If you're expecting, are a new parent, or just have a baby in your life that you care about, this episode is a must-listen.   When their first child was on the way three years ago, Serenity and Joe took matters into their own hands—after being disappointed by the virtual absence of baby food that met their dietary standards—and created Serenity Kids. I actually found out about this company because I do a lot of investing in the health and the nutrition sector. Not only did I wind up investing in them, but I tried some of the baby food myself and it’s so dangerously tasty that I suspect that you as a parent might start stealing it from your baby if you get some. (Despite being dressed up as a “big baby” in the photo, I'm actually not kidding. I really have been eating this stuff every day alongside my ribeye steak and salmon—it's addictively good and digests incredibly clean.)   In this guest post by Serenity, you'll discover what set her and her husband on the path to starting their own baby food company, the problems with most baby foods out there, and what exactly makes Serenity Kids baby food so special. Enjoy!  

Heartburn, Anxiety, & Insomnia—The Story Of My Life!

  My well-meaning mother was a vegetarian while pregnant with me.   Born early, I got my first of many ear infections and subsequent rounds of antibiotics when I was two weeks old.   I had colic and cried for most of that first year; and growing up, I had constant stomach problems. I was (and still am) a total sugar addict. Now I know that I’m intolerant of most of the foods I grew up eating: dairy, wheat, and even certain vegetables, and though I love sugar, it hates me.   Eight years ago, over-the-counter antacids stopped working for me. Acid reflux was becoming unmanageable, and I was plagued with pain daily. When a doctor told me the only solution to my pain was to take a proton pump inhibitor pill every day for the rest of my life, I began desperately looking for other answers.   Note from Ben: it is interesting to note that the latest research on plant-based diets for women who are expecting reveals that “a design of pregestational nutrition intervention is required in order to avoid maternal undernutrition and consequent impaired fetal growth.” You can read the full write-up here. In short, Amino Acids, Vitamin B12, Vitamin D, Calcium, DHA, and Iron, at minimum, are crucial to avoid risk of fetal impairment for mothers who are not consuming compounds such as meat and fish.  

An Ancestral Approach To Diet

  Eventually, my dad sent me copies of The Primal Blueprint and The Paleo Solution, and I never looked back. Since finding the Paleo diet, my stomach feels great, my anxiety is gone, and I sleep much better. I became such a believer that I left my corporate job to start a Paleo coaching business and became a member of the Paleo f(x) conference team.    I was really moved by Paleo’s “ancestral approach,” which is based upon a theory that humans have lived on this planet in our current genetic form for more than 500,000 years, and we’ve only had agriculture for about 15,000 years. So, for 95% of human history, we lived in nomadic tribes, hunting and gathering our food, subsisting on plant matter we foraged and animals we hunted. Grains, legumes, dairy, industrial seed oils, sugars, and processed foods are all products of agriculture and therefore not an inherent part of our genetically determined diet.   Essentially, the Paleo Diet seeks to mimic our ancestral diet by cutting out foods that require agriculture and actively include the most nutrient-dense foods such as pasture-raised meats, eggs, organic vegetables, offal, cultured foods, and healthy fats.   The new research on inflammation and the gut biome is consistent with this approach and has determined that non-ancestral foods create inflammation and leaky gut, and most ancestral foods do not. So, when facing my health problems, it made sense to me to start with diet changes, and it worked!   In fact, it's often the diet Ben recommends when somebody comes to him seeking advice on everything from skin issues like acne or eczema, to gut pain, brain fog, food allergies or intolerances, constipation, or any other signs of immune system or inflammation issues.   My husband, Joe, and I met through the Paleo community. Joe is autistic, and living a Paleo lifestyle has drastically reduced his anxiety, improved his attention and focus, and stopped his excessive burping. Research has demonstrated links between diet and symptoms of autism. He teaches Paleo principles to other autistic people and parents of autistic kids.   Note from Ben: I'm not Paleo “per se,” since my family consumes foods such as raw goat's milk, slow-fermented, non-GMO sourdough wheat bread, soaked and sprouted legumes, etc. but as a dietary approach for healing the type of issues Serenity had, it is a very good solution.  

Shocked, I Couldn’t Believe It

  Joe and I were planning to have a child, so at Paleo f(x) 2016, we got excited about looking for baby food that met our dietary standards. But, we couldn’t even find a single booth devoted to kids. We asked Michelle Norris, Paleo f(x) CEO, where the baby booths were and she said, “I ask myself that every year.” I searched in grocery stores, baby stores, online – nothing!   So I got to work.   When we started to consider making our own baby food brand, we compiled ingredients lists and nutrition facts of the top 256 leading organic baby food pouches. What we found was that even the organic brands were ridiculously high in sugar and consistently lacked a good amount of fat.   Infants need at least 30 grams of fat a day, according to the USDA Guide to Infant Nutrition & Feeding, and yet high-fat baby foods were virtually non-existent (less than 1% had more than 2 grams of fat).   The USDA also warns against sugar, recommending parents limit the amount of sugar and sweet foods they give to babies, but leading organic baby food pouches had an average of 9 grams of sugar. That’s a lot for a tiny little body. Feeding a 15-pound baby 9 grams of sugar equates to an adult having more than two cans of Coke!   And last, meat is recommended as a quality first food for babies, but less than 4% of organic baby foods contained meat, not to mention the fact that none of it was grass-fed or pasture-raised. Early on we were introduced to the co-founders of EPIC Bar, Taylor Collins and Katie Forest, who were 6-months pregnant at the time. They were thrilled to help us follow in EPIC's footsteps to transform the baby food industry and introduce a Paleo baby food product to the mainstream.   We already knew we wanted to use grass-fed and pastured meats for the nutrition they provide, but they taught us how raising animals on pasture in the right way can actually regenerate the land – a big step up from sustainability. So using regeneratively farmed meat in our baby foods is not only better for infant health, but for the health of the animals, the farmers and the planet.   For Joe, it totally clicked. As an avid animal lover, environmentalist and one whose mother grew up on a family farm, Joe realized that our company could be even more aligned with his values by both improving infant nutrition and supporting small family regenerative farmers.   Compassion in World Farming published a comprehensive report compiling the various studies done on conventionally raised meat versus pasture-raised meat. Here’s one snippet of what they found:   “Choosing pasture-reared beef over intensely-raised beef would make a significant contribution to meeting nutritional requirements for long-chain omega-3 fatty acids. Pasture-reared beef contains more vitamin E… and also contains more beta-carotene… pig meat from free-range systems has a higher proportion of omega-3 fatty acids, and a more favorable (lower) ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids… contains more vitamin E… and also contains more iron.”   In short, they discovered pasture-raised pigs and poultry were similarly nutritionally superior.  

