118-125 can be implemented using one or more databases and / or one or more data storage devices or systems. Although the data stores 118-125 are shown in Figure 1 as being separate and distinct data stores 118-125, this is merely for the purposes of clarity of discussion and is not intended to be limiting. In fact, any two or more of the data stores 118-125 can share, at least partially, hardware and / or software resources of the data platform, if desired. For example, any two or more of the data stores 112-125 can be implemented by a database or a data cloud. Furthermore, in some embodiments, two or more of the data stores 112-125 can be implemented, at least partially, as a single integral data store.Furthermore, in some embodiments (not shown in Figure 1), at least one of the data stores 112-125 may be located remotely from system 100 and may be accessible to system 100 via communication interface 130 and one or more communication and / or data networks.

[0019] Furthermore, although mechanisms 102-110 are shown in Figure 1 as being separate and distinct mechanisms 102-110, that is Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 16 / 101 / 79, is merely for the sake of clarity of discussion and is not intended to be limiting. In fact, any two or more of mechanisms 102-110 may be implemented by a single or integral mechanism and / or by a single or integral set of computer-executable instructions, if desired. For example, although this document distinguishes between the component 108 environmental impact rating generator mechanism and the component 102 category environmental impact rating generator mechanism, in some implementations, the component 108 environmental impact rating generator mechanism and the component 102 category environmental impact rating generator mechanism may be a single integral environmental impact rating generator mechanism (not shown in Figure 1).Furthermore, in some embodiments (also not shown in Figure 1), at least one of the mechanisms 102-110 can be implemented remotely in relation to system 100 and can be communicatively connected to system 100 through communication interface 130 and one or more communication and / or data networks.

[0020] System 100 can operate to produce personal care products using environmentally preferable ingredients by employing one or more of mechanisms 102-110. For example, component environmental impact rating generator 108 can determine a respective initial environmental impact rating for each component from a plurality of candidate components that can be used in generating personal care product ingredients. Generally, a component or chemical component, as used interchangeably herein, generally refers to raw material that has been processed (e.g., material or otherwise initially processed) into a component having a form that is capable of being used for further processing (which generally, but not necessarily, includes chemical processing of the component and optionally, along with other Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 17 / 101 / 79 components) in an ingredient of a personal care product. Furthermore, as used herein and generally, the initial environmental impact rating of a component may be indicative of one or more environmental effects, consequences, or impacts resulting from the inclusion or use of the component in the production of an ingredient of a personal care product.In some implementations, the component 108 environmental impact rating generator may discover, determine, or otherwise generate the initial environmental impact rating of a candidate component, for example, in line with the execution of one or more other techniques for the production of personal care products described herein, and the component 108 environmental impact rating generator may store any discovered or generated initial component environmental impact ratings in the component 120 environmental impact rating data store. The initial environmental impact rating of a component may be determined using any suitable technique.In one example, for a candidate component, the component 108 environmental impact rating generator can provide input information related to the candidate component to an existing Green Score tool (which may be included in the 100 system, in modalities) and can obtain the initial component environmental impact rating from an output of the existing Green Score tool. In another example, the component 108 environmental impact rating generator can obtain the initial environmental impact rating of a candidate component from the component 120 environmental impact rating data store, for example, in line with the execution of one or more other techniques for the production of personal care products described herein.The storage of component 120 environmental impact classification data can store respective environmental impact classifications from a plurality of different components, such that... Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 18 / 101 / 79 stored component environmental impact classifications were previously discovered, determined, or otherwise generated by the system 100 and / or by one or more other parties.

[0021] In yet another example, for a candidate component, the component 108 environmental impact rating generator can determine the initial environmental impact rating of the candidate component as being the environmental impact rating of a component category in which the candidate component is included. In general, and as cited herein, the component categories that can be used and processed into personal care product ingredients (also referred to herein interchangeably as component categories) can be delineated based on one or more component characteristics that affect or impact environmental sustainability (e.g., positively or negatively) when such components are processed into personal care product ingredients.In other words, a plurality of components can be classified or grouped into respective component categories based on the respective environmental impact characteristics of the components. Thus, a component category is referred to here interchangeably as a component classification or component class. A component category may include multiple subcategories, a subcategory may include multiple respective subcategories, and so on.Examples of such component characteristics based on which a plurality of components can be categorized, classified, or grouped may include, for example, the bulk chemical structures of components (e.g., similarities and / or differences in the bulk chemical structures of components); various types, locations, and procedures used to acquire raw material sources for components and, optionally, the similarities and / or differences between them; various types and / or numbers of production processes (material, chemical, etc.). Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 19 / 101 / 79 purification, etc.) that are applied to the components and, optionally, the similarities and / or differences between them; and / or other types of component characteristics. In one embodiment, component categories may be delineated based on component chemical structures, component raw material sources, and component production processes. Component categories may be delineated, identified, or otherwise determined using one or more manual techniques, computer-aided techniques, machine learning, and / or artificial intelligence techniques, for example, and component categories (e.g., at the same categorical nesting level) may be mutually exclusive categories in some implementations. In some embodiments, component categories may be determined based on several different sources, tests, and / or evaluations.such as nationally derived (ND) ingredient data from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 16128 or data generated by one or more similar globally recognized suitable standard methods for measuring the naturalness of the ingredient at the atomic level; data indicative of the biodegradation or degradation of materials through biotic (e.g., biotic) processes (e.g., as measured by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for Testing Chemicals, Section 3 - environmental fate and behaviour, through simulations and / or by using other suitable or similar sets of internationally agreed modeling and / or testing methods),The content of supply chain greenhouse gas emissions reports from the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), data provided by the ecoinvent Association and / or other life cycle inventory databases, etc. In one embodiment, the generating mechanism of, Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, p. 20 / 101 / 79 environmental impact classifications of component category 102 of system 100 may be performed to identify, discover, delineate, distinguish or determine at least a portion of the component categories and / or assign several components to their respective component categories.

[0022] Figure 4 represents an example of a 400 categorization structure or framework of a plurality of component categories, including multiple levels of nested subcategories. The 400 categorization structure can be at least partially generated and / or used by the 100 system and / or by modalities of any of the methods and techniques described herein. It should be mentioned that the 400 categorization structure shown in Figure 4 is only one of many possible categorization structures, frameworks, or organizations of component categories and subcategories and is not intended to be limiting. Furthermore, for ease of reading here and not for limitation purposes, the term component category is used here to refer generally and categorically to a component category and / or subcategory, and a subcategory may be a nested subcategory or similar.As shown in Figure 4, the example structure 400 of chemical component categories and corresponding subcategory levels is described in sketch form below and includes: A. Organic (e.g., contains carbon) 1. Petroleum raw material a. Basic / building block / commodity 1. Single Component a. Commodity chemical product, petroleum 2. Monomer a. Polymer i. Petroleum polymer, commodity monomer b. Semi-complex structure 1. Single Component Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 21 / 101 / 79 a. Semi-complex chemical product, petroleum 2. Monomer a. Polymer i. Petroleum polymer, semi-complex monomer c. Structurally complex / fine chemical product 1. Single Component a. Fine chemicals, petroleum 2. Naturally derived (ND) a. Synthetic chemistry used 1. Basic / building block / commodity a. Single Component i. Commodity chemical product, obtained through synthetic chemical processing (e.g., and not through biotechnology or fermentation) b. Monomer i. Polymer 1. ND polymer, commodity monomer through synthetic chemical processing (e.g., and not through biotechnology or fermentation) 2. Semi-complex structure a. Single Component i. Semi-complex chemical product, ND obtained through synthetic chemical processing (e.g., and not through biotechnology or fermentation) b. Monomer i. Polymer 1. ND polymer, semi-complex monomer obtained through synthetic chemical processing (e.g., and not through biotechnology or fermentation) 3. Structurally complex / fine chemical product Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 22 / 101 / 79 a. Single Component i. Fine chemical product, ND obtained through synthetic chemical processing (e.g., and not through biotechnology or fermentation) b. Biotechnological processing 1. Basic / building block / commodity a. Single Component i. Commodity chemical product, obtained through biotechnology or fermentation (e.g., and not through synthetic chemical processing) 2. Semi-complex structure a. Single Component i. Semi-complex chemical product, ND obtained through biotechnology or fermentation (e.g., and not through synthetic chemical processing) 3. Structurally complex / fine chemical product a. Single Component i. Fine chemical product, ND obtained through biotechnology or fermentation (e.g., and not through synthetic chemical processing) c. Natural product 1. No processing required, direct use. a. Biological material, direct use 2. Natural fermented product a. Yeast, direct use 3. Minimum processing / refining a. Bio-derived, minimally refined 4. Moderate / significant refining a. Unique material i. Bioderivative, moderately to highly refined b. Chemical derivation i. Unique material Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 23 / 101 / 79 1. Bio-derived, refined and chemically modified B. Inorganic (e.g., minerals) 1. Natural derivation a. Sea salt 2. Well mining a. Mica b. Silicon 1. Minimum Refining a. Silica 2. Highly refined and organically modified the. Silicones / siloxanes / silanes c. Clays 1. Minimal / Mechanical Processing a. Hectorite b. Bentonites i. No organic modification 1. Bentonite / illite / montmorillonite ii. Organic modification 1. Bentone Gel (silicone-free) 2. Significant processing a. Kaolin b. Aluminum magnesium silicate 3. Brine mining a. Sodium chloride 1. Minimum processing a. Salt, mined brine 2. Significant processing a. Sodium hydroxide b. Organic modification Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 24 / 101 / 79 i. Sodium derivatives b. Potassium chloride 1. Significant processing a. Potassium hydroxide b. Organic modification i. Potassium derivatives 4. Rock mining a. Talc b. Iron 1. Significant processing a. Iron oxide pigment c. Titanium 1. Significant processing a. Titanium dioxide d. Zinc 1. Significant processing a. Organic modification i. Zinc derivatives b. Zinc oxide e. Boratos 1. Significant processing a. Boron derivatives f. Chromite 1. Significant processing a. Chromium oxide pigment g. Aluminum 1. Minimum processing a. Aluminum powder 2. Significant processing Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 25 / 101 / 79 a. Organic modification i. Organic aluminum derivative b. Inorganic aluminum derivative h. Limestone 1. Minimum processing a. Calcium carbonate 2. Significant processing a. Organic modification i. Organic calcium derivatives b. Inorganic calcium derivatives i. Phosphate 1. Minimum processing a. Phosphoric acid 2. Significant processing a. Organic modification i. Organic phosphate derivative b. Inorganic phosphate derivative 5. Other / by-product a. Ferric ferrocyanide b. Bismuth 1. Significant processing a. Bismuth derivatives c. Magnesium 1. Minimum processing a. Inorganic magnesium derivatives 2. Significant processing a. Organic modification i. Organic magnesium derivatives

[0023] Consequently, as each category of Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 26 / 101 / 79. A component may include a respective set of one or more components, each component of the category having similar environmental impact characteristics from its cradle-to-gate production processing. An environmental impact rating of a component category may be indicative of an environmental impact generated by the use of any component of the component category group in the production of a personal care product ingredient. In one example, the environmental impact rating of a component category may be indicative of an environmental impact that is represented by, inherent in, resulting from, generated by, produced by, and / or otherwise generated by the waste that is generated (e.g., cradle-to-gate) from the use of any one or more components of the component category in the production of one or more personal care product ingredients.In general, the waste generated in the production of ingredients for personal care products can include solvents, biomass, removed impurities, catalysts, reaction by-products, unreacted starting materials, auxiliary agents, reaction aids, greenhouse gas emissions, waste that is disposed of in landfills, and / or other types of waste that are not otherwise recycled, upcycled, or otherwise transformed into (relatively more) environmentally benign by-products.

