Use of a Mixture Design to Promote the Fungal Degradation of Cosmetic Formulations

Every year tons of waste are produced in the world causing strong economic and environmental consequences, thus strengthening the need for a rapid transition from the current linear economic model to a circular one [1]. All the major companies, regardless of the production sector, are in search of cutting edge technologies able to decrease waste production, thus approaching the values of the circular economy. Cosmetic waste can be a source of environmental pollution causing the release into the environment of toxic chemicals. In this context, the degradation of toxic substances to non-harmful components is demanding. Manufacturing of biodegradable materials through bio-design approaches is an interesting matter and fungi are known to play a pivotal role in the decomposition of biological waste. The aim of this project relies on the degradation of cosmetic waste (hair dyes) to produce eco-sustainable materials using fungi as degrading agents. Three different fungal species (A, B and C) were tested and a mixture design (Fig.1) was applied to find the optimal conditions for the simultaneous growth of the investigated fungal species [2]. The amount of dye, fungi and cardboard were selected as main factors, whereas germination time and shape were used as response variables. Fifteen experiments, including three independent replicates at the centre of the experimental domain for purely experimental variance estimation were performed. Multivariate data analysis followed by the multi-criteria method of desirability functions [3] was used to search for the optimal conditions for the growth of the fungal species obtaining a global desirability D=0,79. Finally, a Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged and Safe (QuEChERS)-UV-Vis method was developed to extract the pigments from the fungal matrix.