Medical cannabis patients have a new option to buy bulk and reduce the amount of packaging their medicine comes in.   On Wednesday, Hexo Corp. (TSX and NYSE: HEXO) launched a 30-gram bulk product of the company’s Tsunami dried flower strain. Because all products need to meet Health Canada’s packaging regulations, buying more weed in a single bag produces less packaging waste than buying several smaller packages for the same overall amount of cannabis.   Offering bulk to medical patients is an “important step on Hexo’s sustainability journey,” the company said in a press release.   Sustainability has been a stumbling block for the regulated market.   Under the Cannabis Act, packaging needs to be opaque, child-resistant and water proof. This has lead many companies to use plastic packaging instead of biodegradable materials. Some recycling programs exist for cannabis packaging, like TerraCycle which recycles any licensed producer’s packaging, as well as vape products made by Canopy Growth Corp. (TSX: WEED).   Other packaging can be recycled in Ontario’s curb-side pickup, according to the Ontario Cannabis Store. But buying bulk remains the leading way to reduce packaging.   “We know our medical clients have been waiting for this opportunity to purchase a higher volume of cannabis without excess packaging,” Hexo CEO and co-founder Sebastien St-Louis said in the release.   The company offers medical patients free shipping and absorbs the cost of the excise tax on all orders, St-Louis added.   So far, the 30-gram bag is only available for medical users but not for regular adult users.   The fruity indica-dominant strain is a Northern Lights variant with a 20–26 per cent THC kick and less than 1 per cent CBD potency, according to BC Cannabis. But more strains will be added to the 30-gram format soon, St-Louis said.   In October 2019, Hexo launched a bulk 28-gram format for recreational users. The bigger bag of weed continues to go for $140 for 28 grams, or $5 per gram, which was around $0.60 cheaper than the price-per-gram of the unregulated market, according to self-submitted data collected by Statistics Canada.   The “quality weed at legit prices,” was designed to disrupt the unregulated market, St-Louis said in an October statement. “Consistent, reliable and controlled products like this can play a major role in achieving the goals we set out nationally by legalizing cannabis just over a year ago: eliminating the illicit market and protecting public health and safety.”

Imagine walking in a Cupertino neighborhood in 1976 and finding two geeky kids holed up in a garage. “We’re building the world’s next great computer,” the lanky one says. You ask how much it would cost to go from garage band to full-fledged business, and they offer you shares in the startup. You’d walk away having invested in the world’s most valuable publicly traded company, and Steve Jobs gets to drive away with his Volkswagen bus.   Only this is 2020, where fledgling entrepreneurs can turn to crowdfunding to build the next great thing — be it the “Amazon of Pharmacy” or a fully autonomous robotic lawnmower. Anything is possible, if not incredibly risky.   In fact, there can only be risk when investing in startups. Many are pre-revenue, untested and banking on ideas that could be ahead of their time, just right on time or completely off the reservation. You could just as easily invest in the next Theranos before the next Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL).   That’s where we come in. InvestorPlace’s foray into private investing features many of our top writers and analysts. Each of whom have taken deep dives into equity crowdfunding offerings. Reading their insights can give you a leg up when investing in startups.   Here you’ll find snippets taken directly from the articles of our writers on various equity crowdfunding investments. Read through, breathe it in and step confidently into shoes that just 10 years were filled by accredited investors: Equity Crowdfunding Site: SeedInvest Days Left to Invest: 17 days   Let me start this piece by saying three very important things:   First, I’d like to introduce you to NowRx, an on-demand e-pharmacy which — much like Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) leveraged technology and same-day shipping to disrupt the multi-trillion dollar retail market — is leveraging technology and a same-day prescription delivery service to disrupt the several hundred billion dollar U.S. legacy pharmacy industry.   In this sense, I like to think of NowRx as the “Amazon of Pharmacy.”   Second, NowRx is not a public company. You can’t buy and sell shares of NowRx like you can buy and sell shares of Amazon. Bummer.   Third, thanks to some major advancements in crowdfunding technology and legislation, you can now invest in next-generation startups like NowRx for the long haul.   Simply go to SeedInvest.com. Create an account (it only takes a few minutes). Search for NowRx, and click the button that says “Invest in NowRx.”   It’s that simple. Equity Crowdfunding Site: StartEngine Amount Raised: $3.19mm of its $12.75mm funding goal   Hunting for the next Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) doesn’t necessarily mean you’re searching for the next big consumer tech explosion. “The next Amazon” largely means finding the next high-growth stock of the future. And the earlier you invest in these companies, the bigger the gains. Few options can beat privately traded firms in this regard, but private investing has historically held a high barrier to entry.   Does your net worth exceed $1 million (not including your primary residence)? Do you make more than $200,000 per year ($300,000 if you file taxes jointly with your spouse)? If you do, congratulations! You’re an accredited investor and can invest in private businesses.   If not, don’t fret. You can still invest in privately traded companies through equity crowdfunding … but, boy, if there were ever an area of the market that felt as if it were pioneered by the likes of Saul Goodman, it’s regulation crowdfunding.   That’s because regulation crowdfunding stipulates that firms raise no more than $1.07 million … per year. This severely hampers the quality of offerings, as few startups worth investing in need such small amounts of cash. Regulation A+ offerings, though, can raise substantially more. So when looking through offerings, I stuck to swiping through companies in the latter category … and I stumbled on an anomaly in TerraCycle.   Now I’m sure many of you have heard of this company in passing before, but what caught my eye was the amount it’s raised ($12 million) and the revenue it already brings in ($20 million in 2018).   By the end of its funding round, TerraCycle hopes to raise $25 million. Just what is this company that I’ve never heard of and how is it that it’s already profitable. And why does it continue to attract so much cash from everyday people?     Read more here. Equity Crowdfunding Site: SeedInvest Amount Raised: $1.09mm raised   As readers of mine know, I’m hugely bullish on the equity crowdfunding space, seeing it as an enormous opportunity for retail investors to diversify their portfolio with potentially explosive early-stage investments in tomorrow’s most important companies.   With that in mind, one of the more interesting private investments that I’ve come across on crowdfunding platform SeedInvest is robotic commercial lawnmower maker, Graze.   In short, Graze is a pre-revenue company that has developed a fully-autonomous, robotic commercial lawnmower. Management believes this breakthrough technology has the power to disrupt the $54 billion U.S. commercial landscaping market, by addressing and eliminating the market’s biggest pain-points: labor costs, fuel costs, safety-related workers compensation and pollution.   Those pain-points are painful enough — and the benefits of Graze’s solutions clear enough — that I do believe this company has a good opportunity to become a meaningfully large player in the U.S. commercial landscaping market.   If so, an investment in Graze today could yield huge returns.   Graze’s current financing round on SeedInvest values the company at $23 million (pre-money). My modeling suggests that a $1 billion valuation is possible within the next decade. That represents several thousand percent return.   Read more here.   Equity Crowdfunding Site: Republic Days Left to Invest: 59 days   Technology has certainly helped to deal with the terrible impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic, as seen with Slack Technologies (NYSE:WORK) and Zoom Video Communications (NASDAQ:ZM). But there are a variety of early-stage startups that are looking to provide solutions as well. Just look at Hearo.Live. The company’s mobile app allows you to chat while doing such things as watching movies, games, Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) streams or shows. What’s more, through the crowdfunding site Republic, you can invest in Hearo.Live.   The founders include CEO Edward Lerner and Dwight Kwok, the company’s vice president of business development. Lerner is the person who wrote Electronic Arts’ (NASDAQ:EA) first 3D game. He has also created companies likes Looking Glass and Multitidue. As for Kwok, he was the general manager in Greater China for Xsolla, where he was responsible for monetizing media and entertainment properties. So far, the company has raised $196,536 from 629 investors and the valuation is $12.5 million.   Read more here. Equity Crowdfunding Site: Republic Days Left to Invest: 75 days   Fleeting, which operates a platform to better manage trucking fleets, is using the crowdfunding site Republic to raise capital. So far, the company has received commitments for $219,559 from more than 1,000 investors. And the valuation is $10 million if you want to invest in Fleeting.   The company got its start back in April 2018. There are also three founders, which include:  