Focusing On Quality Over Profit Margin

  Baby foods made from cheap fruit purees bring in an enormous profit margin. Babies get hooked on them and they provide little nutritional value making the baby need to eat more and more.   So it should come as no surprise that recent studies are now linking childhood obesity to infant diets.   It’s crazy that babies are being diagnosed obese as young as 18 months old! Infants begin forming palate preferences in their first year of life. During the crucial flavor window, if they are only introduced sweet flavors, they develop a preference for sweet things which discourages healthy eating later. Plus, sugar, even from fruit, can lead to inflammation, fussiness from sugar crashes, and sugar addiction (like I suffered from). Whereas introducing a variety of flavors early will set them up for a diverse healthy diet as they get older.   The calories from breastmilk (nature’s perfect baby food) are about half fat, half carbs, with a little bit of protein. So, we set off to make a baby food that matched these macros with as much nutrient-density as possible. We got to work in our kitchen cooking up Paleo baby food recipes and passing them out to our friends with babies (and eventually our baby).   We landed on eight different flavor combinations of pasture-raised meats, organic vegetables, and healthy fats which also provide heme iron, potassium, and calcium, which are often lacking in conventional baby foods and are a key building block in a baby’s development. We even created a wild-caught salmon variety, which provides a strong source of DHA and EPA, omega-3 fatty acids necessary for brain, nerve and eye development, which are essential for babies switching from breastmilk or formula to solids.   Some of our most popular flavors include our Grass Fed Beef with Organic Sweet Potato and Kale, Free Range Chicken with Organic Peas and Carrots, and Wild Caught Salmon with Organic Butternut Squash and Beet. Sounds yummy right? They are! See for yourself in this video we captured of one of our biggest fans…

      More people are starting to reckon with the fact that climate change is having an irrevocable effect on the world. In October, UN issued its terrifying reminder that we need to drastically change our lifestyles in order to reduce global warming. In February, the Australian government recognized a small rodent as extinct, and it was dubbed the first to disappear from our planet as a result of climate change (although more species could fall under that category that haven’t been closely studied). Currently, the Bahamas are being devastated by Hurricane Dorian, a symptom of the fact that, as one climate scientist says, “Human-caused climate change is visibly intensifying hurricanes and increasing the damage they are doing.”   And that’s gotten us to talk about Earth’s future and how we as humans impact it in a way that’s not just viewing reality as a far-off doomsday scenario. But now that our society is so dependent on cars and those ubiquitous plastic bags, it often seems like a near-impossible task to extricate ourselves from the planet-warming mess we’ve created.   But local companies aren’t ready to give up yet. A few have come up with ways to reduce our use of that fossil-fuel-sucking foe, plastic. (Many plastic products are made using a byproduct of fossil fuel fracking.)   Let’s start with Dropps, a Philly company that thinks about laundry from a sustainable perspective. Having already created laundry detergent pods (think: the little cleaning packets you put in your dishwasher but for your clothes instead of your dishes) to conserve water and implemented compostable packaging, Dropps just launched a partnership with ocean conservation nonprofit Oceana to raise awareness of the plastic problem. It’s a mix of education (example: running an online infographic of the life cycle of a family dinner table and how plastic’s involved) and actionable tips for how to cut down on plastic consumption. For instance, Dropps and Oceana will provide suggestions for one thing to eliminate at a time, like supermarket bags or straws, and shopping lists that provide plastic-free alternatives to common household products, such as toothpaste and Ziploc bags. “We as a society have SAD — sustainability anxiety disorder,” says Dropps CEO Jonathan Propper. “We get this stuff, and we don’t know what to do with it — ‘Does it go in this pile or that pile?’ We’re trying to give consumers the most convenient way of being sustainable, so they don’t have to think about it.”   Or take Ola Beauty, a new shop from former Best of Philly makeup artist Aleksandra Ambrozy that exclusively carries makeup and skincare lines with low to no plastic. While shelf life and natural ingredients are certainly key factors in selecting her products, Ambrozy’s time spent in Hawaii, where she witnessed plastic pollution in the ocean and on the beach, compelled her to double down when it came to plastic usage specifically. “[The plastic] is just part of the environment there now,” Ambrozy says regarding Hawaii. “It really freaked me out, so I tried to go as plastic-free as possible. I’m using the store to show other people that they can do that, too.”   One of her favorite lines right now is Elate Cosmetics, a Canada-based line of foundations, blush, eye makeup, and lipsticks that uses non-toxic, organic ingredients and refillable, compostable compacts.  Another is Honua Hawaiian Skincare, which hails from, you guessed it, Hawaii; Ola Beauty carries their reef-safe mineral sunscreens.   Ambrozy also hopes to add recycling bins from Trenton-based TerraCycle, which collects items that your standard city recycling unit doesn’t allow (many of them plastic) and partners with other companies to get them turned into new products.