[0024] The environmental impact ratings of various component categories can be discovered, determined, or generated by the component category 102 environmental impact rating generator mechanism of system 100, for example. In one embodiment, the environmental impact rating of a component category can be an average of the individual component environmental impact ratings of two or more components included in the component category, for example, as stored in the impact ratings data store. Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 27 / 101 / 79 environmental impact rating of component 120 and / or as determined in real time by the component 108 environmental impact rating generator. In one embodiment, the environmental impact rating of a component category may be an average of the individual component environmental impact ratings of a totality of the components that are included in the component category (for example, as known by at least a portion of system 100, which may include a totality of the components indicated in the component 120 environmental impact rating data store and, optionally, in the other data stores 118 and 122 of system 100).The averages of the individual component environmental impact ratings used to determine the component category environmental impact ratings may be weighted averages, if desired, and the weighting of the individual component environmental impact ratings to determine the averages may utilize any desired weighting technique. For example, a weighting technique may be indicative of respective levels, quantities, or strengths of alignment or association of individual component environmental impact ratings with one or more of the component characteristics on which the component categories are based (e.g., chemical structures, raw material procurement procedures, production processing, and / or other component characteristics that affect or impact environmental sustainability, as discussed elsewhere in this disclosure).To illustrate, one example factor that can affect the relative alignment / association strengths of individual component environmental impact ratings with one or more component characteristics corresponding to the component category delineation might be whether production processes are optimized for target yields and / or production rates of ingredients in which the corresponding components are used, and / or the extent to which the processes... Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 28 / 101 / 79 production are optimized. Another example factor that can affect the relative alignment / association forces of individual component environmental impact ratings may be how many and / or which specific steps, phases, or stages of cradle-to-gate production processing are considered or used in generating individual component environmental impact ratings. Naturally, other factors may be possible and used.

[0025] Consequently, a component that is newly introduced into system 100 (for example, that is not previously reflected in any of the data stores 118, 120, 122 of system 100) may be assigned (for example, by the component category environmental impact classification generator 102) to a particular component category from the plurality of component categories based on the respective level or similarity association strengths of the newly introduced component's delineation / grouping features in relation to the respective delineation / grouping features of each of the component categories, and the newly introduced component may have, as its initial environmental impact classification, the environmental impact classification of the particular component category to which the newly introduced component was assigned.Obviously, the initial environmental impact rating of the newly introduced component can be determined by other techniques, such as the use of an existing Green Score tool or another technique.

[0026] Regarding the 108-component environmental impact classification generating mechanism, in modalities, the 108-component environmental impact classification generating mechanism may adjust or alter the initial component environmental impact classifications of the plurality of candidate components based on the range of initial component environmental impact classifications or otherwise relative, if desired. Consequently, the environmental impact classification of Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 29 / 101 / 79: The initial adjusted or altered component of a first candidate component from the plurality of candidate components may be relative to or in relation to the environmental impact classification of the initial adjusted or altered component of one or more other candidate components from the plurality of candidate components.

[0027] In one embodiment, the adjustment or alteration of the initial component environmental impact ratings of the plurality of candidate components may include weighting the initial component environmental impact ratings in a relative manner among the plurality of candidate components. The weightings used for relativity purposes among the plurality of candidate components may be a different set of weightings than those used to determine component category environmental impact ratings and may be determined independently. In any case, in this embodiment, the component environmental impact rating generation mechanism 108 may determine and assign the respective weights or scores to the initial component environmental impact ratings for relativity purposes using one or more desired weighting techniques.An example of such a weighting technique might be one that uses an arbitrary linear, inverse, or exponential equation, for example, to normalize the plurality of initial component environmental impact ratings. In another example, a weighting technique might define an arbitrary environmental impact rating cutoff such that all initial component environmental impact rating values ​​indicating a less preferable or less desirable environmental impact resulting from waste generation (e.g., above or below the cutoff, depending on the implemented directionality of the rating values) receive a specific score or weight, or such that all initial component environmental impact rating values ​​indicating an environmental impact. Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 30 / 101 / 79, the most preferential or desirable result of waste generation in relation to cutting should receive a specific score or weight. In yet another example, a weighting technique could define arbitrary environmental impact classification ranges that correspond to respective numerical scores to produce a non-continuous set of scores or weights for the plurality of initial component environmental impact classifications. In yet another example, a weighting technique could define the respective scores or weights for the plurality of initial component environmental impact classifications based on a distribution analysis of the range of the plurality of initial component environmental impact classifications.Naturally, other weighting techniques may be additionally or alternatively used to determine and assign the respective weights or scores to the plurality of initial component environmental impact ratings for relativity purposes.

[0028] In an additional or alternative embodiment, the adjustment or alteration of the initial component environmental impact ratings of the plurality of candidate components may include a scaling of the initial component environmental impact ratings. For example, the 108 component environmental impact rating generator mechanism may scale the initial component environmental impact ratings of the plurality of candidate components. Such scaling may include a transformation, such as a logarithmic transformation or other type of normalization transformation, or may utilize any other suitable type of scaling technique. In some cases, the scaling of the initial component environmental impact ratings may include or utilize a score cutoff, for example, in a manner as described above for weighting-related cutoffs.In any case, the scaling can be based on the range of initial component environmental impact ratings from the plurality of candidate components and / or the... Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, p. 31 / 101 / 79 scaling can be implemented based on one or more requirements of the desired representation of the initial environmental impact ratings (e.g., a scale of zero to five, zero to 10, zero to 100, zero to 1000, etc.) and the desired directionality of the scale. For example, in some implementations, an initial component environmental impact rating on a scale of zero may indicate zero or negligible environmental impact due to the use of a corresponding component in personal care product ingredients and thus may indicate that the corresponding component is more environmentally preferred among a set of components.In other implementations, an initial component environmental impact rating of zero may indicate a maximum negative environmental impact (among a set of components) due to the use of a corresponding component in personal care product ingredients, and thus may indicate that the corresponding component is less environmentally preferable among the set of components. In some implementations, a distributive analysis of the range of initial component environmental impact ratings may be performed, and a transformation or normalization equation may be selected based on the results of the distributive analysis, for example, to enable greater score differentiation between initial component environmental impact rating values ​​that correspond to lower waste generation impacts.For some distributions, such as those with a large and / or asymmetrical distribution range, the selected normalization equation may be a logarithmic normalization equation; however, other types of normalization equations may be selected and used as desired. Generally, regarding the scaling of the initial component environmental impact ratings, a transformation (logarithmic or otherwise) may be selected according to the desired scaling representation requirement(s) of the ratings. Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 32 / 101 / 79 environmental impact of initial components (e.g., a scale of zero to five, zero to 10, zero to 100, zero to 1000, etc.) and the desired directionality of the scale.

[0029] Returning now to the environmental risk adjustment generator mechanism 105, the environmental risk adjustment generator 105 can be run to discover, determine or generate the respective environmental risk adjustments for each component category included in the plurality of component categories, and the component category environmental risk adjustments can be stored in the component category environmental risk adjustment data store 118. Typically, but not necessarily, the environmental risk adjustment generator 105 can generate the respective environmental risk adjustment for a component category independently of determining the environmental impact rating of the component category and / or determining the respective environmental impact ratings of any individual components included in the component category.Consequently, in system 100, the environmental risk adjustment of a component category can be generated by the environmental risk adjustment generator 105 before, after, or in parallel with the determination, by the component environmental impact rating generator 108 and / or by the component category environmental impact rating generator 102, of the initial and / or modified environmental impact rating of any of the individual components included in the component category and of the component category itself.In other words, typically the environmental risk adjustment generator 105 may not use the component category's environmental impact rating or the respective component category's component environmental impact ratings to generate the component category's environmental risk adjustment, so that the component category's environmental risk adjustment can be generated independently of the component category's environmental impact ratings and the... Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 33 / 101 / 79 initial environmental impact classifications of any individual components included in the component category.

[0030] In general, an environmental risk adjustment for a component category may be indicative of the amount or level of environmental risk represented by (e.g., inherent in, resulting from, generated by, produced by, and / or generated by) the waste produced by the use of, for example, cradle to gate, components of the component category to produce personal care products. That is, the environmental risk adjustment for a component category may be indicative of the amount or level of environmental risk represented by the waste produced by the use of any of the components included in the component category, generally rather than using any specific component included in the component category.

[0031] As discussed earlier, the different component categories can be delineated based on different characteristics that affect the environment and / or combinations thereof, for example, chemical structures of components, raw material sources of components and / or component production processes (and, in some cases, other additional characteristics). Consequently, in embodiments, the environmental risk adjustments of different component categories can be scaled across the entire range of characteristics that affect the environment or the range of combinations of characteristics that affect the environment, so that the environmental risk adjustments can be indicative of the relative amounts of environmental risk represented by waste generated in the different component categories.For example, consider a first component category corresponding to semi-complex molecules derived from petroleum feedstock and a second component category corresponding to semi-complex molecules that, when processed into ingredients for personal care products, generate waste that is at least partially... Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 34 / 101 / 79 renewable or recyclable through fermentation into environmentally benign by-products. The respective environmental risk adjustments of the first component category and the second component category may indicate that the second category components are more environmentally preferable than the first category components for processing into personal care product ingredients, as the amount of cradle-to-gate hazardous waste generated by the use of second category components in personal care product ingredients, as indicated by the second category environmental risk adjustment, is less than the amount of cradle-to-gate hazardous waste generated by the use of first category components, as indicated by the first category environmental risk adjustment.In other words, the environmental risk adjustments of different component categories may be relative to each other, for example, across the entire range or totality of a set of component categories. The environmental risk adjustment generator mechanism 105 may determine the respective environmental risk adjustments of the different component categories using one or more computer-aided techniques, machine learning and / or artificial intelligence techniques, for example, and / or, optionally, using one or more manual techniques.

[0032] Because the environmental risk adjustment of a component category can be indicative of the amount or level of environmental risk posed by the waste generated through the cradle-to-gate production processing of the category's components, the environmental risk adjustment of a component category can be indicative of the amount or level of waste generated from multiple phases or stages of production processing, for example, from the initial procurement of raw materials corresponding to the category's components to the production of the final product ingredients of personal care products in which Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 35 / 101 / 79, the components of the category are included. The environmental risk adjustment of the component category may correspond to the cradle-to-gate production processing of components of the component category in a single specific ingredient, or it may correspond to the cradle-to-gate production processing of components of the component category in any ingredient of a group of ingredients.Unlike current E factors, which are typically indicative of waste generated only by the chemical processing of a specific individual component, the environmental risk adjustment of the component category generated by the environmental risk adjustment generator 105 may be indicative of the amount or level of environmental risk represented by waste generated from multiple (e.g., two or more) stages or phases of cradle-to-gate production processing of any component of the multiple components included in the component category in final product ingredients of personal care products.Such production processing stages or phases may include, for example, the acquisition of raw material(s), material processing (if necessary and / or other types of initial processing) of the acquired raw material(s) and / or other starting materials, one or more stages or phases of chemical processing, purification of the output generated by chemical processing and / or other steps, stages or phases that are used in the overall production processing of the category components from the raw material into final product ingredient forms that are usable to combine with other ingredients to produce final personal care products.In a preferred, but not limiting, approach, the environmental risk adjustment of the component category may be indicative of the quantity or level of environmental hazard represented by the waste that is generated at least from the steps, stages or phases of production processing of the acquisition of the raw material(s), the processing of the acquired raw material(s) into components of the category and the disposal and / or disposal. Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 36 / 101 / 79 mitigation of waste generated by the acquisition of raw materials and the processing of the acquired raw materials into the components of the category.