• CEO Pierre Laguerre: He has 11 years experience as a CDL Class A Truck driver and owned his own operation, which generated $1 million in revenues during the first year. Laguerre has started several other businesses, with the aggregate revenues of $4 million.
• CTO Anil Jagarlamudi: He has over two decades experience in the software industry and has held executive-level positions at companies like Luma and AirWatch, which was acquired by VMware (NYSE:VMW).
• COO Paul Munguia: His background is in the fintech industry. He also co-founded Upright, which helps to build startups.

  Read more here. Equity Crowdfunding Site: Republic Days Left to Invest: 60 days   Genobank.io, a startup that is developing a secure DNA kit, is currently raising a round of capital though the Republic crowdfunding platform. So far more than $325,000 has been raised from more than 1,000 investors. The valuation is set at $10 million.   The founders include Daniel Uribe, who is the CEO, and Everardo Barojas. Uribe is a serial entrepreneur and has worked at companies like Sun Microsystems. Some of his areas of expertise include cybersecurity, blockchain, and cloud computing. He also has a degree in electrical engineering and an executive MBA from Stanford GSB.   As for Barojas, he is a PhD candidate and has a computer science degree. His main focus at Genobank is on the technology side, such as with the development of the RexChain fork for encrypted data.   Read more here. Equity Crowdfunding Site: Republic Days Left to Invest: 121 days   The past decade has seen much transformation of transportation, as seen with breakout companies like Uber (NYSE:UBER) and Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT). But for the founders of startup Upshift – Ezra Goldman, who started a dockless bikeshare service in 1999 and Ayako Hiwasa, a social entrepreneur – believe that there is still much room for interesting ideas in the space.   Now Upshift is essentially reimagining the traditional car purchase model.   To prove this out, Upshift is raising capital on the crowdsourcing platform, Republic. The valuation of the round is at $8 million.   Then how does Upshift work? Let’s take a look at the workflow. If you need a car, you text Upshift for where you want the vehicle delivered and at what time. The company will then drive it to you, all gassed up and clean.   You can then take it anywhere you want. Keep in mind that there are no mileage restrictions. And when you are finished, Upshift will pick up the vehicle.   OK, why do this instead of getting a ride from Uber or Lyft?   Read more here.   Equity Crowdfunding Site: Republic Days Left to Invest: 10 days   Teooh, which is a developer of a mobile app for virtual events, is attempting to raise a round of capital. The approach is to use a crowdfunding platform called Republic. For Teooh’s funding, the valuation cap is $10 million.   OK then, let’s get some background on the company: When Don Stein graduated from college, he moved from Detroit to San Francisco, with the goal of becoming a venture capitalist. But this proved extremely difficult as he had few contacts in the industry. He kept networking and met a prominent angel investor, who liked Stein’s approach. With the investor’s help, he seeded a small venture fund called Candela Partners.   A key part of the strategy was actually to host events with the portfolio companies. Yet there was a nagging issue: Only those around the Bay area could attend.   Stein wondered if he could use cutting-edge technologies like Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) to create virtual events. In other words, would it be possible to replicate the face-to-face experience?   Read more here. Equity Crowdfunding Site: StartEngine Days Left to Invest: 29 days   I recently wrote about three equity crowdfunding investments raising funds on StartEngine, which the 2020 Inc. 5000 calls the 10th fastest-growing private company in the state of California. The star of the article was BrewDog USA, the American subsidiary of the U.K. craft brewer, that’s used its Equity for Punks platform since 2010 to raise millions of dollars of capital to fund its growth. In both crowdfunding and craft beer circles, BrewDog’s reputation is legendary. In addition to Brew Dog, I recommended investors check out two other StartEngine equity crowdfunding investments worthy of consideration. One of them was ModVans, a California-based manufacturer of CV1 modular van conversions.   “Why do I like it?” I stated April 19. “Millennials will love the company’s CV1 campervan. Plus, it already has $3.7 million in sales.” How popular are campervans with millennials? Thor Industries (NYSE:THO), the largest manufacturer of motorhomes and trailers in the U.S., has big plans for this segment of the RV market.   “We see growing potential for [the camper van] product category in North America,” Thor Industries CEO Bob Martin said in April. “Last year, the camper community there grew by 1.4 million households — 56 percent of which are millennials. These new participants are often returning to the roots of campervanning and prefer a lifestyle that involves less effort while offering more adventure and experiential quality.”   Read more here. Equity Crowdfunding Site: StartEngine Amount Raised: $7.12mm of $11.75mm goal   Founded in 2013, Knightscope is the developer of fully autonomous security robots or bots. The company’s mission is “to make the United States of America the safest country in the world.” But is Knightscope a business you can invest in?   The company is actually raising capital through an online crowdfunding platform, called StartEngine. The goal is to raise $50 million.   Note that Knightscope has already raised $46.6 million from prior rounds of financing, such as from family offices and retail investors. So let’s get a backgrounder on the company and its prospects.   Read more here.

