About the USDA BioPreferred® Program
The USDA Certified Biobased label is a voluntary certification offered by the United States Department of Agriculture's BioPreferred® Program. The certification helps consumers identify biobased products. Biobased products are products made from plants or other renewable materials.
Being an environmentally conscious consumer is tedious work. It can be hard to find eco-friendly products that have been made with renewable materials. Fortunately, the FDA has taken steps to help consumers by creating the USDA BioPreferred® Program. This program helps consumers find brands who use biobased products to make the products they sell. You may be surprised to learn that only one company makes and sells a memory foam mattress with BioPreferred® certified materials: BedInABox®. Our Eco-Lux® mattress is the only a memory foam mattress made from renewable materials. We are proud to be doing our part for the environment. If you’d like to learn more about the USDA Certified Biobased label or the Eco-Lux®, keep reading.
What is the USDA BioPreferred® Program?
The USDA BioPreferred® program was created in 2002 after congress passed the 2002 Farm Bill. It was also reauthorized and expanded by congress through the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018. The USDA BioPreferred® Program is managed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The primary goal of the program is to increase the purchase and use of biobased products; that is, products that are made from renewable materials. When consumers purchase biobased products, petroleum usage drops while the use of renewable materials increases.
The BioPreferred® program is designed to help American farmers, while also reducing the environmental and health impacts of product manufacturing. The program is completely voluntary, so brands and manufacturers must choose to participate in order for the materials used in their products to be certified. Additionally, the certification process relies on the approval of an independent laboratory analysis. All claims are independently verified and monitored by the USDA.
What Are Biobased Products?
Biobased products are products that have been found to be a commercial or industrial product that is derived in whole or largely from biological products. Possible biological products include plants, agricultural, marine, and forestry materials. The United States Secretary of Agriculture makes the determination on which products qualify as biobased products. Generally speaking, products that are biobased are substitutes for petroleum derived products that could be used as bioplastics, inks, detergents, or fertilizers.
For a material to qualify for the USDA Certified Biobased label, it must contain a minimum percentage of a biobased product. For the memory foam used in mattresses, at least 22 percent of the foam must be made from a biobased, renewable material. What separates the Eco-Lux® from anything else on the market is that the entire mattress, not just the foam, is certified with 34% renewable content!
A Voluntary Labeling Initiative
The USDA Certified Biobased Product Label is designed to make it easier for consumers to identify biobased products. It is a voluntary label that can only be displayed on products that contain certified materials. Interested businesses must apply for a certification in order to display the label. This means that the label is a trustworthy verification that consumers can use to determine whether a product is developed with renewable, biobased materials.
The Eco-Lux® Mattress
Our Eco-Lux® mattress is made of 11-inches of plush, comfortable, certified foam. The mattress includes an 8-inch support layer designed to support and correctly align your spine and a 3-inch memory foam layer designed, as the name suggests, to ensure comfortable sleep. The Eco-Lux® mattress also features a soft, breathable, organic cotton cover designed to wick away moisture.
The Eco-Lux® is considered the most certified mattress on the market. The foams inside the mattress are all triple certified- BioPreferred®, CertiPUR-US® and OekoTex approved. The 100% organic cover is OekoTex certified and, as stated above, the overall mattress is the only BioPrefrred® memory foam mattress in existence with 34% renewable content. The Eco-Lux® is the perfect mattress for environmentally conscious sleepers.
Consider an Eco-Lux® Mattress
Trying to buy eco-friendly products can prove difficult. Fortunately, the USDA BioPreferred® Program helps consumers more easily find eco-friendly products, like the Eco-Lux® mattress. The voluntary label and the certification process make it simple for environmentally conscious consumers to identify products made from biobased materials. Consumers can also trust that the certified products they purchase contain a minimum level of renewable, biobased material because the products were tested by an independent laboratory and are monitored by the USDA. If you are looking for a renewably sourced mattress, look no further than the BedInABox® Eco-Lux® mattress – there is no reason you can’t sleep comfortably and be environmentally conscious at the same time.