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

• More than 381 million tons of plastic are produced worldwide each year, and plastic is now found in our soil, lakes, rivers and oceans, as well as in the bodies of humans and wildlife
• A key plastic pollutant you may never have heard of is nurdles — tiny plastic pellets that form the raw material for plastic products of all kinds
• Ranging in size from microscopic grains to millimeter-sized pellets, nurdles are the second-largest direct source of microplastic pollution to the ocean by weight
• British production companies lose somewhere between 5 billion and 53 billion pellets per year through accidental spills during production, transport, processing and waste management procedures
• In addition to their inability to degrade, nurdles (like other microplastics) act like sponges for toxic chemicals. Birds, fish, whales and filter-feeding marine life eat these toxic nurdles, which look much like floating fish eggs

  The looming threat of plastic pollution is undoubtedly one of mankind’s greatest challenges. More than 381 million tons of plastic are produced worldwide each year,¹ and plastic is now found in our soil, lakes, rivers and oceans, as well as in the bodies of humans and wildlife.   According to Environmental Health News,² “Two-thirds of all plastic ever produced remains in the environment,” which helps explain why tap water, bottled water,³ sea salt⁴ and a variety of seafood⁵ all come with a “side order” of microplastic.   Remarkably, while most media attention has been focused on plastic pollution in the ocean, estimates suggest four to 23 times greater amounts are released on land than the ocean by way of biosolid fertilizers.⁶   A primary problem is the fact that plastic can take up to 1,000 years to break down. Researchers estimate a single plastic coffee pod may take up to 500 years, the duration of the Roman Empire.⁷ As reported by Environmental Health News, there are health risks associated with each phase in the life cycle of plastic:⁸  

• Fossil fuel extraction results in air and water pollution and a number of other direct effects to communities, such as increased traffic and pipeline construction (more than 99% of plastic comes from fossil fuels)
• Refining and producing plastic resins and additives releases cancer-causing compounds and other toxics, some of which "can be difficult to detect" as they "are colorless and tend to have mild-to-no odor”
• Plastic products and packaging, when in the consumer's hands, lead to inhaled or ingested toxic and/or plastic particles
• Plastic incineration releases toxic compounds
• The degradation of plastic leads to microplastics getting into people, wildlife, soil and water

 

Nurdles — A key plastic pollutant

  As explained in the featured TED-Ed video by Kim Preshoff, a key plastic pollutant you may never have heard of is nurdles — tiny plastic pellets that form the raw material for plastic products of all kinds. Ranging in size from microscopic grains to millimeter-sized pellets, nurdles are now found in lakes, rivers and oceans across the globe.   As noted in the video, they’re unable to biodegrade, allowing them to persist and accumulate in the environment for generations to come. Being raw material, just how do these pellets get into the environment? It turns out there are countless ways for the pellets to escape, and spills have been found to occur throughout the entire manufacturing chain.   While research is limited, one study⁹ estimates British production companies lose somewhere between 5 billion and 53 billion pellets per year through accidental spills during production, transport, processing and waste management procedures.   Disturbingly, loopholes in wastewater permits have allowed companies to wash these plastic pellets into waterways for years on end.¹⁰ In fact, California is the only U.S. state that regulates plastic pellet pollution specifically.^11,12 Alas, understaffing means enforcement is lax.  

Nurdles are everywhere

  As reported by the Environmental Investigation Agency,¹³ a shipping accident involving two vessels in 2017 resulted in the spillage of 49 metric tons of nurdles (some 3.4 billion individual pellets) into the sea. An estimated 1,243 miles of South African coastline was subsequently coated with plastic pellets.   Similarly, Hong Kong’s Lamma island was inundated with nurdles in 2012 after a typhoon knocked containers off the shipping vessel.¹⁴ According to Danish estimates, nurdles are “the second-largest direct source of microplastic pollution to the ocean by weight.”¹⁵   Like so much other ocean trash, the nurdles end up congregating in ocean gyres. There are five gyres around the globe, but the primary collection point for nurdles is the Pacific Ocean gyre, colloquially known as the great Pacific garbage patch.¹⁶   In addition to their inability to degrade, nurdles (like other microplastics) act like sponges for toxic chemicals.¹⁷ Bird, fish, whales and filter feeding marine life all end up eating these toxic nurdles, which look much like floating fish eggs.   Aside from their toxic influence, nurdles and other plastic bits can cause starvation as they build up in the stomach, tricking the animal into thinking it’s full. Needless to say, microplastics and their toxins build up the higher in the food chain you go, as smaller sea life is consumed by larger predators.  

Can we end the cycle of plastic pollution?

  How can this toxic cycle be broken? As suggested in the featured video, the best solution would be to eliminate plastics altogether, using a combination of recycling and replacing plastics with paper and glass. Unfortunately, the U.S. is going in the opposite direction, with plans to open more than 300 new plastic factories.¹⁸   As reported by Quartz,¹⁹ oil and gas companies such as Exxon and Shell are shifting toward plastic production as a way to boost growth as natural gas prices decline. A report²⁰ by the Center for International Environmental Law projects production of ethylene and propylene (used in the production of plastic) will grow by 33% to 36% by 2025.   The report²¹ also notes that China is “investing heavily in plastics infrastructure,” as is Europe and the Middle East, and that “this massive expansion in capacity could lock in plastic production for decades, undermining efforts to reduce consumption and reverse the plastics crisis.”   Royal Dutch Shell is currently building a new plastics factory just north of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. As explained in the Quartz article:²²   “The Shell plant will rely on a process known as ‘ethane cracking,’ where ethane gas, once seen as an unusable byproduct of gas extraction, can be molecularly ‘cracked’ — its carbon and hydrogen atoms rearranged — to form ethylene, the main building block of plastic. When completed, the new facility will pump out 1.8 million tons (1.6 metric tons) of plastic each year.”  