ACURE®, a leader in skin and hair wellness, has partnered with international recycling leader TerraCycle® to make the packaging for their line of skin care and personal care products nationally recyclable in the United States. As an added incentive, for every shipment of ACURE® waste sent to TerraCycle, collectors earn points that can be donated to a non-profit, school or charitable organization of their choice.   Through the ACURE® Recycling Program, consumers can now send in ACURE® skin care and personal care packaging to be recycled for free. Participation is easy: sign up on the TerraCycle program page  https://www.terracycle.com/en-US/brigades/acure and mail in the packaging waste using a prepaid shipping label. Once collected, the packaging is cleaned and melted into hard plastic that can be remolded to make new recycled products.   “ACURE is giving their customers the unique opportunity to divert waste from landfills by offering them a way to responsibly dispose of their skincare packaging,” said TerraCycle CEO and Founder, Tom Szaky. “In turn, by participating in the ACURE® Recycling Program, consumers can demonstrate their respect for the environment not only through the products that they choose to include in their beauty regimen, but also by how the packaging is disposed of.” The ACURE® Recycling Program is open to any interested individual, school, office, or community organization.  

For more information, visit www.terracycle.com.

 

Cara Delevingne is to lead the speakers at the United Nations’ Innovation For Our Ocean event on World Oceans Day (June 8, 2020).   The event will include speeches, panels, and presentations, from key speakers including Cara, Bill McKibben, Paul Hawken, Ali Velshi, and Jean-Michel Cousteau, and has been produced in partnership with the non-profit Oceanic Global.   The Carnival Row actress, who last year teamed up with progressive organization Advaya to launch EcoResolution, a platform that encourages people from all over the world to take action against the climate and ecological crisis and co-create a world that prospers, will oversee the opening remarks at the event.   The sessions featured throughout the day will include a general overview of the state of the oceans by environmentalist McKibben, a presentation by Hawken, a multi-generational conversation between Jean-Michel Cousteau, Celine Cousteau and Fabien Cousteau, and a panel discussion with a wide range of voices, including Tom Szaky, founder of TerraCycle, and the youth activist Lilly Platt.

Living Proof, a company that uses scientific innovation and human ingenuity to tackle problems big and small, and TerraCycle, have joined forces to ensure that all Living Proof hair care packaging and spent aerosol cans are diverted from landfills and sustainably recycled nationwide. “We are pleased to count Living Proof among a select group of luxury hair care brands that offer consumer-facing recycling programs that actively address this large category of waste,” said TerraCycle chief executive officer and founder, Tom Szaky. “Through the introduction of these innovative recycling programs, Living Proof is giving their consumers a powerful, sustainable option to divert their empty hair care and aerosol packaging from landfills, as well as demonstrate their respect for the environment through the products they choose to include in their hair care regime.”   Through the partnership, consumers are invited to recycle their empty packaging in two ways:   •Living Proof Aerosol Recycling Program: Participants wishing to recycle their empty Living Proof aerosol cans, including trial and sample sizes, are invited to sign up on the program page at www.terracycle.com/living-proof-aerosol. When ready to ship, following the shipping instructions provided on the program page, download a free shipping label and the included “Limited Quantity” label. Package the empty aerosol containers in the box of your choice and send it to TerraCycle for recycling. •Living Proof Recycling Program: To recycle all other Living Proof product packaging, including trial and sample sizes, participants are invited to visit the non-aerosol program page at www.terracycle.com/living-proof.   When ready to ship their packaging waste, simply download a free shipping label, package the empty hair care packaging in the box of your choice and send it to TerraCycle for recycling. With every shipment sent to TerraCycle through either program, consumers can earn points that can be used for charitable gifts or converted to cash and donated to the non-profit, school or charitable organization of their choice. Both Living Proof recycling programs are open to any interested individual, school, office or community organization.

Sussex Green Living (SGL) volunteer Joy Carter has won Terracycle’s global #keepOnRecycling contest for her “how-to” film that inspires householders to recycle specific single-use plastics during the lockdown.

