Illinois-based earthy, LLC announced that it has earned the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Certified Biobased Product label. The product, earthy spa Natural Hand Soap, is now able to display a unique USDA label that highlights its 99 percentage of biobased content.

Third-party verification for a product's biobased content is administered through the USDA BioPreferred Program, an initiative created by the 2002 Farm Bill (and most recently expanded by the 2014 Farm Bill). One of the goals of the BioPreferred Program is to increase the development, purchase and use of biobased products.

The USDA Certified Biobased Product label displays a product's biobased content, which is the portion of a product that comes from a renewable source, such as plant, animal, marine or forestry feedstocks. Utilizing renewable, biobased materials displaces the need for non-renewable petroleum-based chemicals. Biobased products, through petroleum displacement, have played an increasingly important role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions that exacerbate global climate change.

"We applaud earthy for earning the USDA Certified Biobased Product label," said Kate Lewis, deputy program manager, USDA BioPreferred Program. "Products from earthy are contributing to an ever-expanding marketplace that adds value to renewable agriculture commodities, creates jobs in rural communities and decreases our reliance on petroleum."

According to a report that USDA released in 2015, biobased products contributed $369 billion to the U.S. economy in 2013 and support, directly and indirectly, 4 million jobs. The same report found that biobased products also displace approximately 300 million gallons of petroleum per year in the U.S., which is the equivalent of taking 200,000 cars off the road.

For more information, visit www.earthy.me.