You’re eating and inhaling plastic every day

  The enormity of the microplastic pollution problem is demonstrated by studies showing the average person is ingesting and inhaling plastic particles on a daily basis. Most recently, a study commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund and carried out by University of Newcastle, Australia, found people, on average, consume the equivalent weight of one credit card — about 5 grams — of plastic each week.²³   Primary ingestion routes are from water and seafood, according to the report. Other research by the nonprofit journalism organization Orb Media found major bottled water brands like Evian, Aquafina, Dasani and San Pellegrino contained significant amounts of microplastics.²⁴   Similarly, research published in Environmental Science & Technology suggests people drinking bottled water exclusively may ingest more microplastics than those drinking tap water.²⁵   Other recent research²⁶ suggests the average person inhales 11.3 microscopic pieces of plastic each hour. According to co-author Jes Vollertsen,²⁷ “This is the first evidence of human exposure to microplastic through breathing indoor air.”   Plastic particles identified in indoor air include synthetic fibers such as polyester, polyethylene and nylon, and nonsynthetic particles composed of protein and cellulose.²⁸   As in the environment, plastic does not break down in the human body. Many of the chemicals used in the manufacture of plastics are also known to disrupt embryonic development, dysregulate hormones and gene expression, and cause organ damage. They also have been linked to obesity, heart disease and cancer.   So, while researchers claim the health effects of all this plastic in our diet is still unknown, it seems logical to suspect it can wreak havoc on public health, especially younger people who are exposed right from birth.   As Pete Myers, Ph.D., founder and chief scientist of the nonprofit Environmental Health Sciences and an adjunct professor of chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University told Consumer Reports, “There cannot be no effect.”²⁹ Consumer Report adds:³⁰   “There is evidence,³¹ at least in animals, that microplastics can cross the hardy membrane protecting the brain from many foreign bodies that get into the bloodstream.   And there’s some evidence that mothers may be able to pass microplastics through the placenta to a developing fetus, according to research that has not yet been published but was presented at a spring conference³² at the Rutgers Center for Urban Environmental Sustainability.   According to Myers, some of these microplastic particles could potentially also leach bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates.   [Jodi] Flaws [Ph.D., associate director of the Interdisciplinary Environmental Toxicology Program at the University of Illinois] says the particles can accumulate PCBs … linked to harmful health effects,³³ including various cancers, a weakened immune system, reproductive problems, and more. And once these chemicals are inside of us, even low doses have an effect.”  

US plastic pollution just got a whole lot worse

  Plastic is considered cheaper and more convenient than conventional alternatives such as glass, but “cheap” is relative. The true cost of single-use plastic on human and environmental health is astronomical, and the burden of that cost is unevenly distributed.   Some of the world’s largest plastic producers often ship their waste to poorer nations for recycling, such as Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam, which have few to no environmental regulations on how that waste is processed and disposed of.   Since 1991, nearly half the world’s plastic waste has been sent to China,³⁴ but as of 2018, China stopped accepting plastic waste imports, saying it no longer wanted to be the “world’s garbage dump.”³⁵ As a result, an estimated 111 million tons of plastic will have nowhere to go by 2030.³⁶   An August 2019 NPR article³⁷ quotes John Caturano, senior sustainability manager for packaging programs at Nestlé Waters North America, "The water bottle has in some ways become the mink coat or the pack of cigarettes. It's socially not very acceptable to the young folks, and that scares me."   His comment was delivered during a March 2019 panel meeting between executives from companies making or packaging their products in plastic. The meeting was aimed at figuring out what to do with mounting plastic pollution now that China is no longer accepting U.S. trash.  

Can circular economy of plastics save us?

  The situation in America is all the more dire due to our failure to implement stronger recycling standards. According to a 2017 analysis,³⁸ a mere 9% of all plastic refuse gets recycled in the U.S. As reported by National Geographic:³⁹   “Mass production of plastics, which began just six decades ago, has accelerated so rapidly that it has created 8.3 billion metric tons — most of it in disposable products that end up as trash …   Of the 8.3 billion metric tons that has been produced, 6.3 billion metric tons has become plastic waste. Of that, only 9 percent has been recycled. The vast majority — 79 percent — is accumulating in landfills or sloughing off in the natural environment as litter. Meaning: At some point, much of it ends up in the oceans, the final sink.”   While some believe the only way out of this plastic pollution conundrum is to eliminate plastic altogether, others are pushing for better recycling. As reported by NPR:⁴⁰   "'Circular economy' is now a catchphrase that some say is a way out of the plastic mess. The idea is essentially this: Society needs plastic, but people need to recycle a lot more of it and use it again and again and again. That will eliminate a lot of waste and cut down on the avalanche of new plastic made every year.”   However, while companies are making progress when it comes to reusing plastic, a drawback is cost. According to TerraCycle, a New Jersey recycling company featured in NPR’s story,⁴¹ using recycled plastic can cost three times that of virgin plastic. The U.S. also does not have enough recyclers to keep up with the onslaught — a side effect of decades of outsourcing to China.  

Biodegradable products aren’t all they’re cracked up to be

  In recent years, many companies have pledged to address plastic waste by transitioning over to more biodegradable products. Unfortunately, we’re now discovering some of these “green” alternatives are anything but. A perfect example of this are the “biodegradable” and “compostable” bowls and takeout containers now offered by a number of restaurants.   Recent testing⁴² reveals that while these fiber-based bowls are indeed biodegradable, they’re coated with grease-repelling per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances^43,44 (PFAS) — highly toxic chemicals associated with immune dysfunction⁴⁵ and cancer^46,47 that never degrade!   Not only can these chemicals migrate from the container into your food, but believing them to be biodegradable and safe, you might also place them in your compost, thus creating a vicious circle where the chemicals contaminate and ruin the compost, which is then mixed into the soil, where they contaminate the food grown in it. Ultimately, the chemicals end up on your plate again, now inside the food.   According to New Food Economy,⁴⁸ San Francisco is banning bowls manufactured with PFAS as of January 1, 2020, and Washington’s Healthy Food Packaging Act⁴⁹ — enacted in 2018 — bans all PFAS in paper food packaging, effective 2022.⁵⁰ A drawback of the Act is that the ban will not take effect until or unless a safer alternative is commercially available.  