[0033] Consequently, at least a portion of the environmental risk adjustment of a component category may be indicative of an amount or level of environmental risk represented by the waste that is generated by the procurement of component raw materials from one or more corresponding raw material sources. Such raw material procurement techniques may include, for example, mining, harvesting, refining, agricultural production, mineral processing, chemical synthesis, chemical modification, biological derivatization, fermentation, enzymatic catalysis, other procurement techniques that utilize a biological organism or convergent synthesis, and / or other procurement techniques.Alternatively, at least a portion of the environmental risk adjustment for a component category may be indicative of the amount or level of environmental risk posed by the waste generated by processing the acquired raw material into components of the category and / or by processing the components of the category into ingredients for personal care products, wherein such processing activities may include, for example, the processing of starting and / or intermediate materials (e.g., material processing and / or other types of initial processing), equipment cleaning, one or more stages of chemical processing, purification, etc.Furthermore, at least a portion of the environmental risk adjustment for a component category may be indicative of the amount or level of environmental risk posed by waste resulting from the disposal and / or mitigation of waste generated by at least the acquisition of raw materials for the category's components and the processing of the raw materials into the category's components, and optionally also resulting from other stages / phases of the cradle-to-gate production process. Such disposal and / or mitigation techniques... Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 37 / 101 / 79 waste may include, for example, gasification, composting, use of waste as microbial feedstock, recycling and / or upcycling of waste into materials that are less or not environmentally hazardous, processing through aqueous waste treatment plants, landfill and / or other waste disposal and / or mitigation techniques.In general, the environmental risk adjustment of a component category can be based on two or more factors corresponding to the ingredient production processes, and such factors may include reagents, auxiliaries, catalysts, reaction mechanisms, reaction aids, solvents, reaction by-products, removed impurities, unreacted starting materials, carbon emissions or greenhouse gases, solvent recovery, solvent loss, purification, equipment cleaning processes, starting material manufacturing, neutralization, by-product recovery, and / or waste quality risk due to the use of category components in personal care product ingredients related to the cradle-to-gate production processing related to the components.Thus, in an example implementation, the environmental risk adjustment may be indicative of a net amount or level of environmental risk represented by waste resulting from two or more factors corresponding to the ingredient production processes, where each individual factor may have a respective negative or positive effect on the net amount of environmental risk.In one embodiment, the environmental risk adjustment of the component category may be based (in all) on reactants, auxiliaries, catalysts, reaction mechanisms, reaction aids, solvents, reaction by-products, removed impurities, unreacted starting materials, carbon emissions or greenhouse gases, solvent recovery, solvent loss, purification, equipment cleaning processes, starting material manufacturing, neutralization, by-product recovery, and the quality risk of waste due to component use in the... Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 38 / 101 / 79 ingredients of personal care products, for example, as related to the cradle-to-gate production processing of raw materials into final product ingredients of personal care products.

[0034] Furthermore, the environmental risk adjustment of a component category may be expressed as a penalty or a bonus, for example, in relation to the impact on environmental sustainability.For example, component categories that generally produce less environmentally hazardous waste throughout the cradle-to-gate production process may have environmental risk adjustments that are bonuses reflecting the relative increase in positive effects on environmental sustainability (e.g., compared to using components from another component category), and component categories that generally produce more environmentally hazardous waste throughout the cradle-to-gate production process may have environmental risk adjustments that are penalties to reflect the increase in adverse effects on environmental sustainability (e.g., compared to using components from another component category). The environmental risk adjustment may be expressed in any suitable format, for example, as an additive or subtractive adjustment, as a factor or multiplier, as a function, etc.

[0035] Returning again to the 108-component environmental impact rating generator, in one embodiment, the 108-component environmental impact rating generator can modify the initial environmental impact rating of a candidate component (which may have been adjusted, altered, or scaled, for example, relative to the range of initial environmental impact ratings of the plurality of candidate components, as described elsewhere in this document) based on the candidate component's environmental risk adjustment. The 108-component environmental impact rating generator can modify an initial environmental impact rating obtained from a candidate component or it can Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 39 / 101 / 79, to modify an initial adjusted, altered, or scaled environmental impact classification (e.g., in relation to the range of initial environmental impact classifications of the plurality of candidate components) of the candidate component. The modification may be based on the format in which the environmental risk adjustment is represented.For example, when the environmental risk adjustment is an additive adjustment, the 108-component environmental impact rating generator can add the environmental risk adjustment of the candidate component to the initial environmental impact rating of the candidate component; when the environmental risk adjustment is a subtractive adjustment, the 108-component environmental impact rating generator can subtract the environmental risk adjustment of the candidate component from the initial environmental impact rating of the candidate component; when the environmental risk adjustment is a factor or multiplier, the 108-component environmental impact rating generator can multiply the environmental risk adjustment and the initial environmental impact rating of the candidate component; when the environmental risk adjustment is a function, the 108-component environmental impact rating generator can apply the function to the initial environmental impact rating of the candidate component; etc.In general, applying environmental risk adjustment to the initial environmental impact rating of the candidate component can generate an enhanced environmental impact rating of the candidate component, which the component environmental impact rating generator 108 can store in the enhanced environmental impact rating data store 122.

[0036] The ingredient selector mechanism 110 can compare two or more respective enhanced component environmental impact ratings (e.g., as stored in the enhanced environmental impact rating data store 122) of two or more candidate components. In one embodiment, based on the comparison, the ingredient selector mechanism 110 can select by. Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 40 / 101 / 79 minus one of the two or more candidate components for use in an ingredient of a personal care product. In general, the ingredient selection mechanism 100 may select candidate components that are more environmentally preferable (e.g., have more favorable enhanced environmental impact ratings) compared to other candidate components.In one embodiment, the ingredient selection mechanism 110 may additionally or alternatively select, based on a comparison of enhanced environmental impact ratings per component, at least one ingredient for use in a personal care product formulation, wherein the ingredient includes or is otherwise produced using one or more candidate components that are more environmentally preferable (e.g., have more favorable enhanced environmental impact ratings) compared to other candidate components. System 100 may use the selected component and / or the selected ingredient to produce a formulation for the personal care product, for example. Additionally or alternatively, system 100 may use the selected component and / or the selected ingredient to produce or manufacture the personal care product.In one embodiment, the ingredient selector mechanism 110 may send an indication of the selected component(s) and / or selected ingredient(s) to a user interface, to another device or computing system, and / or to another computer application running on another device or computing system. For example, the ingredient selector mechanism 110 may send (e.g., through one or more communication interfaces 130) the indication of the selected component(s) and / or selected ingredient(s) to a formulation system, an automation system, a manufacturing system, a control system, an inventory system, a supply chain management system, and / or other types of systems associated with the production of healthcare products. Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 41 / 101 / 79 personal to, in this way, instruct the receiving system(s) to use the selected component(s) and / or selected ingredient(s) in the production of personal care product formulations and / or in the production or manufacture of final personal care products. Additionally or alternatively, the ingredient selector mechanism 110 may send the indication of the selected component(s) and / or selected ingredient(s) to a local user interface 132 and / or to a remote user interface (e.g., via communication interfaces 130).In implementations where system 100 is included in a formulation, automation, manufacturing, control, inventory, or supply management system (or vice versa), the ingredient selector mechanism 100 can send an indication of the selected component(s) and / or selected ingredient(s) to another application running within the integral system, for example, to cause the selected ingredient(s) to be used in the production or manufacture of a personal care product.

[0037] Furthermore, in some scenarios, enhanced environmental impact ratings of components may be used to determine environmental impact ratings of personal care product ingredient formulations and / or of the ingredients themselves. For example, an environmental impact rating of a personal care product ingredient formulation may be determined, at least partially, based on the respective enhanced environmental impact ratings of components selected for and / or otherwise included in the formulation. Similarly, an environmental impact rating of a personal care product ingredient may be determined, at least partially, based on the respective enhanced environmental impact ratings of components of a formulation used to produce the ingredient. Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 42 / 101 / 79

[0038] Enhanced component environmental impact ratings have been shown to be more accurate and thus more useful than current Green Scores and / or E-factors. For example, the enhanced environmental impact rating incorporates or otherwise takes into account the environmental impact of hazardous waste generated by the use of a component in personal care product ingredients (e.g., quantifying the environmental risk due to the waste generated), whereas current Green Scores generally do not consider the environmental impact of hazardous waste. In fact, in light of the present disclosure, the enhanced environmental impact rating addresses three additional green chemistry principles that are typically not considered by at least some current Green Scores, specifically, the green chemistry principles of reducing, eliminating, or preventing waste; maximizing atom economy; and less hazardous chemical synthesis.

[0039] In addition, the enhanced environmental impact rating also takes into account the environmental impact of hazardous waste generated from multiple, if not all, cradle-to-gate production processes related to the use of a component in personal care products (e.g., including raw material procurement processes, raw material processing and other starting materials, purification, etc.) in a standardized manner. Current E-factors typically address only certain chemical processes within the complete cradle-to-gate processing of raw materials into ingredients, and current E-factors are not standardized. Therefore, current E-factors are not and cannot be meaningfully incorporated into current Green Score tools.However, as the enhanced environmental impact classifications of this disclosure are based on component categorizations (e.g., based on at least chemical structures, raw material sources, and production processes) rather than on... Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 43 / 101 / 79 individual components, and as in some implementations the enhanced environmental impact ratings can be scaled relative to each other, the resulting enhanced environmental impact ratings have built-in standardization and are therefore more robust, comprehensive and useful compared to current Green Score tools and E-factors.Nevertheless, standardization of enhanced environmental impact classifications can easily indicate the relativity of the respective environmental impacts among a plurality of candidate components, thus providing the ability to more fully and quickly assess the relative environmental impacts of using different candidate components in personal care product ingredients, as well as providing the ability to accurately and quickly assess the environmental impacts of using newly introduced components with higher levels of confidence and accuracy, while expending fewer resources (e.g., less computing processing and / or memory resources) than currently used techniques.In general, the techniques of the present disclosure enable companies to select and utilize more environmentally preferable components to process or otherwise use in end-product ingredients of personal care products in a resource-efficient manner to reduce, minimize, and in some cases eliminate most of the resulting undesirable environmental impacts.

[0040] Figure 2 represents a flow diagram of an example method 200 for producing personal care products with environmentally preferable ingredients. Method 200 can operate as a stand-alone method, in conjunction with other methods described herein, such as method 300, and / or in conjunction with embodiments of at least a portion of system 100 of Figure 1 and, optionally, of any one or more devices or systems related thereto and / or with other systems, processors, Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 44 / 101 / 79 databases and / or devices. For example, the component category environmental impact rating generator mechanism 102, the environmental risk adjustment generator mechanism 105, the component environmental impact rating generator mechanism 108, and / or the ingredient selector mechanism 110 may execute at least one portion of method 200. In some embodiments, at least one portion of method 200 may be executed in conjunction with one or more other portions of system 100, such as with one or more of the data stores 118-125 and / or instructions 128. For ease of discussion and not for limitation purposes, method 200 is discussed with simultaneous reference to Figure 1. Furthermore, method 200 may include additional or alternative steps different from those described in relation to Figure 2, in embodiments.

[0041] In a block 202, the method 200 may include obtaining an indication of a plurality of candidate components (e.g., a plurality of candidate chemical components) for an ingredient of a personal care product. In one embodiment, the indication of the plurality of candidate components may be at least partially obtained through the user interface(s) 132 of the system 100, the communication interface(s) 130 of the system 100 and / or by accessing a component database, such as the data storage 125.In one example, the indication of the plurality of candidate components may indicate a subset of a totality of components indicated in the data storage 125, the subset being determined based on one or more criteria provided through the user interface 132, the communication interface 130 and / or one or more execution mechanisms and / or computer executable instructions 102, 104, 108, 110 or 128 of the system 100.

