"Eco-friendly" is a word anyone can print on a box. We wanted proof instead.
That's the short version of why we spent the better part of a year pursuing USDA Certified Biobased status for our loofah sponges — a process that involved third-party lab testing, a federal application, and a lot more paperwork than we expected for something as simple as a sponge.
Here's what it means, why it matters, and why we think every "sustainable" product should have to show its work.
The problem with "eco-friendly"
Walk down any cleaning aisle and you'll see it everywhere: "eco-friendly," "green," "natural," "sustainable." These words cost nothing to print and mean whatever the company printing them wants them to mean. There's no test behind them, no verification, no standard.
We didn't want to be another box making promises no one could check.
What USDA Certified Biobased actually requires
The USDA BioPreferred Program is a federal certification — not a marketing badge a company can self-assign. To qualify, a product has to undergo independent, third-party lab testing using a method called ASTM D6866, which measures the percentage of a product's carbon that comes from renewable biological sources (plants) versus petroleum.
We sent our loofah sponges and our packaging to Beta Analytic, one of the labs authorized to perform this testing. The results:
- 98% biobased content in our loofah sponges
- 100% biobased content in our recyclable cardboard packaging
Those numbers aren't something we get to choose or round up. They're what the lab found, verified against a federal standard, and certified by the USDA.
Why this is different from a self-declared claim
Anyone can say a product is "plant-based." Far fewer companies can point to an independent lab report and a federal certification number backing that claim up. That's the whole point of the program — it exists specifically so that claims like "biobased" and "sustainable" mean something consistent and verifiable, rather than being whatever a marketing team decides to write.
If you're the kind of person who reads ingredient labels or double-checks sustainability claims before buying (we are too), this is the difference between trusting a company's word and trusting a federal lab's data.
What's next
Our loofah sponges are certified. We're now working through the same process for our packaging's Innovative Criteria requirements, and we're pursuing additional third-party certifications — including Climate Pledge Friendly recognition on Amazon, which the USDA BioPreferred certification qualifies us for directly.
We'll keep this page updated as those come through. In the meantime, if you want to see the certification details yourself, they're publicly searchable in the USDA BioPreferred database — because if we're going to make a claim, we'd rather you be able to check it than just take our word for it.
Scrub & Throw is a family-run, independently owned business based in Florida. Questions about our certifications or documentation? Email support@scrubandthrow.com — we're happy to share what we've got.
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