How to reduce your plastic exposure

  It can be extraordinarily difficult to avoid plastic, and it’s probably not possible to avoid all exposure. However, you can certainly minimize your exposure by taking a few common-sense precautions. One basic strategy is to opt for products sold in glass containers rather than plastic whenever possible. Another is to look for plastic-free alternatives to common items such as toys and toothbrushes. Other suggestions offered by Consumer Reports include:⁵¹  

• Drinking tap water rather than bottled water — As mentioned, bottled water tends to have far higher amounts of plastic debris than tap water. I would add the recommendation to filter your tap water, not only to get rid of potential plastic debris, but also to avoid the many chemical and heavy metal pollutants found in most water supplies.
• Avoid reheating food in plastic containers — Instead, heat your food in a pot on the stove, an oven-safe pan or a glass container if using a microwave.
• Store foods in glass rather than plastic — Consumer Reports specifically warns against using plastic food containers marked with the recycle codes 3, 6 and 7, as these contain phthalates, styrene and bisphenols.
• Ditch processed foods and takeout for fresh food — Most food wrappers and containers, including cans, contain plastic.
• Vacuum regularly — Microplastic and plastic chemicals are found in most household dust, which can end up being either digested or inhaled. Maintaining your home as dust-free as possible is therefore recommended, especially if you have young children that spend a lot of time on the floor. Ideally, use a vacuum cleaner equipped with a HEPA filter.

 

If you knew what grime, mold, and germs lurked in your makeup brushes, you might never use them again!  You should clean them, but I admit to ruining more than one pricey makeup brush in the process. And, DIY cleansing doesn’t guarantee that they will be free from mold and other pollutants. Enter Beautiac makeup brushes, another alternative to have super clean brushes every single month.

  Beautiac makeup brushes is a new makeup brush subscription company based in Nashville, TN touting interchangeable, sustainable makeup brushes.   There are three subscription options with free shipping. All products are cruelty-free and brush heads can be recycled or mailed back to Beautiac’s headquarters where they will recycle the products for you. It might seem a bit indulgent at first, but it makes sense in many ways.   For starters, since the brush heads and the handles are separate, they fit nicely into a bag so you don’t have to leave them out in the air unless you want to.   If you’ve ever ruined an expensive brush, a subscription delivery of new brush heads on a month to month basis ($20 ) or pre-pay 3 months ($18) or 6 months for $16.50/month, the cost seems to look more reasonable.   The starter kit includes 3 brush handles, 3 brush heads, a blur sponge, a makeup brush stand, an antimicrobial bag, and a recycling return bag.   Sadly, Beautiac makeup brushes are not available in smaller sizes for eyes, liner,  or lips. These tend to get just as dirty (or more so) than facial brushes do. I hope that Beautiac will include these smaller brushes in their offerings one of these days.

Brush Handle:

  Beautiac makeup brushes have universal brush handles that fit all their brush heads. You can just pop them on and off. Bringing the brush heads and using one handle is good for travel.   When you want to upgrade the handle you can send it back via the plastic Beautiac recycling bag. Used handles are cleaned, paired with clean brush heads, and donated to Women’s programs and shelters.  Thumbs up to this!  

Brush heads: 

  The bristles are nicely formed and pick up powder really well. But the cruelty-free bristles are not necessarily recyclable.  Beautiac’s brush head and ferrule are both made of the same material and can be recycled.  

Blur Sponge, Bag, Smart Stand:

  The Beautiac Blur Sponge is made of a non-latex material and can also be recycled through the Zero Waste Box™ participation with Terra Cycle. But sponges are really inexpensive. IT might be more cost effective just to ditch your facial sponge each month and buy another one for a couple of dollars.   The Beautiac Smart Stand is slim and clever. If you don’t have too many makeup brushes or makeup tools, this will be such a nice way to organize them. Alas, the Blur Sponge doesn’t have a steady base to stand on so it balances precariously on the Smart Stand.   The Smart Stand can be placed in the dishwasher or hand cleaned. It can also be can be placed in the recycling bag and sent back to Beautiac, where it will be recycled or upcycled into something else.   The antimicrobial bag is made from a canvas textile comprised of cotton, coated with an antimicrobial solution on the inside to ensure the bag doesn’t grow bacteria. The bag can sustain multiple washings.   My assumption is that if you keep your brushes in it, you should also wash it every month when the new brushes arrive. The Beautiac design team makes products that are designed to be recycled or up-cycled. They’re made from cruelty-free materials.   Every starter kit also receives a recycling bag to mail the used products back to Beautiac headquarters.  As IK mentioned, using TerraCycle’s Zero Waste Box Program, 100% of the accepted products collected for recycling will be recycled into something useful.   Your returned products might end up in a park bench, a picnic table, or some other community beautification product.  