[0042] In a block 205, method 200 may include determining a respective initial environmental impact rating for each component. Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 45 / 101 / 79 candidate included in the plurality of candidate components, wherein the respective environmental impact rating of each candidate component may be indicative of an environmental impact from the use of the candidate component in ingredients of personal care products. In some implementations, the respective environmental impact rating of each candidate component may be at least partially indicative of an environmental impact from waste generated from the use of the candidate component in ingredients of personal care products. In one embodiment, the determination 205 of the respective initial environmental impact ratings of the plurality of candidate components may include obtaining at least one of the respective initial environmental impact ratings from the component environmental impact rating data store 120.In one embodiment, the determination of the respective initial environmental impact ratings of the plurality of candidate components may include applying a current Green Score tool to characteristics or other information about one or more of the candidate components and obtaining the respective initial environmental impact ratings of one or more of the candidate components through the output of the Green Score tool.

[0043] In one embodiment, the determination 205 of the respective initial environmental impact classification of a particular candidate component (from a plurality of candidate components) may include determining an environmental impact classification of a component category in which the particular candidate component is included and designating the environmental impact classification of the component category as the initial environmental impact classification of the particular candidate component. The environmental impact classification of a component category may be indicative of an environmental impact from the use of any one or more of the components included in the component category in product ingredients for Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, p. 46 / 101 / 79 personal care. In some implementations, the respective environmental impact classification of the component category may be at least partially indicative of an environmental impact from waste generated from the use of any one or more of the components in the component category in personal care product ingredients.

[0044] Consequently, in some implementations, method 200 may include categorizing each candidate component into a respective component category included in the plurality of component categories. The categorization of each candidate component may be based on one or more characteristics of the candidate component, such as a chemical structure of the candidate component, one or more raw material sources of the candidate component, and / or one or more production processes of each candidate component, in one embodiment. In some embodiments, method 200 may include determining, defining, or otherwise identifying at least some of the component categories themselves, as in the ways described elsewhere in this document.In one embodiment, a general categorization structure or framework, an example of which is shown in Figure 4, can be determined or defined based on similarities and / or differences between various chemical structures of components, similarities and / or differences between various raw material sources and / or types of raw material sources of components, and / or similarities and / or differences between various processes or types of processing (e.g., materials, mechanical, chemical, etc.) used to produce ingredients from raw material sources. For example, the determination, definition, or otherwise, identification of at least some of the component categorizations may include the classification of component chemical structures, the classification of component raw material sources, and / or the classification of production processes used to process components into ingredients for personal care products.

[0045] In any case, the environmental impact classification of Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 47 / 101 / 79 The component category in which the particular candidate component is included may be based on an average of environmental impact ratings from a group of components included in the component category in which the particular candidate component is included. Thus, in some embodiments, method 200 may include determining the average of the environmental impact ratings of the group of components included in the component category of the particular candidate component. Typically, but not necessarily, the group of components on which the average is based may include most of the components included in the component category and, in some cases, the group of components may include all the components included in the component category. In some implementations, the average of the environmental impact ratings of the group of components may be a weighted average.Consequently, in some applications, the 200 method may include determining the weighting technique used to calculate the weighted average. The weighting technique may include one or more of the weighting techniques described elsewhere in this document, for example.

[0046] Additionally or alternatively, the determination of the initial environmental impact classification of the particular candidate component may include the determination of a level or quantity of environmental risk represented by the waste that is generated from the use of the particular candidate component in ingredients of personal care products. For example, the initial environmental impact classification of the particular candidate component may be determined based on the level or quantity of environmental risk represented by the liquid waste that is generated at multiple different stages or phases (e.g., cradle-to-gate stages or phases) in the production processing of the particular candidate component in one or more ingredients of personal care products. Such production processing stages or phases on which the impact classification is based Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 48 / 101 / 79 initial environmental impact of the particular candidate component can be determined 205 may include, for example, acquiring raw material(s) corresponding to the particular candidate component; processing the acquired raw material(s) into the particular candidate component; chemically processing the particular candidate component (in some cases in conjunction with other components through several rounds of chemical processing), purifying the chemically processed particular candidate component and / or disposing of and / or mitigating at least a portion of the waste that is respectively generated by each stage or phase of production processing that contributes to the net waste. Consequently, the waste (e.g.,The liquid waste generated by the production processing of the particular candidate component in personal care product ingredients may include waste generated from or based on one or more factors related to the various stages or phases of production processing, such as, for example, reagents, auxiliaries, catalysts, reaction mechanisms, reaction aids, solvents, reaction by-products, removed impurities, unreacted starting materials, greenhouse gas emissions, solvent recovery, solvent loss, purification, equipment cleaning processes, starting material manufacturing, recycling, upcycling, gasification, composting, use of at least a portion of the waste as microbial feedstock, processing through aqueous waste treatment plants, landfill,Recovery of by-products and / or quality risk of waste due to the use of the particular candidate component in ingredients of personal care products, to name a few. In embodiments, the waste (e.g., liquid waste) that is generated by the production processing of the particular candidate component and / or otherwise by the use of the particular candidate component in ingredients of personal care products may include waste generated from or based on at least two of said factors. In embodiments, Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 49 / 101 / 79 the waste (e.g., liquid waste) that is generated by the production processing and / or otherwise by the use of the particular candidate component in ingredients of personal care products may include waste generated from or based on most or even all of the aforementioned factors discussed above.

[0047] In addition, in some embodiments (not shown in Figure 2), method 200 may include adjusting or altering the initial environmental impact rating of the particular candidate component based on other candidate components, for example, in a relative manner with respect to other candidate components. For example, method 200 may include weighting the initial environmental impact rating of each particular candidate component and / or scaling the initial environmental impact rating of the particular candidate component (for example, in conjunction with the initial environmental impact ratings of other candidate components), for example, in ways similar to those described elsewhere in this disclosure.In an implementation, the adjusted or altered initial component environmental impact rating of each particular candidate component may be indicative of the relativity of the initial environmental impact rating of the particular candidate component in relation to the initial environmental impact ratings of other candidate components.

[0048] In a block 208, method 200 may include determining, for each candidate component, a respective environmental risk adjustment of a respective component category in which the candidate component is included. The respective environmental risk adjustment of the respective component category of each candidate component may be indicative of a respective amount of environmental risk represented by the residue that is generated by the use, in personal care product ingredients, of any one or more components of the respective component category.For example, the respective environmental risk adjustment for the respective category of. Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 50 / 101 / 79 component may be indicative of a respective amount of environmental risk represented by the waste that is generated in multiple different stages or phases of production processing of any one or more of the components included in the respective component category of each candidate component.

[0049] As discussed previously, the respective component category of each candidate component may be included in a plurality of component categories used or intended for use in personal care product ingredients, wherein the plurality of component categories may be delineated based on the chemical structures of the components, raw material sources of the components and production processes of the components (and, optionally, may be further delineated based on other characteristics of the components), and wherein each component category of the plurality of component categories may include a respective plurality of components used or intended for use in personal care product ingredients.As also discussed elsewhere herein, the production processing stages or phases of components corresponding to the determination of environmental risk adjustments may include at least the acquisition of raw materials corresponding to the components, the processing of the acquired raw materials into components, and the disposal and / or mitigation of waste generated by the acquisition of the raw materials and / or the processing of the acquired raw materials into components. In some implementations, the determination of environmental risk adjustments may also be based on other production processing stages or phases (e.g., chemical processing, purification, etc.) and any disposal and / or mitigation of waste generated by the other stages or phases, and in some implementations, the determination of environmental risk adjustments may be based on all stages or phases (e.g., the entirety of the cradle-to-gate stages or phases). Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 51 / 101 / 79 processing of component production into ingredients. Examples of raw material acquisition techniques may include mining, harvesting, refining, agricultural production, mineral processing, chemical synthesis, chemical modification, biological derivatization, fermentation, enzymatic catalysis, and / or other types of acquisition that utilize a biological organism or convergent synthesis, to name a few. Examples of waste disposal and / or waste mitigation techniques may include recycling, upcycling, gasification, composting, use as microbial feedstock, processing through aqueous waste treatment plants, landfill, and / or one or more other waste mitigation techniques.

[0050] For some component categories, the respective environmental risk adjustment is a penalty that indicates a greater amount of environmental risk represented by waste generated by the use of components in that component category in personal care products, for example, compared to the amount of environmental risk represented by waste generated by the use of components in other component categories. For some component categories, the respective environmental risk adjustment is a bonus that indicates a lesser amount of environmental risk represented by waste generated by the use of components in that component category in personal care products, for example, compared to the amount of environmental risk represented by waste generated by the use of components in other component categories.In general, the respective environmental risk adjustment corresponding to the respective component category may be indicative of the respective amount of environmental risk represented by the waste generated by the use of components of that component category in the ingredients of personal care products in relation to the amounts of environmental risk represented by the waste generated by the use of components corresponding to other component categories. Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 52 / 101 / 79 in the ingredients of personal care products. The respective environmental risk adjustments may be expressed in any suitable format, such as by an additive or subtractive adjustment, a multiplier or factor, a function, etc.

[0051] In a block 210, method 200 may include, for each candidate component included in the plurality of candidate components, modifying the respective initial environmental impact classification of each candidate component based on the respective environmental risk adjustment corresponding to the respective component category of the candidate component, thereby generating a respective enhanced environmental impact classification of each candidate component. For modalities in which the initial environmental impact classifications of the candidate components have been adjusted or altered (for example, in block 205), block 210 may include modifying the respective adjusted or altered initial environmental impact classification of each candidate component based on the respective environmental risk adjustment corresponding to the respective component category of the candidate component.In any case, modifying the initial environmental impact classification (or the adjusted / changed initial environmental impact classification, as the case may be) of a candidate component based on its respective environmental risk adjustment may further tune or adjust the initial environmental impact classification or the adjusted / changed initial environmental impact classification of the candidate component based on the amount of environmental risk represented by the waste generated by using components of the component category in which the candidate component is included to generate ingredients for personal care products, for example, through multiple phases and stages of production processes and, in some cases, through a whole range of cradle-to-gate production processes.Therefore, when an environmental risk adjustment of the candidate component category is a penalty, the enhanced environmental impact rating of the candidate component may indicate that... Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 53 / 101 / 79, states that the candidate component is less environmentally preferential than indicated by the initial environmental impact rating of the candidate component, and when an environmental risk adjustment of the candidate component category is a bonus, the enhanced environmental impact rating of the candidate component may indicate that the candidate component is more environmentally preferential than indicated by the initial environmental impact rating of the candidate component. Modification 210 may correspond to the format in which the environmental risk adjustment of the component category is expressed. For example, when the environmental risk adjustment is an additive or subtractive adjustment,Modifying the initial environmental impact rating (which may be an adjusted or altered initial environmental impact rating) of a candidate component may include adding the respective environmental risk adjustment of a corresponding component category or subtracting the respective environmental risk adjustment of the corresponding component category from the candidate component's initial environmental impact rating; when the environmental risk adjustment is a factor or a multiplier, modifying the initial environmental impact rating (which may be an adjusted or altered initial environmental impact rating) of a candidate component may include multiplying the candidate component's initial environmental impact rating and the environmental risk adjustment of a corresponding component category; when the environmental risk adjustment is a function,Modifying the initial environmental impact rating (which may be an adjusted or altered initial environmental impact rating) of a candidate component may include applying the function to the initial environmental impact rating and, optionally, other characteristics of the candidate component, etc. The enhanced environmental impact rating of each candidate component may be stored in the enhanced environmental impact rating data store for component 122, for example. Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 54 / 101 / 79

[0052] In a block 212, method 200 may include selecting, based on a comparison of the enhanced environmental impact ratings of the plurality of candidate components (e.g., as stored in the component-enhanced environmental impact ratings data store 122 and / or as determined in line with the execution of method 200), an ingredient that includes a particular component from the plurality of candidate components, wherein the ingredient may be used in a personal care product formulation. In general, the specific component included in the ingredient may have a more environmentally preferential enhanced environmental impact rating compared to other candidate components that may be included in the ingredient.Consequently, ingredient selection 212 may include selecting an ingredient that is produced from a more environmentally preferable component instead of other less environmentally preferable candidate components. Additionally or alternatively, ingredient selection 212 may include selecting an ingredient that is produced from a more environmentally preferable component instead of selecting other ingredients that are processed from less environmentally preferable components.In fact, in some embodiments (not shown in Figure 2), method 200 may additionally include determining, based on the enhanced environmental impact rating of the particular component and, optionally, based on the respective enhanced environmental impact ratings of other components, a respective environmental impact rating of each ingredient of one or more candidate ingredients that may be included in or otherwise processed into a personal care product (e.g., alone or in combination with other ingredients), and the selection 212 of the ingredient may be based on a comparison of the environmental impact ratings of the one or more candidate ingredients. Furthermore, in... Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 55 / 101 / 79 some embodiments (not shown in Figure 2), method 200 may include using the selected ingredient in which the particular component is included in a personal care product formulation and / or in the manufacture or production of the personal care product, for example, based on the formulation.