With last Friday’s launch of the first-of-its-kind, single-material baby food pouch, Gerber is one step closer to its ambitious goal to make 100% of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025 without compromising the convenience and safety that parents have come to rely on from the brand and pouches.   The IncrediPouch, which debuted May 29 exclusively on Gerber’s direct-to-consumer e-commerce website, answers a particularly stubborn challenge faced not only by Gerber but the children’s food industry at large to offer products that are safe and convenient but that also protect the planet for future generations.   When Gerber set its goal to make 100% of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025, it quickly discovered that many municipal waste streams that are not driven by governmental intervention have not evolved with marketplace innovations, meaning they cannot breakdown many of the most commonly used single-use plastics, including multilayer pouches, Gerber CEO Bill Partyka told FoodNavigator-USA.   And yet, he added, “we also know that consumers are highly reliant on the use of plastics, in particular multilayer pouches for their convenience, their durability, their accessibility and their ability save and protect” the product inside.   This created a “dichotomy … that became the impetus for the development of these new packaging technologies – the most recent of which, of course, is the launch of the IncrediPouch, which is the first single-material film that is designed for the future of recycling,” Partyka said.  

Creating the IncrediPouch in 18 months

  While Gerber was able to usher the IncrediPouch from concept to final product in only 18 months, Partyka said the process was complicated and required teamwork and proactive, fast-paced dedication.   “I kind of break it into three parts. The first thing we had to do was put the stake in the ground. When we made a commitment to make sure all of our packaging is recyclable or reusable by 2025, one of the big questions was, ‘Well, what do we do with multilayer pouches?’” he said.   “Clearly, there was not a solution available on the marketplace and if we were going to meet our commitment, we needed to make sure we were developing new technologies for the marketplace as the recycling waste streams continue to develop in the US,” he explained.   To do this, during the second phase of creation, Gerber evaluated roughly 20 partners before teaming with spouted pouch manufacturer Gualapack with which it worked during phase three to “fast track this in the marketplace,” Partyka said.   Unlike other multi-layer pouches that sandwich aluminum between plastic to protect against oxygenation, the IncrediPouch, including the cap, is made from polypropylene, which can be hot or cold filled for a variety of products.   While Gerber is the first brand to offer the single-material sprouted baby food pouch in the US, the technology is not exclusive to the company and, as such, Gerber hopes other companies will adopt the packaging to improve the future of recycling.  

Expanding curbside recycling

  Gerber simultaneously is tackling the recycling challenge posed by pouches by also working with the research collaborative Materials Recovery for the Future to expand curbside recycling for its new pouch – and all baby food pouches.   Together, MRFF launched a pilot program in Pottstown, Pa., to test collection of flexible plastics as part of the curbside recycling program.   Parents in other regions where curbside pickup is not yet an option can continue to send their used pouches to Gerber through the manufacturer’s recently launched national recycling program with TerraCycle that collects hard-to-recycle materials.   As of June 1, the partnership has recycled 58,760 units of baby food packaging and has 1,970 participation locations, according to Gerber.   Partyka said “the usage is beyond our expectations – and we had pretty high expectations in the first place. So, it kind of reinforced how widely adopted it is by today’s Millennial and Gen Z consumers – so we consider that a very successful compliment to our commitment to make sure all our packaging is recyclable or reusable by 2025.”  

The evolution of purchasing

  Gerber’ decision to launch the new pouch exclusively on its e-commerce website before rolling it out to brick and mortar retailers reflects the evolution of how consumers are purchasing food and the current complications imposed by the ongoing pandemic.   “Purchasing behaviors continue to evolve in today’s COVID and post-COVID environment, so we thought an online launch is the fastest way to get a solution into the marketplace,” Partyka said.   He explained that Gerber’s commitment to e-commerce “has always been extremely high as we have seen today’s generation and the next generation of baby food consumers really prefer the online shopping experience.”   He added that “what we have seen in our own Gerber store reflects trends we have seen elsewhere in other ecommerce channels and that is basically the doubling of business year-over-year for a number of years. So, it is a very successful, very convenient option for consumers.”   He also cautioned that “if anyone in the industry isn’t investing in these platforms yet, they are already too late.”  

Reducing plastic and carbon-use

  The launch of the IncrediPouch is only one small aspect of Gerber’s overall sustainability commitments, which Partyka said the company is “making excellent progress” to achieve.   While he wouldn’t share how far the company has come or what it has left to do to reach its goal, he said Gerber has made significant strides to reduce the use of plastic and its carbon footprint.   “We also work directly with all our largest key customers to find other ways to take miles off a product and reduce the carbon footprint associated with the value chain,” he said.   For example, he explained, “we are shipping directly from our factories rather than going through a distribution center to save money in the value chain and reduce the carbon footprint associated with delivering in the market.”   Give the progress Gerber has made so far, Partyka is confident the company will achieve its goals and continue to be an “industry iterator as it has been from day one.”