Beautic Makeup Brushes, The Bottom Line: 

  I love the idea of recycling products. I love the idea of getting new, germ-free clean beauty every month.   However, not all the components of the Beautiac makeup brushes can be recycled and a good brush cleaner is a much cheaper alternative.   When it comes to packaging, it’s impressive, but if you are trying to be more environmentally friends, why send a huge cardboard box for these relatively small items with each in a separate tube? Why not save some trees, and just pack the products in one bag? there are a lot of tubes and tops and boxes you must recycle yourself   In addition, the amount of environmental impact it takes to package, transport, recycle and re-fashion pieces of Beautiac makeup brushes is also a  “cost” to the environment.   I don’t see this so much as helping the environment as much as a little indulgence for people who have disposable income and want really clean brushes.  That said, the Beautiac makeup brushes are really cool and well done.   For more information visit the Beautiac Web Site: https://beautiac.com/

Walmart and TerraCycle are joining forces to launch the nation’s largest car seat recycling event in nearly 4,000 Walmart stores across the country. The first-ever Walmart Car Seat Recycling Event will take place Sept. 16-30, in celebration of National Baby Safety Month. Customers can trade in used car seats at the Service desk in any participating Walmart store and receive a $30 Walmart gift card* that can be used in store or online to buy items for their baby. All car seats collected in this program will be recycled through TerraCycle, and each component will be diverted from the landfill.   “Through the Walmart Car Seat Recycling Program, traditionally non-recyclable car seats are now nationally recyclable,” said Tom Szaky, CEO and Founder, TerraCycle. “We are proud to work with this forward-thinking company to offer families from coast-to-coast a way to give their car seat, the item that has kept their little ones safe, a second-life. Through this event, we expect to divert the plastic equivalent of approximately 35 million water bottles from landfills.”

Weleda (Arlesheim, Switzerland) has partnered with TerraCycle (Trenton, N.J.) to offer a collection and recycling program for its line of Skin Food products.   Using a prepaid shipping label TerraCycle provides, customers can mail their empty packaging—including flexible plastic tubes and caps, aluminum tubes and caps, and rigid plastic tubs and lids—for TerraCycle to recycle. Program participants can earn $1 per pound of packaging they send in for recycling, which they can donate to a nonprofit, school, or charitable organization of their choice. Visit terracycle.com/en-US/brigades/weleda

Walmart, Bentonville, Arkansas, and TerraCycle, Trenton, New Jersey, have partnered to launch a large car seat recycling event at about 4,000 Walmart stores across the U.S.   According to a news release from Walmart, the first-ever Walmart Car Seat Recycling Event will take place Sept. 16-30 in celebration of National Baby Safety Month. Customers will be able to trade in used car seats at the participating stores’ service desks and receive a $30 Walmart gift card that can be used in store or online to buy items for their baby.   All car seats collected in the program will be recycled through TerraCycle in order to divert them from landfills, Walmart reports in a news release.   “Safety—especially car seat safety—is a top priority for Walmart’s Baby department, so we wanted to use our size and scale to create an event that offered unprecedented access to trade in an outgrown car seat for a gift card,” says Melody Richards, vice president of Walmart Baby. “Sustainability is of equal importance to Walmart, so we’re happy to work with TerraCycle who will recycle every component of the car seats.”   “Through the Walmart Car Seat Recycling program, traditionally nonrecyclable car seats are now nationally recyclable,” adds Tom Szaky, CEO and founder of TerraCycle. “We are proud to work with this forward-thinking company to offer families from coast-to-coast a way to give their car seat, the item that has kept their little ones safe, a second-life. Through this event, we expect to divert the plastic equivalent of approximately 35 million water bottles from landfills.”   More information about this event and others at Walmart can be found online.

The toymaker isn't playing when it comes to sustainability, Hasbro's SVP of Corporate Social Responsibility says, though to work, employees must take it just as seriously. It’s pretty apparent the world has a plastic problem, from the 2.6 million tons of plastic debris flowing from rivers into the world’s oceans to the various forms of the transparent refuse that end up in landfills. According to the EPA, Americans created about 14.7 million tons of plastic containers and packaging waste in 2015 alone, which accounted for 5.5% of all municipal solid waste (MSW). The percentage recycled increased from 9% in 2000 to 14.6% in 2015, but more than two-thirds still ended up in landfills.   For the last six years, leading toymaker Hasbro has attempted to mitigate the environmental impact its plastic packaging has had. In 2013 the Providence-based company known for manufacturing Mr. Potato Head and Transformers switched from polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which release potentially dangerous dioxins, to the more easily recyclable polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Three years later the move was made to post-consumer recycled (rPET) and just last year, Hasbro started using bioPET, which is made with plant-based materials. Now, after all that iteration, and likely supply chain shifting, equipment changeouts, and countless hours of engineering and training, they’re scrapping the whole plan for an even bolder move.   “We’re actually going to be phasing out plastics altogether in our packaging, beginning next year,” says Kathrin Belliveau, Hasbro senior vice president government, regulatory affairs and CSR.   “Even though we made our packaging really sustainable and completely recyclable, in reading the news and testing with consumers, recycling doesn’t always happen,” Belliveau says. Based on their culture and principle “to avoid using unnecessary material” and “reduce environmental impact” in packaging, removing plastic all together seemed the most logical action.   By 2022, the company plans to remove everything from the shrink-wrap encasing Monopoly and Operation game boxes to the polybags inside holding the game pieces, along with the blister packages imprisoning Avengers and Transformers action figures and thin plastic window sheets on Super Soaker boxes. This will only affect new products, not the ones currently on shelves. Two out of every three Hasbro products are new, so the effects should be visible quite quickly.   Though what that looks like is still being figured out.   “We have a very talented team of packaging engineers and designers who are exploring a variety of options for each type of product we create,” Belliveau says. “We look forward to sharing more details, including mockups, in the coming months and years as we continue on our journey.”   The move is part of a broad strategy Hasbro been executing for the last 10 years, Belliveau says. Those marching orders can be summed up as “Leave the world a better place for children and their families” and “doing the right thing,” she says.   That’s the legacy Belliveau says the founding Hassenfeld Brothers left behind, and it’s as embedded in the culture as child-like imagination.   “Sustainability is one of our core values,” Belliveau says. “Doing good to do well is really who we are and everyone we hire has that mindset. Getting people to buy into our values is very easy for us.”   The toy company is completely serious about continuously reducing the environmental impact of its production and supply chain. Almost 99% of their entire electrical use across their facilities were balanced by buying 24,861 MWh of renewable energy certificates (RECs), while 90% of the packaging came from recycled material or sustainably managed forests. They also have a program set up with a recycling company called TerraCycle to convert old toys into building materials for playgrounds and park benches. Hasbro has also teamed with Amazon to create Frustration-Free Packaging, which cut the packaging material for Baby Alive dolls purchased online by 50%. It’s easy to imagine every employee riding their bikes to work, composting leftover dinners in their backyard, and perhaps even summoning Captain Planet on occasion. But even if all that were true, making sweeping changes of a global manufacturer’s supply chain, one that tackles thousands of new products a year.   “I don’t want to understate the complexity of this kind of initiative,” Belliveau interjects. “There are tremendous challenges anytime you make a bold leadership change in terms of how you design and make packaging.”   She rattles off the potential for toys getting scratched or crushed in transit, and even when safely delivered intact to the retailer, theft prevention is a big concern. Then they must plan changes with vendors and suppliers, all different for the Playskool or action figure divisions. Then add to that all the iterative changes already taken place going from PVC to the new bioPET.   How do you talk even the most devout eco-friendly corporation I to such a move in such a short amount of time?   Belliveau quickly has a response: “Build buy-in at all levels of the company, but first and foremost, the teams that actually have to execute, make sure they understand why are we doing this, how it aligns with our greater business model and core business, and ultimately present this to your CEO or leadership and get them to embrace it.”   But perhaps most importantly, after those steps, the entire company must be in lock-step, all becoming cheerleaders for the cause who recognize the complexities and believe the move is a win-win. If Belliveau and the C-Suite are the only ones touting a green project’s merits, that’s a recipe for failure.   “Sustainability initiatives, to be successful, they can’t be driven out of a corporate office, they really do have to be embraced by the entire organization,” she says.  

