San Margo Debuts as the world’s first beauty brand born from a carbon capture farm. Rooted in Mangatawhiri, a pristine farming region in Auckland, New Zealand, San Margo is redefining modern luxury by fusing wellness, sustainability, and science into a conscious new standard of beauty.
San Margo’s curated collection includes natural-based, high-performance essentials across ingestibles, skincare and haircare. The philosophy is simple: healthy skin and scalp start from within, supported by clean, effective care.
The hero product, the Bakuchiol Super Elixir Facial Oil, has already received numerous five-star reviews. Fragrance-free and rich in innovative plant-based actives, it delivers hydration and a radiant glow without irritation. With 1% Bakuchiol, CoQ10, Totarol™, Ceramide NP, Squalane, and Vitamin E, it helps improve skin tone, soften fine lines, and support collagen for plumper, smoother skin.
The brand is the vision of husband-and-wife team Catalina and Charles Wilkinson. After purchasing their 50-acre farmlette during lockdown, they spent the first few years restoring a relocated 1927 bungalow. Over the past twelve months, Charles has hand-planted more than one thousand poplar trees, while Catalina developed San Margo. By 2050, the trees are projected to offset 12,660 tonnes of CO2 - the equivalent of over 314 million bottles of San Margo’s In-Residencia Hydrating Shampoo & Conditioner.
“We won’t need to rely on third-party carbon credits. Our offset is real and visible - the trees are growing right outside our dining room window,” says founder Catalina Wilkinson.
Packaging is another cornerstone of San Margo’s vision. Designed to be immaculately undone, skincare comes in post-consumer recycled glass, while the haircare and wellness bottles use sugarcane bio-resin, a renewable, carbon-conscious material that reduces environmental impact. Recycling labels are certified by the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO), and 71% of components can be recycled curbside at home.
San Margo is also a proud member of 1% for the Planet, committed to donating one percent of sales to environmental causes.
“It’s important to us that recycling feels easy,” says Wilkinson. “Most people already have recycling at home. By designing our packaging to fit seamlessly into that system and showing exactly how to dispose of it, we can all help reduce landfill together.”
San Margo’s promise rests on three pillars: wellness, care and impact. The result is a collection of advanced, dermatologically certified formulas that deliver visible results without compromise. We call it -
Modern Wellness: for your inside, for your outside, for the outside.
What is a carbon capture farmlette?
A carbon capture farmlette is a small-scale farm designed to naturally absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through tree planting and land care. At San Margo’s 50-acre Mangatawhiri farmlette, more than 1,000 poplar trees have been planted to grow alongside our beauty business. Over time, these trees are projected to capture thousands of tonnes of CO₂, creating a living offset that connects beauty to climate action in a visible, local way.
Is San Margo’s carbon offset certified?
San Margo is in the process of registering the Mangatawhiri farmlette with the New Zealand Emissions Trading Register (NZETR) as part of the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), overseen by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI). This will provide a formal pathway to track and verify our offsets.
For now, the offset is already real and tangible — the trees are planted and growing on our land — and in future years we will develop systems to further monitor and certify our carbon capture.
How is San Margo sustainable?
Sustainability is a broad term that is often unclear or misused. For San Margo, sustainability means conscious, low-impact packaging and ingredient sourcing. We embed sustainability practices into our foundation through a working carbon capture farmlette, allowing us to directly contribute to climate solutions while creating science-backed, microbiome-friendly products.
We also prioritise responsible packaging, using renewable materials like sugarcane bio-resin and post-consumer recycled glass, along with certified recycling labels (ARL and APCO) to make recycling clearer and more accessible for customers.
Why does carbon capture matter in beauty?
The beauty industry produces emissions through packaging, manufacturing, and shipping. Carbon capture addresses this challenge by actively removing CO₂ from the atmosphere. By tying our brand to a farmlette that grows trees year after year, San Margo is building a model where beauty doesn’t just reduce impact — it contributes to environmental restoration.What makes San Margo’s packaging sustainable?
San Margo’s packaging is designed to be both premium and practical. We use post-consumer recycled glass for skincare and sugarcane bio-resin for haircare and ingestibles - a renewable material with a lower carbon footprint than conventional plastics. Recycling Labels are certified by the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO), and 71% of our components can be recycled curbside at home. Each product shows page shows transparent how to recycle information, like below:
What is APCO?
APCO stands for the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation. It is a non-profit organisation collaboration with Planet Ark and PREP Design that works with businesses to improve packaging sustainability across Australia and New Zealand. APCO certifies labels and packaging programs, helping companies design recyclable, low-impact packaging and meet environmental standards. San Margo’s haircare and skincare labels are APCO-certified, ensuring clear and verifiable recycling guidance for consumers.
What is the Australasian Recycling Label (ARL)?
The Australasian Recycling Label (ARL) provides on-package recycling instructions to help consumers in Australia and New Zealand recycle more effectively. It simplifies recycling by giving clear, evidence-based instructions for each component of a product.
To earn the ARL, manufacturers submit packaging through the Packaging Recyclability Evaluation Portal (PREP), which assesses:
- Technical recyclability of the material
- Availability of local recycling programs
- Processing outcomes across Australia and New Zealand
Each label clearly shows whether a component is recyclable, should be “checked locally,” or is not recyclable:
- Recyclable: ≥80% of the population can recycle it
- Check locally: 60–80% can recycle it
- Not recyclable: <60% can recycle it
ARL was founded in 2018 by APCO, in collaboration with Planet Ark and PREP Design, and has been applied to over 330,000 SKUs in Australia and New Zealand. San Margo proudly uses ARL on its packaging to ensure transparency, authenticated claims, and easy-to-follow recycling instructions.
What is 1% for the Planet, and how does San Margo contribute?
1% for the Planet is a global initiative where businesses commit to donating one percent of sales to environmental causes. As a proud member, San Margo ensures that every purchase contributes directly to vetted non-profits, supporting initiatives such as climate action, conservation, and biodiversity.
We are committed to transparency and will provide updates on the specific causes and organizations supported as the brand grows, creating a clear link between San Margo’s success and positive environmental impact.
What is the philosophy behind San Margo’s products?
San Margo’s approach, which we call Modern Wellness, is based on three interconnected pillars: wellness, care, and impact. We create high-performance formulas that support skin and scalp health, design packaging that’s recyclable and renewable, and invest in systems like carbon capture to ensure our impact is long-term and meaningful.
Click to learn more about Our Standards and Our Impact.