[0053] In some embodiments (not shown in Figure 2), method 200 may additionally include determining, based on the enhanced environmental impact rating of the particular component and, optionally, based on the respective enhanced environmental impact ratings of other components, a respective environmental impact rating of each formulation of one or more candidate formulations that may be used to produce or manufacture the personal care product and / or selecting a particular formulation of the personal care product based on a comparison of the environmental impact ratings of one or more candidate formulations.Thus, the selection of the particular formulation may include selecting a formulation that uses a more environmentally preferable component and / or ingredient instead of using other less environmentally preferable components and / or ingredients, and / or the selection of the particular formulation may include selecting a formulation that is more environmentally preferable compared to other candidate formulations. Method 200 may additionally include using the selected formulation to manufacture or produce the personal care product.

[0054] In a block 215, method 200 may include providing an indication of the selected ingredient to at least one computer application or user interface in order to cause the selected ingredient to be used in the manufacture of the personal care product. For example, in block 215, the indication of the selected ingredient may be provided to one or more local user interfaces 132 and / or to Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 56 / 101 / 79 indication of the selected ingredient may be provided through communication interface(s) 130 to one or more remote user interfaces, one or more other computing devices, one or more other systems used in the production of personal care products (such as a formulation system, an automation system, a manufacturing system, a control system, an inventory system, a supply chain management system, etc.) and / or one or more computing applications running on the other computing devices and / or the other systems. In some provisions, such as when system 100 is integral with another system used in the production of personal care products (such as a formulation system, an automation system, a manufacturing system, a control system, an inventory system, a supply chain management system, etc.), in block 215, method 200 may include providing the indication of the selected ingredient to a computing application running on the integral system, for example, as represented by mechanisms / instructions 128, and the computing application may be run to generate a formulation and / or to control an industrial plant to produce the personal care product using the formulation, for example.

[0055] In some embodiments (not shown), method 200 may additionally include integrating the respective environmental risk adjustment of the respective component category (e.g., the respective environmental risk adjustment determined in block 208) with a tool that is configured and run to assess, analyze and / or measure the environmental impacts of processing (e.g., production processing) of different components for use in personal care products and / or the environmental impacts of using the different components themselves in personal care products, thereby updating the tool. The tool may be an existing Green Score tool or a similar tool, and the tool Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 57 / 101 / 79 The current Green Score (or similar) tool may be included in system 100 or may be located remotely from system 100. In one implementation example, a current Green Score tool may be updated to utilize one or more environmental risk adjustments (e.g., as determined by method 200) so that the updated tool is configured to assess, based at least on the integrated environmental risk adjustment(s), environmental impacts of waste generated from the production processing of components for use in personal care products and / or environmental impacts from the use of the components themselves in personal care products. Consequently, the scores or measurements generated by the updated tool may be based, at least partially, on one or more environmental risk adjustments that have been integrated with or into the updated tool.

[0056] Figure 3 represents a flow diagram of an example method 300 for producing personal care products with environmentally preferable ingredients. Method 300 can operate as a stand-alone method, in conjunction with other methods described herein, such as method 200, and / or in conjunction with embodiments of at least one portion of system 100 of Figure 1 and any one or more related components and / or devices, and / or with other systems, processors, databases, and / or devices. For example, the component category environmental impact rating generator mechanism 102, the environmental risk adjustment generator mechanism 105, the component environmental impact rating generator mechanism 108, and / or the ingredient selector mechanism 110 can execute at least one portion of method 300.In some embodiments, at least a portion of method 300 may be executed in conjunction with one or more other components of system 100, such as with one or more of the data stores 118-125 and / or instructions 128. For ease of discussion and not for limitation purposes, method 300 is... Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 58 / 101 / 79 discussed with simultaneous reference to Figure 1. Furthermore, method 300 may include additional or alternative steps different from those described in relation to Figure 3, in embodiments.

[0057] In a block 302, method 300 may include obtaining an indication of a plurality of candidate components (e.g., a plurality of candidate chemical components) for an ingredient of a personal care product. In one embodiment, the indication of the plurality of candidate components may be at least partially obtained through the user interface(s) 132 of system 100, the communication interface(s) 130 of system 100, and / or by accessing a component database, such as data storage 125.In one example, the indication of the plurality of candidate components may indicate a subset of a totality of components indicated in the data storage 125, the subset being determined based on one or more criteria provided through the user interface 132, the communication interface 130 and / or one or more execution mechanisms and / or computer executable instructions 102, 104, 108, 110 or 128 of the system 100.

[0058] In a Block 305, Method 300 may include determining a respective component category for each candidate component included in the plurality of candidate components. In one embodiment, in Block 305, Method 300 may include categorizing or assigning a candidate component to a respective component category from a plurality of component categories, wherein each component category of the plurality of component categories may include one or more respective components used or intended for use in the ingredients of personal care products. The delineation of the plurality of component categories (and, in some cases, the categorization or assignment of components to categories) may be based on the chemical structures of the components (e.g., based on Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 59 / 101 / 79 strengths of similarities and / or differences between the various chemical structures of components), raw material sources of the components (e.g., based on strengths of similarities and / or differences between the various raw material sources) and production processes or types of production processing used to produce ingredients from raw material sources (e.g., materials processing, mechanical processing, chemical processing, etc., and based on strengths of similarities and / or differences between the various types of production processing and stages / phases / steps of production processing), for example, and optionally, may be further outlined based on other characteristics of the components, if desired.To illustrate, Figure 4 represents just one of many different examples of a general 400 component categorization structure or framework that includes a plurality of component categories and several nested levels of subcategories.

[0059] In some scenarios, the plurality of component categories may include one or more categories from a set of categories including commodities or basic chemicals, semi-complex chemicals, fine chemicals and / or polymers that are derived from petroleum and / or natural raw materials (e.g., through biotechnological processes and / or through processes that are not biotechnological), biological materials and / or biological ferments that are directly used, refined and / or chemically modified; and minerals that are directly used, refined and / or chemically modified.In some scenarios, the plurality of component categories may include all categories from the category set, including commodities or basic chemicals, semi-complex chemicals, fine chemicals and / or polymers that are derived from petroleum and / or natural raw materials (e.g., through biotechnological processes and / or through processes that are not biotechnological), biological materials and / or biological ferments that are. Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, p. 60 / 101 / 79 directly used, refined and / or chemically modified; and minerals that are directly used, refined and / or chemically modified.

[0060] In fact, in some embodiments (not shown in Figure 3), method 300 may include determining, defining, delineating, or otherwise identifying at least a portion of the plurality of component categories, as described elsewhere in this document. In general, production processes based on which component categories can be delineated or defined may include, for example, the procurement of raw materials corresponding to the various components used or for use in the ingredients of personal care products, the processing of the procured raw materials into the components used or for use in the ingredients of personal care products, and the disposal of waste and / or waste mitigation carried out based on the procurement of the raw materials and the processing of the procured raw materials into the components used or for use in the ingredients of personal care products.Consequently, in embodiments, the determination, definition, delineation, or otherwise, the identification of at least a portion of the plurality of component categories may include the classification of component chemical structures. Furthermore, in some implementations, the determination, definition, delineation, or identification of at least a portion of the plurality of component categories may additionally include the classification of component raw material sources and may additionally include the classification of component production processes in personal care product ingredients.Obviously, component categories can be further and / or alternatively outlined or defined based on other production processes, such as chemical processing of components into ingredients, purification of chemically processed components, and / or disposal and / or mitigation of at least a portion of the waste generated by the processes. Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 61 / 101 / 79 additional production.

[0061] In a 308 block, method 300 may include, for each candidate component included in the plurality of candidate components, determining a respective environmental impact rating for its respective component category. The environmental impact rating of a component category may be indicative of an environmental impact from the use of any one or more of the components included in the component category in personal care product ingredients. In some implementations, the respective component category environmental impact rating may be at least partially indicative of an environmental impact from waste generated from the use of any one or more of the components in the component category in personal care product ingredients.

[0062] The environmental impact rating of a component category may be based on an average of the individual environmental impact ratings of a group of components included in the component category. Thus, in some embodiments, the 300 method may include determining the average of the individual environmental impact ratings of the group of components included in the component category. Typically, but not necessarily, the group of components on which the average is based may include most of the components included in the component category, and in some cases, the group of components may include all the components included in the component category. In some implementations, the average of the environmental impact ratings of the group of components may be a weighted average. Consequently, in some embodiments, the 300 method may include determining the weighting technique that is used to determine the weighted average.The weighting technique may include one or more of the weighting techniques described elsewhere in this document, for example. Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, p. 62 / 101 / 79

[0063] Furthermore, as the environmental impact classification of a component category may be indicative of an environmental impact represented by the waste that is generated by the use, in personal care product ingredients, of at least some (e.g., any one or more of) of the plurality of components included in the component category, the determination 308 of the respective environmental impact classification of the respective component category may include determining a respective amount of environmental risk represented by the net waste that is generated in multiple different stages or phases (e.g., cradle-to-gate stages or phases) in the production processing of any one or more components of the component category in one or more personal care product ingredients.Such production processing stages or phases based on which an environmental impact classification of a component category can be determined 308 may include, for example, acquiring the raw material(s) corresponding to the components included in the category; processing the acquired raw material(s) into the category components; chemically processing the category components, purifying the chemically processed category components and / or disposing of and / or mitigating at least a portion of the waste that is respectively generated by each production processing stage or phase that contributes to the net waste.In one embodiment, the production processing phases based on which an environmental impact classification of a component category can be determined 308 include the acquisition of raw materials corresponding to the components of the category, the processing of the acquired raw materials into the components of the category, and the disposal and / or mitigation of at least a portion of the waste generated from the acquisition and processing of the raw materials.

[0064] Waste (e.g., liquid waste) that is generated by the production processing of any one or more components of the category Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, p.63 / 101 / 79 in personal care product ingredients may include waste generated from or based on one or more factors related to the various stages or phases of production processing, such as, for example, reagents, auxiliaries, catalysts, reaction mechanisms, reaction aids, solvents, reaction by-products, removed impurities, unreacted starting materials, greenhouse gas emissions, solvent recovery, solvent loss, purification, equipment cleaning processes, starting material manufacturing, recycling, upcycling, gasification, composting, use of at least a portion of the waste as microbial feedstock, processing through aqueous waste treatment plants, landfill, by-product recovery and / or quality hazard of the waste due to the use of the particular candidate component in personal care product ingredients, to name a few.In embodiments, the waste (e.g., liquid waste) generated by the production processing of components included in the category and / or otherwise by the use of components included in the category in ingredients for personal care products may include waste generated from or based on at least two of the aforementioned factors. In embodiments, the waste (e.g., liquid waste) generated by the production processing and / or otherwise by the use of components of the component category in ingredients for personal care products may include waste generated from or based on most or even all of the aforementioned factors discussed above.