When it comes to packaging, first impressions matter, but it is the lasting impression that might be more important. After all, while a beautiful bottle may look great on-shelf or online, it will surely lose its appeal if it washes ashore on a sandy beach or ends up as landfill. All CPG companies—household, beauty and personal care included—are looking to reduce the impact their packaging has on the planet. But finding the right solution can be complex and the situation is fluid, which makes for a lot of gray areas, according to marketers, retailers and other stakeholders along the supply chain. In 2020, nearly every high-profile multinational, medium-size brand and startup is on a pathway toward becoming a more sustainable business. When it comes to packaging, they are making changes—some sweeping, some incremental—to the tubes, caps, bottles and boxes in which they house their products. At the same time, they need to keep a close eye on aesthetics and functionality, as consumers still have high expectations about the products they purchase and use on a daily basis. Take ubiquitous personal care staple deodorant. Procter & Gamble Beauty is testing Old Spice and Secret deodorants in all-paper tube packages at 500 Walmart stores in the US. This new packaging, made of 90% recycled paper, is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council and features a push up design that would replace some of P&G’s plastic stick deodorant cannisters. In this test, P&G wants to glean how consumers respond to the design, which is different than the typical stick deodorant package to which consumers have become accustomed. If successful, P&G says it will expand the new package across more of its line. “With switching to a paperboard structure, the functionality is different. We will be learning about how much consumers will be willing to trade off functionality of that format,” Chris Bates, personal care R&D packaging, Procter & Gamble, told Happi. Additional efforts have already reduced P&G’s deodorant packaging footprint overall. Earlier this year, the company reduced the amount of plastic in its Secret antiperspirant and deodorant cannisters by 8%, a move it contends saves 900,000 pounds of plastic waste. Incremental steps like these can have a big impact when they’re taken by an industry giant. For example, if P&G converts 10% of its current deodorant packages to recycled paper or another recyclable material, it could annually eliminate up to 1.5 million pounds of plastic waste. In fact, finding better, more sustainable packaging has been a work in progress for Procter & Gamble for years, from the use of PCR in Tide bottles, that’s been ongoing for three decades, to last year’s roll out of a limited-edition Olay Regenerist Whip with a refill pod that eliminates 94% of plastic waste. Under its Ambition 2030 program, P&G established more goals. For example, P&G Beauty brands have committed to using 100% recyclable or reusable packaging while reducing the use of virgin petroleum plastic 50% by 2030. With so many brands under the P&G umbrella, sustainability is no doubt a complex endeavor. But Bates sees it as an asset. “When you have big leadership brands like Secret and Old Spice, the changes we can make can have a big impact in terms of tonnage. We also have smaller brands that we can experiment with. I view this as an asset toward making progress,” he told Happi. Procter & Gamble was an early partner in Terracycle’s Loop, which sells mainstream consumer products from laundry detergent to ice cream in durable, reusable packaging. With its pilot launched just about a year ago in the New York City and Mid-Atlantic area, Loop recently announced that it will be available to “consumers in every ZIP code in the contiguous US” this month. According to reports, Loop had record sales in March and April, following the shift in consumer spending from in-stores to online during stay-at-home orders and rising concerns about COVID-19’s spread. With the uptick in online purchases, Kao USA’s launch comes at the right time. Its new MyKirei by Kao products, which hit Amazon in late April, feature plant-based formulas that 95% biodegradable and housed in a new bottle uses up to 50% less plastic than traditional bottles. The bottles of Nourishing Shampoo, Conditioner and Hand Wash gain their rigidity through an air fill, allowing them to stand upright like a traditional bottle. Kao has partnered with TerraCycle to create a program to allow consumers to recycle the package and the pumps post-use. (Re)Filler Up Many consumers are still going to the store during the pandemic, but they have been doing so less frequently, often stocking up on key products and buying in bulk to avoid making extra trips. In this new normal, consumers would be more willing to stock up—as long as they had a place to store it and it was easy to use. Options like the new Mother & Child Ecos Refill Kit from homecare company Ecos fit the bill. Recently rolled out for the brand’s Dishmate Dish Soap and All-Purpose Cleaner Orange Plus, the kits have a patented “click-in” packaging design that includes a 64- or 96oz refill bottle that’s easy to hold, lift and pour, and a 16oz everyday bottle that’s light and comfortable for one-hand use. The unique system also makes storage easier, according to the company; both bottles in the refill snap together, making them compact and convenient to store under the sink or in the pantry. Aside from the convenience it provides for end users, the design reduces plastic use, too. The proprietary  design keeps the everyday bottle securely in place in the refill bottle with shrink wrap or outside packaging. In addition, the refill kits offer a significant savings in bottle plastic compared to five individual containers that the kit replaces. Refills have been growing in beauty, too. Rahua, which offers plant-powered beauty products, recently unveiled its first refill system with Classic Shampoo and Classic Conditioner Refill Pouches. The sustainable pouches provide customers the ability to immediately reduce plastic usage of their regular bottle by 90%; as well as reduce their individual carbon footprint, said the brand. The pouches are made with 60% biodegradable plant fibers. “That is our current solution. We are looking for com completely compostable options now,” Anna Ayers, Rahua co-founder, said during an Earth Day video press conference. In addition, Rahua is transitioning to sustainable frosted glass bottles, starting with three key products—Rahua Control Cream, Rahua Omega 9 Hair Mask and Rahua Freestyle Texturizer. Marrying sustainability with luxury design is on display at Lancôme. Its Absolue Revitalizing & Brightening Soft Cream and Rich Cream come with refill pods that clip into a gold jar allowing for a more ecologically sustainable design that’s upscale, too. With each refill purchase, the weight of the glass is reduced 33%, and total waste reduction is cut 41%, according to Lancôme. Continuous Change Across beauty, brands are implementing plans centered on more sustainable packaging. Now a certified B Corp., Arbonne earlier this year unveiled ArbonneCycle, a recycling program for its hard-to-recycle packaging and componentry in partnership with TerraCycle. The program covers Arbonne personal care product packaging as well as products such as protein shake bags and bar wrappers, Fizz Stick packets and more. Launched in the US, Arbonne says it plans to expand the programs globally. In addition, by offering a concentrated shower gel, Arbonne has been able to make a change in packaging. Only a pea-sized amount of Botaniques Concentrated Shower Gel is needed and one package—which has a footprint that’s half the size of a traditional body wash—provides enough product for 40 showers, according to Arbonne. Zotos Professional recently unveiled Better Natured, a prestige hair care brand with naturally-derived, stylist-developed formulations. Better Natured, which is free from what Zotos calls “12 ingredient taboos” (silicones, parabens, SLS/SLES sulfates and phthalates for example), is packaged in post-consumer recycled PET plastic. The line was tested in a certified Green Circle Salon. Green Circle is a B Corp that provides a sustainable salon program that allows salon owners to repurpose and recover up to 95% of the resources that were once considered waste—materials such as hair, leftover hair color, foils, color tubes, aerosol cans, paper and plastics. Zotos is also working with TerraCycle on the Better Natured Recycling Program. Tossing an empty bottle into the recycling bin seems simple enough, but recycling is much more complex for consumers and stakeholders alike, especially in the beauty space. “When you look up and down the supply chain, many are confused about what is recyclable—and that is problematic,” said Mia Davis, director of social and environmental responsibility at Credo. Varying small sizes and multi-composition materials—think metal springs and plastic in a pump dispenser—means skin care and cosmetics packaging can’t always be recycled in public programs, leaving end users with few options beyond their trash can. By working with TerraCycle, Credo has made it easier for its customers to recycle personal care products. Since the San Francisco-based company paired up with TerraCycle three years ago, 6,300 customers have brought their empties into Credo stores, resulting in the proper recycling of more than 30,000 pounds of products. With a customer base that prioritizes clean beauty, recycling would seem second nature, but Credo does offer a carrot—participation points that can be used for future purchases. “Points are the icing on the cake,” Davis said. Across beauty and personal care, brands continue to assess and retool their packaging. This past January, for example, Fekkai relaunched a collection of shampoo, conditioner, and treatments packaged in 95% high-grade repurposed plastic that is 100% recyclable. This year, the company says it will repurpose 64 million grams of plastic, roughly seven million plastic bottles. In April, the company offered limited edition mushroom packaging created with 100% compostable and biodegradable ingredients such as mycelium and hemp hurds. Mary Kay Inc. has signed on to the Sustainable Packaging Initiative for CosmEtics (SPICE), joining 17 other member organizations that include L’Oréal, Chanel, Coty and Estée Lauder that aim to collectively shape the future of sustainable packaging. SPICE members are working to make significant progress in three key areas:

• Guiding solid sustainable packaging policy development based on a robust and harmonized methodology, recognized at sector level;
• Driving packaging innovation based on objective eco-design criteria to progress toward more sustainable solutions; and
• Meeting consumers’ expectations by improving communication and providing more clarity on the environmental performance of products.

The first committee meeting took place in May 2018, and since then, SPICE has hosted five committee meetings where members share their experience and knowledge. Like so many other events during the COVID-19 pandemic, the most recent one, in early April, was held virtually, according to staffers at sustainability consultancy Quantis, which is a SPICE co-founder. Common Goals How an individual company addresses sustainability in terms of its packaging is influenced by myriad factors, including business size, core values and customers’ expectations, to name just a few. Supplement brand Hum is moving to packaging “ocean-bound” plastics. According to the company, the contract it signed indicates that “millions of bottles’ worth of plastics will be reused before they end up in our oceans.”  The first of the new bottles will make their way into Hum’s supply chain by the end of this year and will be on shelves in 2021. In addition, Hum is joining the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment. As part of its efforts to reduce plastic and carbon footprint, all of Coola’s tubes are made of sustainably-sourced sugar-cane resin, which is 100% recyclable, secondary packaging is made of post-consumer recycled paper and the firm uses as much glass as possible. In fact, the majority of its bottles and jars, more than 80%, are made of glass. Plastic is used mainly when needed for the safety and functionality of the product, in which case Coola says it strives to use the eco-friendliest options available, according to company. Indie deodorant brand Each & Every continues to seek more sustainable packaging, too. “Before we even launched the brand, we wanted to launch with sustainable packaging, but because we use 100% natural essential oils and no synthetic fragrance, none of the sustainable package options we tried were compatible with our formula,” Each & Every’s Co-Founder Lauren Lovelady told Happi. “The essential oils would break down the package materials. We ultimately decided to launch in plastic so that consumers would have access to our incredible formula and we decided that we would keep working on sustainable packaging in parallel.” In 2019, the company found a package that was made from post-consumer recycled material. “This was a more sustainable option than petroleum-based plastic, but consumers told us that while they appreciated the effort, they didn’t see it as sustainable enough. We value the feedback of our incredible community and feel so fortunate to be able to have a two-way dialogue because this conversation led us to decide to look for other new materials instead of investing in a solution that they didn’t feel was sufficient.” Recently, it switched its Lavender and Lemon scent SKU into new sugarcane packaging, which is recyclable and can be recycled at home or commercially. “What we love about the sugarcane is that it’s actually carbon negative, so it reduces our carbon footprint,” said Lovelady. “Sugarcane is a renewable resource, unlike petroleum, and growing it absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere, so it’s a great sustainable packaging option.” Each & Every plans to expand sugarcane packaging to other SKUs during the course of the year. A Plastic Pushback Boulder, CO-based Alpine Provisions Co., a maker of natural and organic personal care products, has committed to going completely plastic-free, switching out the 100% post-consumer plastic it was using. Founder and CEO Joshua Scott Onysko said he believed that his company was making a sound choice using post-consumer plastic to house his product line, but realized that whether it was petroleum- or plant-based, it was still plastic—and too much of it was ending up in the ocean. Alpine Provisions will use aluminum, a material that can recycled infinitely, for its hand-sanitizer, hair care and liquid soap bottles; its lip balm and deodorant will be housed in paper tubes that are recyclable and compostable; and its bar soap will be wrapped in paper. “Our industry has been surviving on plastic for 80 years. Plastic is a major problem,” he said. According to Alpine Provisions, only 7% of all plastic is ever recycled, and it can only be recycled 2-3 times. “We are so addicted to plastic. It has no value. That’s why it is littered all over. Aluminum and glass has value and that’s why you don’t see in on the road and in the ocean.” According to Onysko, single use plastic is used for a few minutes and thrown away knowing it lasts for 25 years or even longer. On the flip side, 84% all aluminum ever made is still in use today, and because it is lightweight, shipping aluminum saves millions of pounds of carbon emissions per year. Alpine Provisions recently announced that it has been picked up by national outdoor retailer REI, and other shops like Natural Grocers, Lazy Acres and Thrive Market, have reportedly placed orders to carry the brand’s plastic-free packaging when it’s available, which is expected sometime around the end of the month. Onysko wants to see his company’s initiative spark an industry-wide shift away from plastic packaging entirely. “Saying it’s recyclable is a cop out,” Onysko said. Further, he questioned whether or not companies that sell their products in plastic packaging could claim to be cruelty-free, knowing that their packaging could end up in places like the ocean, where “100 million marine animals die every year because of plastic pollution.” Solution Seeking Brand leaders across the household and personal products industry must continue to make decisions about their packaging componentry and related programs with a keen eye on the environment as well as consumers. Brent Heist, global packaging sustainability lead, Procter & Gamble, said there’s a need to consider the “spectrum of consumers” and where they may be in their own journey regarding sustainability, too. “We recognize that there is the heavily involved consumer to those who don’t want to be bothered,” said Heist said, noting that there are also economic and time constraints that factor into where a consumer falls on that spectrum. “We need to design solutions that make it easy for consumers to make better choices.”