From nutritious ingredients to sustainability to questions about grain-free, consumers are looking for the best products for their pups. Dogs have to depend on their humans to make the best choices for their health because, well, animals can’t decide for themselves if they want to try the latest high-protein diet or go gluten free. As pet owners take on this responsibility, they are seeking the latest information on what to feed their dogs. They’re seeking high-quality ingredients and new formats, and, after a recent statement from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), they have a couple of questions about grain-free diets.   One of the biggest trends now is transparency, especially as it relates to supply chain management. One of the biggest demands is for clean-reading labels, so pet parents know exactly what’s going in their dog’s food.   “Whether that is a single-source, limited-ingredient diet or a multi protein-source diet, customers are thinking ‘less is more’ when it comes to kibble,” says Dan Schmitz, national sales manager for Tuffy’s Petfood in Perham, Minn.   The company recently introduced Turkey & Rice, Large Breed Trout & Rice, and Large Breed Beef & Rice in its NutriSource lineup, and a Small Bite food in Chicken & Rice. The Pure Vita Lineup includes three Small Bite Foods: a grain inclusive Small Bite Duck & Oatmeal, and two Grain Free Small Bites, Turkey & Sweet Potato,and Salmon & Pea.   Of course, “It’s not enough just to list ingredients anymore,” explains Chris Moore, chief operating officer for Earth Animal. “Consumers want to know, ‘Did that ingredient come from Asia, or did it come from the U.S., and do you know the name of the farm?’”   Moore adds that the transparency trend is closely related to environmental and social responsibility. Consumers are looking for foods that come from animals that were humanely-raised, so Southport, Conn.-based Earth Animal partners with the Global Animal Partnership, an animal welfare food labeling program. The company also works with TerraCycle to set up bins in stores, allowing customers to bring empty bags of any pet foods to recycle, because, according to Moore, most dog food bags are not recycled.   The newest product from Earth Animal is Wisdom, which uses what the company calls high-velocity winds to air dry the food. Wisdom consists of 70 percent protein from humanely-raised animals, 20 percent Dr. Bob’s Vitality Cubes of fruit, vegetables, seeds and sprouts, and 10 percent organic fruit and vegetables.   To keep up with the environmental sustainability trend, Nulo partnered with TerraCycle to create a recycling program for its flexible packaging for its Challenger food line.   “Sourcing ingredients that meet sustainability standards and packaging that can be diverted away from traditional waste streams were key objectives for our super premium line,” says Heather Acuff, product development manager. “Our ingredient suppliers have been invaluable in helping us navigate the organic and sustainable supply stream, and we’re excited to see the positive impact this product line will make.”   Champion Petfoods, based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, has its own take on transparency. The company set up a Transparency Council of third-party independent veterinarians and pet lovers.   “Council members have been given full access to our kitchens and supplier network to observe and report on our ingredient sourcing and food preparation methods,” says Don King, vice president of marketing. The reports are viewable online on Champion Petfoods’ website.   King adds that Champion Petfoods has invested heavily in building a regional network of vetted and approved farms, ranches and fisheries that supply the company’s kitchens with the majority of the fresh and raw protein ingredients it requires.   “We continue to maintain some of the pet industry’s highest standards on sustainability practices and food safety,” he says.   Grain-Free vs. the FDA   Grain-free has been dominating the news lately. In June, the FDA issued a statement that it had begun investigating reports of canine dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in dogs eating certain pet foods—many labeled as grain-free—in July 2018. The statement noted, “Based on the data collected and analyzed thus far, the agency believes that the potential association between diet and DCM in dogs is a complex scientific issue that may involve multiple factors.” The agency indicated it was still investigating several factors, including whether a lack of taurine in these foods might play a role in DCM.   Dr. Bob Goldstein, veterinarian and co-founder of Earth Animal, says the FDA’s statement was premature.   “I, as a veterinarian, do not agree with what they are saying,” he says. “I don’t think there is any validity to it.”   Earth Animal’s retail store has been fielding questions from worried pet owners. “Our own store is being inundated with calls saying should I switch from grain-free food to non-grain-free,” says Dr. Goldstein. “What we’re saying is, we don’t think there is proof, but if you are concerned, just buy taurine.”   One manufacturer that is including taurine in its ingredient messaging is Nulo Pet Food in Austin, Texas. Nulo is launching two foods that feature a high-meat nutritional platform with ancient grains. Nulo Challenger is positioned as a super-premium line, featuring up to 90 percent animal-based protein from ethically-sourced ingredients, such as pasture-raised lamb from New Zealand, farm-raised guinea fowl and wild-caught Acadian redfish. The organic ancient grains include oats, millet, barley and rye.   “Our labels include a guaranteed level of taurine to address recent pet owner concerns about cardiovascular health in dogs,” says Acuff.   The other new line is Nulo Frontrunner, a value-premium diet for dogs that contains 77 percent animal-based protein and premium ancient grains including oats, barley and quinoa. Nulo Frontrunner has high meat levels, low-glycemic grains and the patented GanedenBC probiotic to support digestive and immune health.   Educating Retailers   As always, the desire for a healthy diet is always trending.   “Today’s pet parents are more concerned than ever in feeding diets reflecting the trends in preventative health for their fur babies,” says Brad Gruber, president and chief operating officer of Health Extension Pet Care in Hauppauge, N.Y.   That concern is driving the growth in foods that answer specific nutritional needs for dogs based on age, breed, size and weight, activity level and indoor or outdoor types as well as allergies and health conditions. Also on-trend are human-grade ingredients, as well as raw and freeze-dried foods designed to reflect what dogs and cats would eat in the wild.   Retailers might look to manufacturers to help them keep up with the various trends and make information easily accessible.   “Manufacturers have to make sure their websites are not only up to date with the most current information, but are interactive and easy enough to navigate so when retailers are searching for information, they can readily find it,” Gruber says. “Some retailers don’t even know what information they are looking for until they begin to navigate through a manufacturer’s site.”   Health Extension helps by offering individualized or group consultation and conducts in-store trainings regularly. The company offers half hour lunch-and-learns and webinars for store staff.   “Role playing is a fun and interactive way to learn,” Gruber says. “Retailers have to be more open to sales trainings offered by distributor and vendor reps about their products.”   For its trade show booth, Champion Petfoods developed an interactive video wall where retailers and distributors can learn about the company’s Biologically Appropriate recipes, how it sources ingredients and product quality and safety. There is also a virtual reality experience that allows retailers to tour the DogStar Kitchen in Kentucky.   “We are seeing more manufacturers use video to tell the story of their ingredient sourcing and food preparation techniques from farm to bowl,” King says. “It helps, we feel, to hear from the actual farmer about their practices and how fresh ingredients are supplied.”   Champion added new flavors to the ACANA Singles line, as well as new line of treats that are recipe matched to the newest Singles dog food flavors, Beef & Pumpkin and Turkey & Greens. Champion also made improvements to the ultra-premium ORIJEN Freeze-Dried products and redesigned the packaging. ORIJEN’s Freeze-Dried line is made with 90 percent quality animal proteins and is formulated with 100 percent raw ingredients and non-GMO fruits and vegetables.   “We believe the trend towards higher-quality pet foods that use human-grade ingredients in preparation will continue to dominate [the growing] segments of the pet food business,” King says. “It’s encouraging to see more pet food suppliers upgrading the quality of ingredients used. The general health and well being of pets will benefit from these improvements.”  PB