[0065] In a 310 block, method 300 may include, for each candidate component included in the plurality of candidate components, designating the respective environmental impact rating of the respective component category of each candidate component as a respective environmental impact rating of each candidate component. Thus, in modalities, for each candidate component included in a Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 64 / 101 / 79, the category of particular component may be assigned the same environmental impact classification, for example, the environmental impact classification of the particular component category.

[0066] In some embodiments (not shown in Figure 3), method 300 may include adjusting or altering the respective determined environmental impact rating of each candidate component based on the plurality of candidate components, for example, in a relative manner with respect to other candidate components. For example, method 300 may include weighting the initial environmental impact rating of each candidate component and / or scaling the initial environmental impact rating of each candidate component (for example, in conjunction with the initial environmental impact ratings of other candidate components), for example, in ways similar to those described elsewhere in this disclosure.In an implementation, the adjusted or altered initial component environmental impact rating of each candidate component may be indicative of the relativity of each candidate component's initial environmental impact rating relative to the initial environmental impact ratings of other candidate components.

[0067] In some embodiments (not shown in Figure 3), method 300 additionally comprises modifying the respective environmental impact classification of each candidate component based on a respective environmental risk adjustment corresponding to the respective component category in which each candidate component is included, thereby generating a respective enhanced environmental impact classification of each candidate component. For embodiments in which the environmental impact classifications of the candidate components are adjusted or altered, method 300 may include modifying the respective adjusted or altered environmental impact classification of each candidate component based on the respective environmental risk adjustment corresponding to the respective component category. Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 65 / 101 / 79, candidate component. As described elsewhere herein, an environmental risk adjustment of a component category may be indicative of the amount of environmental risk represented by the residue that is generated by the use, in the ingredients of personal care products, of at least some (e.g., any one or more of) the components included in the component category.

[0068] In some embodiments (also not shown in Figure 3), method 300 may additionally include integrating the respective environmental risk adjustments with or into a tool that is configured (and executed) to assess, analyze, and / or measure the environmental impacts of processing (e.g., production processing) different components for use in personal care products and / or the environmental impacts of using the different components themselves in personal care products, where the integration updates the tool. The tool may be an existing Green Score tool or a similar tool, and the existing (or similar) Green Score tool may be included in system 100 or may be located remotely from system 100.In one implementation example, an existing Green Score tool might be updated to utilize one or more environmental risk adjustments (e.g., as determined by method 300) so that the updated tool is configured to assess, based at least on the integrated environmental risk adjustment(s), environmental impacts of waste generated from the production processing of components for use in personal care products and / or environmental impacts from the use of the components themselves in personal care products. Consequently, the scores or measurements generated by the updated tool might be based, at least partially, on one or more environmental risk adjustments that have been integrated with or into the updated tool.

[0069] In a block 312, method 300 may include selecting, based on a comparison of enhanced environmental impact ratings Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 66 / 101 / 79 of the plurality of candidate components (e.g., as stored in the component-enhanced environmental impact ratings data store 122 and / or as determined in line with the execution of method 300), an ingredient that includes a particular component from the plurality of candidate components, wherein the ingredient may be used in a personal care product formulation. In general, the specific component included in the ingredient may have a more environmentally preferential enhanced environmental impact rating compared to other candidate components that may be included in the ingredient. Consequently, the ingredient selection 312 may include selecting an ingredient that is produced from a more environmentally preferential component rather than other less environmentally preferable candidate components.Alternatively, or in addition, ingredient selection 312 may include selecting an ingredient that is produced from a more environmentally preferable component instead of selecting other ingredients that are processed from less environmentally preferable components.In fact, in some embodiments (not shown in Figure 3), method 300 may additionally include determining, based on the enhanced environmental impact rating of the particular component and, optionally, based on the respective enhanced environmental impact ratings of other components, a respective environmental impact rating of each ingredient of one or more candidate ingredients that may be included or otherwise processed in a personal care product (e.g., alone or in combination with other ingredients), and the selection 312 of the ingredient may be based on a comparison of the environmental impact ratings of the one or more candidate ingredients. Furthermore, in some embodiments (not shown in Figure 3), method 300 may include utilizing the selected ingredient in which the particular component is included. Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 67 / 101 / 79 in a formulation of the personal care product and / or in the manufacture or production of the personal care product, for example, based on the formulation.

[0070] In some embodiments (not shown in Figure 3), method 300 may additionally include determining, based on the enhanced environmental impact rating of the particular component and, optionally, based on the respective enhanced environmental impact ratings of other components, a respective environmental impact rating of each formulation of one or more candidate formulations that may be used to produce or manufacture the personal care product and / or selecting a particular formulation of the personal care product based on a comparison of the environmental impact ratings of one or more candidate formulations.Thus, the selection of the particular formulation may include selecting a formulation that uses a more environmentally preferable component and / or ingredient instead of using other less environmentally preferable components and / or ingredients, and / or the selection of the particular formulation may include selecting a formulation that is more environmentally preferable compared to other candidate formulations. Method 300 may additionally include using the selected formulation to manufacture or produce the personal care product.

[0071] In a block 315, method 300 may include providing an indication of the selected ingredient to at least one computer application or user interface in order to cause the selected ingredient to be used in the manufacture of the personal care product. For example, in block 315, the indication of the selected ingredient may be provided to one or more local user interfaces 132 and / or the indication of the selected ingredient may be provided through the communication interface(s) 130 to one or more user interfaces. Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 68 / 101 / 79 remote, one or more other computing devices, one or more other systems used in the production of personal care products (such as a formulation system, an automation system, a manufacturing system, a control system, an inventory system, a supply chain management system, etc.) and / or one or more computing applications running on the other computing devices and / or on the other systems. In some provisions, such as when system 100 is integral with another system used in the production of personal care products (such as a formulation system, an automation system, a manufacturing system, a control system, an inventory system, a supply chain management system, etc.).), in block 315, method 300 may include providing the indication of the selected ingredient to a computing application running on the integral system, for example, as represented by mechanisms / instructions 128, and the computing application may be run to generate a formulation and / or to control an industrial plant to produce the personal care product using the formulation, for example.

[0072] This disclosure is intended to explain how to form and use various embodiments of the technology, rather than to limit the true, intended, and just scope and spirit thereof. The foregoing description is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the precise forms disclosed. Modifications or variations are possible in light of the above teachings. The embodiments have been chosen and described to provide the best illustration of the principle of the technology described and its practical application, and to enable those skilled in the art to utilize the technology in various embodiments and with various modifications, as appropriate to the particular use contemplated. All such modifications and variations are within the scope of the embodiments, as determined by the appended claims, which may be amended during the pendency of this patent application, and all equivalents thereof, when Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, p. 69 / 101 / 79 interpreted in accordance with the range to which they are justly, legally and equitably entitled.

[0073] In addition, specific examples have been described in the preceding descriptive report and the accompanying drawings. However, one skilled in the art recognizes that various modifications and alterations may be made in view of aspects of this disclosure without departing from the scope of the disclosure as set forth in the claims below. Consequently, the descriptive report and the Figures should be considered in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense, and all such modifications made in view of aspects of this disclosure are intended to be included within the scope of the present teachings. Numerous alternative examples could be implemented using current technology or technology developed after the filing date of this patent, which would still be covered by the scope of the claims. By way of example, and not limitation, the disclosure herein contemplates at least the following examples:

[0074] 1. A method for producing a personal care product with environmentally preferable ingredients, wherein the method comprises: to obtain a plurality of candidate components for an ingredient in a personal care product; for each candidate component included in the plurality of candidate components: to determine a respective initial environmental impact classification for each candidate component, wherein the respective environmental impact classification of each candidate component is indicative of the environmental impact of the use of each candidate component in ingredients of personal care products; to determine a respective environmental risk adjustment indicative of the respective amount of environmental risk represented by the waste generated by the use of one or more Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 70 / 101 / 79 components, of a respective component category in which each candidate component is included, in the ingredients of personal care products, wherein the respective component category is included in a plurality of component categories used in the ingredients of personal care products, wherein the plurality of component categories is delineated based on the chemical structures of the components, raw material sources of the components and production processes of the components, and wherein each component category of the plurality of component categories includes a respective plurality of components used in the ingredients of personal care products;and modify the respective initial environmental impact classification of each candidate component based on the respective environmental risk adjustment corresponding to the respective component category, thus generating a respective improved environmental impact classification for each candidate component; To select, based on a comparison of the enhanced environmental impact ratings of the plurality of candidate components, an ingredient that includes a particular component from the plurality of candidate components; and to provide an indication of the selected ingredient to at least one computer application or user interface in order to cause the selected ingredient to be used in the manufacture of the personal care product.

[0075] 2. The method of the previous example, which additionally comprises the use of the selected ingredient in which the particular component is included in the production of a personal care product formulation.

[0076] 3. The method of any of the preceding examples, which additionally comprises using the selected ingredient in which the Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 71 / 101 / 79, a particular component is included in the manufacture of the personal care product.

[0077] 4. The method of any of the previous examples, wherein the respective environmental risk adjustment corresponding to the respective component category is indicative of the respective amount of environmental risk represented by the waste that is generated by the use of one or more components of the respective component category in the ingredients of personal care products in relation to the amounts of environmental risks represented by the waste that is generated by the use of components corresponding to other component categories in the ingredients of personal care products.

[0078] 5. The method of any of the preceding examples, wherein the waste generated by the use of one or more components of the respective component category in the ingredients of personal care products includes the waste generated from the processing of the respective raw materials into one or more components of the respective component category.

[0079] 6. The method of the previous example, wherein the waste generated by the use of one or more components of the respective component category in the ingredients of personal care products additionally includes the waste generated from the procurement of the respective raw materials from corresponding raw material sources for processing into one or more components of the respective component category.

[0080] 7. The method of any of the preceding examples, wherein the respective amount of environmental risk represented by the residue generated by the use, in the ingredients of personal care products, of one or more components of the respective component category in which each candidate component is included, is based on at least two of the following: reagents, auxiliaries, catalysts, reaction mechanisms, auxiliaries of Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 72 / 101 / 79 reaction, solvents, reaction by-products, removed impurities, unreacted starting materials, greenhouse gas emissions, solvent recovery, solvent loss, purification, equipment cleaning processes, manufacturing of starting materials, recycling, upcycling, gasification, composting, use of at least a portion of the waste as microbial feedstock, processing through aqueous waste treatment plants, landfill, recovery of by-products or quality risk of the waste due to the use, in the ingredients of personal care products, of one or more components of the respective component category in which each candidate component is included.

[0081] 8. The method of the previous example, wherein the respective amount of environmental risk represented by the waste generated by the use, in the ingredients of personal care products, of one or more components of the respective component category in which each candidate component is included, is based on at least all of the following: reagents, auxiliaries, catalysts, reaction mechanisms, reaction aids, solvents, reaction by-products, removed impurities, unreacted starting materials, greenhouse gas emissions, solvent recovery, solvent loss, purification, equipment cleaning processes, manufacturing of starting materials, recycling, upcycling, gasification, composting, use of at least a portion of the waste as microbial feedstock, processing through aqueous waste treatment plants, landfill,The recovery of by-products and the quality risk of waste due to the use, in the ingredients of personal care products, of the respective plurality of one or more components of the respective component category in which each candidate component is included.

[0082] 9. The method of any of the previous examples, wherein the production processes of the components used in the ingredients of Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 73 / 101 / 79 personal care products include the acquisition of raw materials corresponding to the components used in the ingredients of personal care products, the processing of the acquired raw materials into the components used in the ingredients of personal care products, and the disposal of waste and / or the mitigation of waste caused by the acquisition of the raw materials and / or the processing of the acquired raw materials into the components used in the ingredients of personal care products.