Do you pause with plastic poised over your waste bin, squinting to see recycling numbers, or question the compostability of a coffee cup? You have company. Colmar Brunton’s 2020 Better Futures report found 67% of us want more business environmental action. We toss 97 million plastic bottles into landfill, yet half of us say we would switch brands based on sustainability. Perhaps we should take more personal responsibility. Sandford, a self-professed ‘sustainable’ fishery, packs my market fish on a plastic tray with no recycling number, then clingwraps it. Following my enquiry, it says it is moving to using sustainable packaging. After a call to Hellers about the lack of a recycling number on packs, Brydon Heller replied that customer pressure is prompting them to change to recyclable packaging. So speak up. The supermarket that banned plastic carry-bags festoons me with produce plastic bags, so my veges now go loose to the checkout. Last year, a report from the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor came to the worrying conclusion that there is no coordinated approach to reporting plastics use. But the report is baffling – it stated the aim of onshore recycling by 2025 of PET, HDPE, PP and perhaps LDPE. Elsewhere, the kids’ ‘ecovibe’ drinking straws are PLA, and my freezer bags are BPA-free. Have I missed a lifestyle eco-glossary? Today, plastics comprise 85% of the world’s beach litter, most of which is food-related. Does greed drive prolific packaging, or is it the increased demand of a growing world? Sir David Attenborough reminded the British parliament recently that the mantra of continuing economic growth in a finite environment belongs to either an economist or a madman. You can jolly nearly obliterate plastics with the stroke of a pen said the 94-year-old broadcaster, adding, “If you can convert or get rid of plastic waste economically, there’s a fortune to be made.” In 2003, Tom Szaky launched international recycling company TerraCycle, now operating here. He believes it is more economical to manufacture from recycled than from virgin materials. Despite almost all products being ‘technically’ recyclable, he says only four are commonly accepted – clear glass, uncoated paper, certain rigid plastics and certain metals. Inventive TerraCycle accepts Gladwrap, Caffe L’Affare and Nescafé capsules and even cigarette butts, destined to become compost, park benches, pallets, or (ironically) ashtrays. It also invented chewing-gum recycling. In New Zealand, “plastic recycling is broken,” says Innocent Packaging’s general manager, Fraser Hanson. He began in 2013 in a garage, and now employs 15 staff making packaging from bagasse (a sugar byproduct), straw, paper and corn starch and Innocent composting bins sit outside 50 Auckland cafés. Hanson says our plastic production has increased twentyfold since 1964, yet just 5% of plastics are recycled effectively. My local council (Far North) has reduced its recyclable plastics list, and their Solid Waste Engineer admits, “We recycle what we have a market for.”  So, plastic 5 is off the menu for one- third of our local councils. However, jam makers Anathoth-Barkers say we import valuable plastic 5 because recyclers can’t collect enough. Processed into granules it makes low-grade items such as planters and buckets. Plastics NZ admits that “recycling is currently a minefield of confusion.” Take ‘compostable’ PLA (polylactic acid) drinking straws. Made from naturally occurring plant material, they require high-temperature composting and do not decompose in landfill or waterways. Some containers state ‘commercially compostable’ and, as of May last year, 12 facilities from Kerikeri to Timaru exist where the requisite 55-degree temperature is maintained. That’s also possible in a well-managed home compost system. Bostock Brothers packs its free-range chicken in home- compostable Grounded Packaging. Ben Grant from Grounded says the end- of-life process for packaging is poorly  understood. “Nationally the recycling stream doesn’t work; the chances of getting recycled are, more or less, none.” Composting, however, is a different story. Ben Bostock says their bioplastic packaging was developed to ensure shelf life. “We’ve had a lot of people say they don’t normally buy organic chicken because of the price, but they’re buying ours because of home-compostable packaging.” Bostocks themselves will hot-compost any packaging returned by consumers unable to compost at home, using it for fertilising hen-food crops. Sublime Coffee Roasters, frustrated with a tardy local council, developed its own hot compost system, diverting from landfill more than 5000 cups and lids a month in Nelson and Palmerston North. Nespresso also recycles its aluminium pods returned to them by consumers. For a reusable, recycled coffee cup, check the ingenious rCup from Ashortwalk Ltd in Cornwall, the idea of Dyson designer, Don Dicker, who says 500 billion disposable cups being thrown away annually, motivated him to create recycled products. Air New Zealand welcomes reusable cups onboard, and Head of Sustainability, Lisa Daniell, says they have diverted nearly 900 tonnes of flight waste from landfill since 2017. They’ve trialled edible cups which Customer Experience Manager Niki Chave home-tested, reporting, “The coffee cup will hold up, and stay crisp, much longer than it will take for you to drink your coffee.” There are more successes to smile about. Colgate has an international scheme to take back all brands of toothpaste tubes, brushes, floss containers and packaging. Its TerraCycle partnership has 2000 collection hubs from Kaitaia to Tokanui and a free- post scheme. Last year, New Zealand schools and charities received $70,000 from the scheme, along with lunch bags made from recycled toothpaste tubes. Support supermarket moves like the Food in the Nude initiative that began in New World’s Bishopdale store in Christchurch. Owner Nigel Bond says sales of some unwrapped veges increased up to 30%. Clean bread bags, bubble wrap and soft plastic packs, including foiled potato chip bags, can be recycled at The Warehouse, Huckleberry and 37 Countdown stores. They become recyclable fence posts and ducting. Graduates from the country’s top hospitality college, QRC, are charged to lead a culture of change says CEO Charlie Phillips. “Plastic packaging becomes ingrained, but it has not always been like that. We need to revert back to the future.” In the words of Ben & Jerry’s founder Jerry Greenfield, we’re “sheltered from the environmental and human impact of our everyday decisions and lifestyles.” So, let’s take more personal responsibility. Speak up and exercise the power of consumer choice. As Sir David Attenborough says, “The only way I get up in the morning is to say ‘Something’s got to be done, and I will do my best to bring that about.’” NOTE For a list of soft plastic collection points and recycling partners go to recycling.kiwi.nz.