First announced in January, Loop recently went live. Loop is the brainchild of Tom Szaky, founder of Trenton, NJ-based recycling pioneer TerraCycle. The latter, which Szaky formed 15 years ago, works with consumer product companies, retailers and others to recycle all manner of stuff, from dirty diapers to cigarette butts. And it teams up with companies to integrate ocean plastic and other hard to recycle waste streams into their products and packaging. Loop—its parent company is TerraCycle—is different. It’s all about creating a circular system, in which containers and other receptacles are reused, rather than disposed of and then recycled. “Recycling is incredibly important,” says Szaky. “But it’s only a short-term solution. It doesn’t solve the root cause.” With that in mind, Loop partners  with retailers, as well as manufacturers, which create new packaging for products—orange juice, laundry detergent, you name it—in durable, reusable metal or glass packaging. Consumers return the containers to a store or arrange for them to be picked up at home after a certain number of uses, depending on the product. (Brands can’t participate unless their packaging can be reused at least 10 times). The 41 brands listed on the Loop web site include everything from Tropicana and Tide to Colgate, Crest and Clorox. Szaky came up with the idea in 2017 and announced the company at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January. It went live in May. Such stores as Kroger and Walgreens on the East Coast and Carrefour in Paris are stocking their shelves with Loop items. Brands create the packaging and, according to Szaky, it takes about a year for them to go from design to manufacturing. Still, according to Szaky, it’s a project brands are perfectly suited to take on. “They’re set up to do this kind of thing,” he says. “When they launch new products, they go through a similar process.” Consumers, who put down a small fully refundable deposit on each purchase, return the items in a special Loop bag when it’s time. (Prices are comparable to non-Loop versions). Loop then sorts and cleans them and returns them to the right brands to refill and start the process again. Szaky says the company is now shipping “under 100 products”, but expects that number to be 300-400 by the end of the year. He’s adding four to five products a week. For now, he expects that stores will mostly approach Loop products as they might organic produce, positioning products in separate sections on shelves. More Loop programs are planned for stores in the UK, Toronto, Tokyo and California.