[0083] 10. The method of the previous examples, wherein the acquisition of raw materials includes at least one of: mining, harvesting, refining, agricultural production, mineral processing, chemical synthesis, chemical modification, purification, biological derivatization, fermentation, enzymatic catalysis, another type of acquisition that uses a biological organism or convergent synthesis.

[0084] 11. The method of any of examples 9 to 10, wherein the processing of the raw materials acquired into the components used in the ingredients of personal care products includes purification.

[0085] 12. The method of any of examples 9 to 11, wherein the waste disposal and / or waste mitigation includes at least one of recycling, upcycling, gasification, composting, use as microbial feedstock, processing through aqueous waste treatment plants, landfill or other waste mitigation technique.

[0086] 13. The method of any of the previous examples, wherein the determination of the respective initial environmental impact classification of each candidate component includes: determining a respective environmental impact classification of the respective component category in which each candidate component is included, wherein the respective environmental impact classification of the respective component category is indicative of an environmental impact caused by the waste that is generated by the use of any component among multiple components included in the respective Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 74 / 101 / 79, regarding the component category in the ingredients of personal care products; and designate the respective environmental impact classification of the respective component category as the respective initial environmental impact classification of each candidate component.

[0087] 14. The method of the previous example, wherein the respective environmental impact classification of the respective component category is based on an average of environmental impact classifications of a totality of the respective plurality of components included in the respective component category.

[0088] 15. The method of the previous example, with the average of the environmental impact ratings of the entirety of the respective plurality of components included in the respective component category being a weighted average.

[0089] 16. The method of any of the previous examples, wherein the determination of the respective initial environmental impact classification of each candidate component includes determining a respective amount of environmental risk represented by the waste that is generated by at least one of: acquisition of raw materials corresponding to each candidate component; processing, in each candidate component, of the acquired raw materials corresponding to each candidate component; or disposal and / or mitigation of the waste generated corresponding to at least one of the acquisition of the raw materials corresponding to each candidate component or the processing of the acquired raw materials corresponding to each candidate component.

[0090] 17. The method of the previous example, wherein the disposal and / or mitigation of the waste generated corresponding to at least one of the acquisition of the raw materials corresponding to each candidate component or the processing of the acquired raw materials corresponding to each candidate component includes the disposal and / or mitigation of gas emissions. Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 75 / 101 / 79 of greenhouse effect generated from the acquisition of raw materials corresponding to each candidate component and from the processing of the raw materials acquired from each candidate component into each candidate component.

[0091] 18. The method of any of the previous examples, wherein the determination of the respective initial environmental impact classification of each candidate component includes categorizing each candidate component into a respective component category included in the plurality of component categories, the categorization of each candidate component based on a chemical structure of each candidate component.

[0092] 19. The method of any of the previous examples, wherein the determination of the respective initial environmental impact classification of each candidate component includes categorizing each candidate component into a respective component category included in the plurality of component categories, categorizing each candidate component based on one or more raw material sources of the candidate component.

[0093] 20. The method of any of examples 18 to 19, wherein the categorization of each candidate component into the respective component category is additionally based on one or more production processes of each candidate component.

[0094] 21. The method of any of the previous examples, wherein: the respective environmental risk adjustment is a penalty and generating the enhanced initial environmental impact rating of each candidate component based on the respective environmental risk adjustment includes generating a respective enhanced environmental impact rating that indicates that each candidate component is less environmentally preferable than indicated by the respective initial environmental impact rating of each candidate component.

[0095] 22. The method of any of the previous examples, being Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 76 / 101 / 79, which states that: the respective environmental risk adjustment is a bonus and generating the enhanced initial environmental impact rating of each candidate component based on the respective environmental risk adjustment includes generating a respective enhanced environmental impact rating that indicates that each candidate component is more environmentally preferable than indicated by the respective initial environmental impact rating of each candidate component.

[0096] 23. The method of any of examples 21 to 22, where: The respective environmental risk adjustment is an additive or subtractive adjustment, and modifying the respective initial environmental impact rating of each candidate component based on the respective environmental risk adjustment includes adding or subtracting the respective environmental risk adjustment to or from the respective initial environmental impact rating of each candidate component.

[0097] 24. The method of any of examples 21 to 22, where: The respective environmental risk adjustment is a factor or a multiplier, and modifying the respective initial environmental impact rating of each candidate component based on the respective environmental risk adjustment includes multiplying the respective initial environmental impact rating of each candidate component by the respective environmental risk adjustment.

[0098] 25. The method of any of the preceding examples, which further comprises scaling the respective initial environmental impact rating of each candidate component based on the plurality of candidate components; and wherein the modification of the respective environmental impact rating of each candidate component includes modifying the respective initial scaled environmental impact rating of each candidate component;

[0099] 26. The method of the previous example, with the scaling of the respective initial environmental impact classification of each component. Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 77 / 101 / 79, the candidate includes scaling the respective initial environmental impact classification of each candidate component through a logarithmic transformation.

[00100] 27. The method of any of the preceding examples, which further comprises determining at least one of an environmental impact rating of the selected ingredient or an environmental impact rating of a formulation in which the selected ingredient is included based on the enhanced environmental impact rating of the particular component.

[00101] 28. The method of any of the preceding examples, which further comprises determining an environmental impact rating of a personal care product formulation based on the enhanced environmental impact rating of the particular component.

[00102] 29. The method of any of the preceding examples, which further comprises: integrating the respective environmental risk adjustment corresponding to the respective component category with a tool configured to assess at least one of: environmental impacts of processing at least one component for use in personal care products or environmental impacts of using at least one component in personal care products, thereby generating an updated tool;and use the updated tool to provide an indication of a score or measure of at least one of: an environmental impact of processing the specific component that is included in the respective component category for use in the personal care product, or an environmental impact of using the specific component in the personal care product, where the score or measure is based at least partially on the respective environmental risk adjustment of the respective component category.

[00103] 30. A system configured to execute the method of Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 78 / 101 / 79 any of examples 1 to 29.

[00104] 31. A method for producing a personal care product with environmentally preferable ingredients, wherein the method comprises: to obtain an indication of a plurality of candidate components for an ingredient in a personal care product; for each candidate component included in the plurality of candidate components: To determine a respective component category from among a plurality of component categories used in personal care product ingredients, in which each candidate component is included, wherein the plurality of component categories is delineated based on the chemical structures of the components, raw material sources of the components and production processes of the components, and wherein each component category of the plurality of component categories includes a respective plurality of components used in personal care product ingredients;to determine a respective environmental impact classification for the respective component category, wherein the respective environmental impact classification for the respective component category is indicative of an environmental impact represented by the waste generated by the use of at least part of the respective plurality of components of the respective component category in the ingredients of personal care products; and to designate the respective environmental impact classification for the respective component category as a respective environmental impact classification for each candidate component; to select, based on a comparison of the environmental impact ratings of the plurality of candidate components, an ingredient that includes a particular candidate component from the plurality of candidate components; and Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 79 / 101 / 79 provide an indication of the selected ingredient for at least one of a computer application or user interface.

[00105] 32. The method of the previous example, which further comprises the use of the selected ingredient in which the particular component is included in the production of a personal care product formulation.

[00106] 33. The method of any of examples 31 to 32, which further comprises using the selected ingredient in which the particular component is included in the manufacture of the personal care product.

[00107] 34. The method of any of examples 31 to 33, wherein the respective environmental impact classification of the respective component category is based on an average of environmental impact classifications of a totality of the respective plurality of components included in the respective component category.

[00108] 35. The method from the previous example, with the average of the environmental impact ratings of the entirety of the respective plurality of components included in the respective component category being a weighted average.

[00109] 36. The method of any of examples 31 to 35, wherein the determination of the respective environmental impact classification of the respective component category includes determining a respective quantity of environmental risk represented by the waste that is generated by at least one of: acquisition of raw materials corresponding to at least some of the respective plurality of components of the respective component category; processing, in at least some of the respective plurality of components of the respective component category, of the raw materials acquired from at least some of the respective plurality of components of the respective component category; or disposal and / or mitigation of the waste that Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 80 / 101 / 79 is generated by at least one of the acquisition of raw materials corresponding to at least some of the respective plurality of components of the respective component category or the processing of acquired raw materials corresponding to at least some of the respective plurality of components of the respective component category.

[00110] 37.The method from the previous example, wherein the disposal and / or mitigation of the waste generated corresponding to at least some of the respective plurality of components of the respective component category, includes the disposal and / or mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions generated from the acquisition of raw materials corresponding to at least some of the respective plurality of components of the respective component category and from the processing of the raw materials into at least some of the respective plurality of components of the respective component category.

[00111] 38. The method of any of examples 31 to 37, wherein the production processes of the components used in the ingredients of personal care products include the procurement of raw materials corresponding to the components used in the ingredients of personal care products, the processing of the procured raw materials into the components used in the ingredients of personal care products, and the disposal of waste and / or the mitigation of waste caused by the procurement of the raw materials and the processing of the procured raw materials into the components used in the ingredients of personal care products.

[00112] 39. The method of the previous example, wherein the acquisition of raw materials includes one or more of the following: mining, harvesting, refining, agricultural production, mineral processing, chemical synthesis, chemical modification, purification, biological derivation, fermentation, enzymatic catalysis, other type of acquisition that uses a biological organism or convergent synthesis.

[00113] 40. The method of any of examples 31 to 39, where: Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 81 / 101 / 79 the respective environmental impact classification of each candidate component is a respective initial environmental impact classification of each candidate component; and the method further comprises modifying the respective initial environmental impact classification of each candidate component based on a respective environmental risk adjustment corresponding to the respective component category in which each candidate component is included, thus generating a respective improved environmental impact classification of each candidate component, wherein the respective environmental risk adjustment is indicative of a respective amount of environmental risk represented by the waste generated by the use, in the ingredients of personal care products, of at least some of the respective plurality of components of the respective component category in which each candidate component is included.

[00114] 41. The method of the previous example, wherein the respective amount of environmental risk represented by the waste generated by the use of at least some of the respective plurality of components of the respective component category in which each candidate component is included is based on two or more of the following: reagents, auxiliaries, catalysts, reaction mechanisms, reaction auxiliaries, solvents, reaction by-products, removed impurities, unreacted starting materials, greenhouse gas emissions, solvent recovery, solvent loss, purification, equipment cleaning processes, manufacturing of starting materials, recycling, upcycling, gasification, composting, use of at least a portion of the waste as microbial feedstock, processing through aqueous waste treatment plants, landfill, by-product recovery or waste risk quality.

[00115] 42. The method of the previous example, wherein the respective amount of environmental risk represented by the waste generated by the use of at least some of the respective plurality of components of Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 82 / 101 / 79, the respective component category in which each candidate component is included is based on all of the following: reagents, auxiliaries, catalysts, reaction mechanisms, reaction auxiliaries, solvents, reaction by-products, removed impurities, unreacted starting materials, greenhouse gas emissions, solvent recovery, solvent loss, purification, equipment cleaning processes, starting material manufacturing, recycling, upcycling, gasification, composting, use of at least a portion of the waste as microbial feedstock, processing through aqueous waste treatment plants, landfill, by-product recovery, and waste hazard quality.

[00116] 43. The method of any of Examples 40 to 42, which further comprises: integrating the respective environmental risk adjustment corresponding to the respective component category with a tool configured to assess at least one of: environmental impacts of processing at least one component for use in personal care products or environmental impacts of using at least one component in personal care products, thereby generating an updated tool; and using the updated tool to thereby provide an indication of a score or measure of at least one of: an environmental impact of processing the particular candidate component for use in the personal care product, or an environmental impact of using the particular candidate component in the personal care product, the score or measure being based at least partially on the respective environmental risk adjustment of the respective component category.