The idea of natural beauty and cosmetic products that improve skin without harmful chemicals isn't anything new. But now, some brands aren't just considering your health when creating their products—they're also thinking about the environment and the people involved in making them.   Here are the innovations currently happening on the sustainable beauty front, and what you can (hopefully) expect to see more of in the next few years.

Air-filled packaging.

In Japan, there’s a driving philosophy, called kirei, that life should be lived simply yet beautifully (the word means “clean” or “beautiful”). MyKirei by KAO is that idea turned into a sustainable beauty brand. It’s a streamlined, straightforward collection of shampoo, conditioner, and hand soap that contains Japanese wellness ingredients like moisturizing tsubaki (camellia flowers), soothing rice water, and nourishing yuzu. Our favorite pick? The Tsubaki & Rice Water Nourishing Conditioner (Buy It, $18, amazon.com).   The innovative, sustainable beauty packaging resembles Bubble Wrap and uses 50 percent less plastic than a typical bottle, and its design ensures that you can squeeze 95 percent of the product out of it (other packaging averages 85 percent). Once you’ve used up the products, download a prepaid shipping label from the brand’s website and send the containers to TerraCycle, a company that recycles and repurposes beauty packaging. (Related: 10 Beauty Buys On Amazon That Help Reduce Waste)  

Earth-friendly formulas.

Earth-friendly formulas.

  Because microbeads were banned from beauty product formulations in 2015, we haven’t thought much about whether the ingredients in our cleansers, conditioners, masks, and more are safe to rinse down the drain—but we should.   Most everyday beauty products contain microplastics: solids that are less than 1/4 inch and don’t dissolve in water. They won’t break down for a long time, which means they accumulate in the ecosystem, says Lindsay Wray, the chief science officer at Eighteen B, a microplastic-free skin-care brand. “These ingredients can get lodged in the digestive tracts of small animals that consume them in the water and soil. They then travel up the food chain and eventually end up in the food we eat,” says Wray. (BTW, you can find these microplastics in your activewear, too.)   Two common microplastics, polyethylene and polyamide (or nylon), are added to formulas to create luxurious textures and keep them stable. The goal is to find new, sustainable beauty options. Eighteen B replaces microplastics with its renewable and biodegradable B-silk protein to provide that soft, silky feeling you want in a skin-care formula, but without the negative impact on the planet. Try the brand's Defend + Nourish Eye Cream (Buy It, $85, eighteenb.com).  

Safer sparkles.

The shimmer in an eye shadow, the sheen of a highlighter, and the gleam of a lip gloss most often come from mica (the same mineral that gives car and airplane paint its glossy finish). It’s safe to use. In fact, it’s an ideal replacement for plastic-based glitters that can litter the water system and landfills, and it requires far fewer resources to create than lab-made, synthetic mica. But naturally occurring mica is mined from the earth, and the conditions in these mines tend to be unsafe. Plus, the mines are often associated with child labor. “Companies can get certificates from their suppliers confirming that child labor is not being used, but they can be falsified,” says Gregg Renfrew, the founder and CEO of Beautycounter.   Her brand decided to send employees to mica mines around the world to check on their working conditions. “During our site audits, we found evidence of a supply chain that wasn’t transparent about how workers were treated or paid,” says Renfrew. Many suppliers had never had an in-person audit.   Now, all the mica used in Beautycounter’s products, like the Sheer Lipstick in Poppy (Buy It, $32, beautycounter.com), is sourced from a domestic mine in Hartwell, Georgia, as well as approved suppliers in Brazil, India, and Japan, none of which use child labor. The sustainable beauty brand plans to make its auditing tool kit public so other brands can follow in its model and eradicate child labor.  

• By Erin Reimel