[00117] 44. The method of any of examples 40 to 43, which further comprises scaling the initial environmental impact ratings of the plurality of candidate components; and whereby the modification of the respective initial environmental impact rating of each component Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 83 / 101 / 79, candidate includes modifying the respective initial environmental impact classification on the scale of each candidate component.

[00118] 45. The method of any of examples 31 to 44, wherein the plurality of component categories includes: commodities or basic chemicals, semi-complex chemicals, fine chemicals and / or polymers that are derived from petroleum and / or natural raw materials, biological materials and / or biological ferments that are directly used, refined and / or chemically modified, and minerals that are directly used, refined and / or chemically modified.

[00119] 46. The method of any of Examples 31 to 45, which further comprises determining at least one of an environmental impact classification of the selected ingredient or an environmental impact classification of a formulation in which the selected ingredient is included based on the environmental impact classification of the particular component.

[00120] 47. The method of any of examples 31 to 46, which further comprises determining an environmental impact rating of a personal care product formulation based on the environmental impact rating of the particular component.

[00121] 48. The method of any of examples 31 to 47, which further comprises classifying the chemical structures of the components used in the ingredients of personal care products, thereby determining the plurality of component categories.

[00122] 49. The method of the previous example, which additionally comprises classifying the raw material sources of the components used in the ingredients of personal care products together with classifying the chemical structures of the components in order to determine the plurality of component categories.

[00123] 50. The method of the previous example, which comprises Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 84 / 101 / 79 additionally classify the production processes of the components used in ingredients for personal care products together with the classification of the raw material sources of the components and the classification of the chemical structures of the components in order to determine the plurality of component categories.

[00124] 51. A system configured to execute the method from any of examples 31 to 50.

[00125] 52. A system configured to execute the method from any of examples 1 to 29 and the method from any of examples 31 to 51.

[00126] 53. Any of the previous examples in combination with any other of the previous examples.

[00127] Furthermore, although the preceding text presents a detailed description of numerous different embodiments, it should be understood that the scope of the patent is defined by the terms of the claims presented at the end of this patent. The detailed description should be interpreted only as illustrative and does not describe all possible embodiments, since describing all possible embodiments would be impractical, if not impossible. Numerous alternative embodiments could be implemented, using current technology or technology developed after the filing date of this patent, which would still be covered by the scope of the claims and all equivalents thereof. Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, p. 85 / 101

Claims

1 / 9 CLAIMS 1. A method for producing a personal care product with environmentally preferable ingredients, the method being characterized in that it comprises: obtaining a plurality of candidate components for an ingredient of a personal care product; for each candidate component included in the plurality of candidate components: determining a respective initial environmental impact rating of each candidate component, the respective environmental impact rating of each candidate component being indicative of an environmental impact of the use of each candidate component in ingredients of personal care products;to determine a respective environmental risk adjustment indicative of a respective amount of environmental risk represented by the waste generated by the use of one or more components, of a respective component category in which each candidate component is included, in the ingredients of personal care products, wherein the respective component category is included in a plurality of component categories used in the ingredients of personal care products, wherein the plurality of component categories is delineated based on the chemical structures of the components, raw material sources of the components and production processes of the components, and wherein each component category of the plurality of component categories includes a respective plurality of components used in the ingredients of personal care products;and modify the respective initial environmental impact classification of each candidate component based on the respective environmental risk adjustment corresponding to the respective component category, thus generating, Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 86 / 101 2 / 9, a respective improved environmental impact classification for each candidate component; select, based on a comparison of the improved environmental impact classifications of the plurality of candidate components, an ingredient that includes a particular component of the plurality of candidate components; and provide an indication of the selected ingredient to at least one computer application or user interface in order to cause the selected ingredient to be used in the manufacture of the personal care product.

2. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that it further comprises the use of the selected ingredient in which the particular component is included in at least one of: the production of a personal care product formulation or the manufacture of the personal care product.

3. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the respective environmental risk adjustment corresponding to the respective component category is indicative of the respective amount of environmental risk represented by the residue generated by the use of one or more components of the respective component category in the ingredients of personal care products in relation to the amounts of environmental risks represented by the residue generated by the use of components corresponding to other component categories in the ingredients of personal care products.

4. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the respective amount of environmental risk represented by the residue generated by the use, in the ingredients of personal care products, of one or more components of the respective component category in which each candidate component is included is based on Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 1.87 / 101 3 / 9 minus two of the following: reagents, auxiliaries, catalysts, reaction mechanisms, reaction auxiliaries, solvents, reaction by-products, removed impurities, unreacted starting materials, greenhouse gas emissions, solvent recovery, solvent loss, purification, equipment cleaning processes, manufacturing of starting materials, recycling, upcycling, gasification, composting, use of at least a portion of the waste as microbial feedstock, processing through aqueous waste treatment plants, landfill, recovery of by-products or waste quality risk due to the use, in the ingredients of personal care products, of one or more components of the respective component category in which each candidate component is included.

5. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the production processes of the components used in the ingredients of personal care products include the acquisition of raw materials corresponding to the components used in the ingredients of personal care products, the processing of the acquired raw materials into the components used in the ingredients of personal care products, and the disposal of waste and / or the mitigation of waste caused by the acquisition of the raw materials and / or the processing of the acquired raw materials into the components used in the ingredients of personal care products.

6. Method according to claim 5, characterized in that at least one of: the acquisition of raw materials includes at least one of: mining, harvesting, refining, agricultural production, mineral processing, chemical synthesis, chemical modification, biological derivatization, fermentation, enzymatic catalysis, other type of acquisition that uses a biological organism or convergent synthesis; or the disposal of waste and / or waste mitigation includes at least one of recycling, upcycling, gasification, composting, Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 88 / 101 4 / 9 use as microbial feedstock, processing through aqueous waste treatment plants, landfill or other waste mitigation technique.

7. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the determination of the respective initial environmental impact classification of each candidate component includes: determining a respective environmental impact classification of the respective component category in which each candidate component is included, wherein the respective environmental impact classification of the respective component category is indicative of an environmental impact caused by the residue that is generated by the use of any component among multiple components included in the respective component category in the ingredients of personal care products; and designating the respective environmental impact classification of the respective component category as the respective initial environmental impact classification of each candidate component.

8. Method according to claim 7, characterized in that the respective environmental impact rating of the respective component category is based on an average of the environmental impact ratings of a totality of the respective plurality of components included in the respective component category.

9. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the determination of the respective initial environmental impact classification of each candidate component includes determining a respective amount of environmental risk represented by the waste generated by at least one of: acquisition of raw materials corresponding to each candidate component; processing, in each candidate component, of the acquired raw materials corresponding to each candidate component; or disposal and / or mitigation of the waste generated corresponding to at least one of the acquisition of the raw materials corresponding to each candidate component or the processing of the acquired raw materials corresponding to each candidate component.

10. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that it further comprises: integrating the respective environmental risk adjustment corresponding to the respective component category with a tool configured to assess at least one of: environmental impacts of processing at least one component for use in personal care products or environmental impacts of using at least one component in personal care products, thereby generating an updated tool;and use the updated tool to provide an indication of a score or measure of at least one of: an environmental impact of processing the specific component that is included in the respective component category for use in the personal care product, or an environmental impact of using the specific component in the personal care product, where the score or measure is based at least partially on the respective environmental risk adjustment of the respective component category.

11. System, characterized by being configured to execute the method as defined in claim 1.

12. A method for producing a personal care product with environmentally preferable ingredients, the method being characterized by the fact that it comprises: obtaining an indication of a plurality of candidate components for an ingredient of a personal care product;For each candidate component included in the plurality of Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, page 90 / 101 6 / 9 candidate components: determine a respective component category, from among a plurality of component categories used in personal care product ingredients, in which each candidate component is included, wherein the plurality of component categories is delineated based on the chemical structures of the components, raw material sources of the components and production processes of the components, and wherein each component category of the plurality of component categories includes a respective plurality of components used in personal care product ingredients;To determine a respective environmental impact rating for the respective component category, wherein the respective environmental impact rating for the respective component category is indicative of an environmental impact represented by the residue that is generated by the use of at least part of the respective plurality of components of the respective component category in the ingredients of personal care products; and to designate the respective environmental impact rating for the respective component category as a respective environmental impact rating for each candidate component; to select, based on a comparison of the environmental impact ratings of the plurality of candidate components, an ingredient that includes a particular candidate component from the plurality of candidate components; and to provide an indication of the selected ingredient for at least one computer application or user interface.

13. Method according to claim 12, characterized in that it further comprises at least one of: using the selected ingredient in which the specific candidate component is included in the production of a personal care product formulation; or using the selected ingredient in which the specific candidate component is included in the manufacture of the personal care product.

14. Method according to claim 12, characterized in that the determination of the respective environmental impact classification of the respective component category includes determining a respective amount of environmental risk represented by the waste that is generated by at least one of: acquisition of raw materials corresponding to at least some of the respective plurality of components of the respective component category; processing, in at least some of the respective plurality of components of the respective component category, of the raw materials acquired from at least some of the respective plurality of components of the respective component category;or disposal and / or mitigation of waste generated by at least one of the acquisitions of raw materials corresponding to at least some of the respective plurality of components of the respective component category or the processing of acquired raw materials corresponding to at least some of the respective plurality of components of the respective component category.

15. Method according to claim 14, characterized in that the acquisition of raw materials includes one or more of the following: mining, harvesting, refining, agricultural production, mineral processing, chemical synthesis, chemical modification, purification, biological derivatization, fermentation, enzymatic catalysis, other type of acquisition using a biological organism or convergent synthesis. Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, pp. 92 / 101 8 / 9 16. Method according to claim 12, characterized in that: the respective environmental impact rating of each candidate component is a respective initial environmental impact rating of each candidate component;and the method further comprises modifying the respective initial environmental impact classification of each candidate component based on a respective environmental risk adjustment corresponding to the respective component category in which each candidate component is included, thus generating a respective improved environmental impact classification for each candidate component, wherein the respective environmental risk adjustment is indicative of a respective amount of environmental risk represented by the residue that is generated by the use, in the ingredients of personal care products, of at least some of the respective plurality of components of the respective component category in which each candidate component is included.

17. Method according to claim 16, characterized in that the respective amount of environmental risk represented by the waste generated by the use of at least some of the respective plurality of components of the respective component category in which each candidate component is included is based on two or more of the following: reagents, auxiliaries, catalysts, reaction mechanisms, reaction auxiliaries, solvents, reaction by-products, removed impurities, unreacted starting materials, greenhouse gas emissions, solvent recovery, solvent loss, purification, equipment cleaning processes, manufacturing of starting materials, recycling, upcycling, gasification, composting, use of at least a portion of the waste as microbial feedstock, processing through aqueous waste treatment plants, landfill, by-product recovery or Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, p.93 / 101 9 / 9 quality of waste risk.

18. Method according to claim 16, characterized in that it further comprises: integrating the respective environmental risk adjustment corresponding to the respective component category with a tool configured to assess at least one of: environmental impacts of processing at least one component for use in personal care products or environmental impacts of using at least one component in personal care products, thereby generating an updated tool;and use the updated tool to provide an indication of a score or measure of at least one of: an environmental impact of processing the specific candidate component for use in the personal care product, or an environmental impact of using the specific candidate component in the personal care product, where the score or measure is based at least partially on the respective environmental risk adjustment of the respective component category.

19. Method according to claim 12, characterized in that the plurality of component categories include: commodities or basic chemicals, semi-complex chemicals, fine chemicals and / or polymers that are derived from petroleum and / or natural raw materials, biological materials and / or biological ferments that are directly used, refined and / or chemically modified, and minerals that are directly used, refined and / or chemically modified.

20. System, characterized by being configured to execute the method as defined in claim 12. Petition 870260041367, dated 04 / 05 / 2026, pp. 94 / 101

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