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Seven of the Best Ideas in Beauty Sustainability
Consumers see beyond the cliché when it comes sustainability, according to Echo Brand Design's Jenny Cook.
The consumer of 2020 wants to buy sustainable beauty products, and they see beyond the cliché of artisanal, organically sourced potions, lovingly wrapped in untainted craft paper. For them, sustainability goes deeper than packaging; it is about innovation for genuine impact.
Beauty brands, from the freshest start-up to the largest global corporate, recognize this. They want to respond to this rising consumer demand, and they want to mitigate their impact. The challenge for many is knowing where to get started.
Here we offer seven ideas. We hope they provoke thought, inspire action and help beauty brands join the movement towards a more sustainable future.
#1: Personalize Formulas
How many of us have despaired at our ‘Foundation Graveyards’ – off the shelf formulas sitting unused because they didn’t match skin tone or disagreed with skin type? In response to this, a growing number of forward-thinking beauty brands are offering personalized formulations.
Look at Lancôme in-store custom-made foundation service which matches skin and blends the formula into a personalized bottle. Allél goes even further, matching its customers’ DNA profiles to specific products.
Personalization of products will reduce waste, as well as transport and storage costs. It also delivers a far better product and experience to the customer. Looking ahead, we expect to see this reach the mainstream, with personalization becoming a standard beauty concept, primarily led by direct-to-consumer brands collecting real-time data to adapt formulas.
#2: From Natural to Bio Design
For too long people have fetishized the notion of organic. Today, there is a growing recognition of the burden resource-intensive botanicals like vanilla and rose oil place on both the planet and the people who farm them. Synthetic formulas offer a more environmentally friendly approach with lower carbon footprint. They are the future.
The remarkable work being done by Gingko Bio Works shows just what will be possible in this future. Through collaborations with a paleogenomics lab, a smell researcher, a multidisciplinary artist, and cutting-edge synthetic biology it is resurrecting scents that have been extinct for up to 200 years.
In the years ahead consumer thinking in this area will shift as people begin the recognize that synthetic is more resource efficient whilst also opening up a new spectrum of colors and scents. The opportunity now is for beauty brands to lead the way in this.
#3: Tomorrow’s Packaging Materials
While plastic and glass are both strong, durable and recyclable, they have problems: glass is heavy, and only 50% of bathroom waste is recycled, compared to 90% in the kitchen. With the World Economic Forum predicting that by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean, this is a major issue.
The beauty sector is responding. L’Occitane now offers its products in an Eco Refill range that uses 90% less plastic compared to its standard size products. Ecologic transports its bottles as shells. Chanel has invested in the firm Sulapac. Made from wood and natural biopolymers, Sulapac material is industrially compostable, and they are working towards recycling via plastic waste streams.
Crucially, these packaging alternatives look desirable. While they switch glass and plastic for locally abundant materials there is no compromise on how they look and feel.
#4: The Naked Store
We have been trained to equate heavy, complex packaging with quality. At its most extreme this is the unboxing phenomenon. Today’s consumer is increasingly taking a different approach. For them quality is delivered not through harmful packaging but through a digital and real life brand world.
Lush has long been associated with a uniquely multi-sensorial approach to merchandising which encourages consumer interaction with a variety of smells, colors and textures around the store. The experience is the product. When it created a video to explain its naked shampoo bars, pointing out that it could replace the 552 million shampoo bottles we throw out annually, the video went viral and Lush sold 12,000 shampoo bars in just two days.
#5: Go Waterless
With water making up around 70% of most beauty products, there is significant potential to reduce water use as well as transport and storage costs by developing water-free alternatives. L'Oréal has pledged to reduce its water consumption by 60% per unit of finished product by 2020.
Brands like EC30 are showing how it can be done: you add water to its single dose drops and they become one of eight cleaning products from shampoo to conditioner, handwash, even laundry detergent. This visual alchemy can help ingredients evoke a sense of activeness and enhanced freshness. People enjoy being there in the final act of creation. The opportunity is for beauty brands to engender the same sensorial rituals.
#6: Refill Packs for Life
With waste such a major issue in the beauty industry, more and more brands are finding innovative ways to offer refillable packs that customers can keep for life. Crucially, this model allows design teams to invest more heavily in these packs for life, so they are more desirable than their disposable predecessors.
Loop is leading the way here. It delivers beauty products in premium durable packaging which is returned and refilled. The customer never owns the packaging. As the company describes itself: ‘Like a milkman, just for beauty’.
Buy one Lancôme Absolute L’Extrait reusable jar and two refills, and you achieve a 58% weight reduction compared to three conventional products. Just as people now visit shops with their own bags in a way that would have seemed unthinkable a decade ago, soon they will visit with their collection of stylish refill jars.
#7: Nudge People Towards Sustainable Disposal
Finally, there is disposal. Lush has always been ahead of the game in sustainability and has a well-established closed-loop recycling scheme with its black pots which ‘could have more lives than a cat.’ Customers who return these pots are rewarded with a free face mask. Similarly, The Body Shop is collaborating with TerraCycle to encourage customers to bring back empty products from any brand to receive a discount.
There is huge potential in the beauty industry to innovate towards sustainable products and experiences. It’s a journey, and the most forward-thinking brands in this space are already finding ways to nudge consumers in the right direction. In the years ahead they will reap the benefits not only in sales, but also in a cleaner, greener planet for future generations.
How to tell when your company’s transparency goes too far
I’m a big proponent of employees knowing our strengths and weaknesses. I want everyone to feel invested in our company, so together, we can celebrate our victories and rally after our defeats. I know that I’m not alone in my lean toward transparency. According to a Robert Half study, from 2012 to 2016, the percentage of private companies sharing financial data with their employees more than doubled from 24% to 56%. And CEOs have seen positive results across various measures.
Tom Szaky, the founder of TerraCycle, did a transparency 180° in the course of his leadership—from minimal sharing to divulging as much information as possible. He included monthly invoices, changes with clients, and biweekly master reports comprised of feedback from every employee.
As Szaky wrote in a 2011 New York Times post:
“The benefits of this method have been astronomical. All of our 100 employees know exactly what is going on and can learn from what other departments are doing. It has created a feeling of ownership and trust, and it has fostered communication. It also brings issues to the forefront much faster than ever before and serves as our critical feedback engine.”
There is immense value in being transparent. For starters, it can inspire loyalty and engagement, and attract like-minded talent, who identify with a company’s explicitly expressed values. But like anything, too much of a good thing can turn bad.
WHEN TRANSPARENCY GOES AWRY
Before you launch a company newsletter detailing everything about your organization, keep in mind: there is such a thing as being too transparent.
Transparency can result in confusion, especially if you present facts without context. Writes David De Cremer for Harvard Business Review: “[L]eft to stand alone, facts don’t create a culture that seeks to understand why something happened. Instead of figuring out why a mistake was made, you only know what the mistake was — and who made it.” Without this context and the “why,” employees may fixate on the “who” and get derailed from their actual work.
Overzealous information sharing can also inspire resistance, as people compensate to protect their personal boundaries. If you, for example, divulge private information about an employee’s goals or personal matters, moving forward, that employee will probably be much more guarded about sharing their goals.
Here’s the thing: everyone needs their privacy, no matter how collegial and collaborative your culture may be. Take open offices—they were supposed to serve as a bastion of workplace transparency, but many managers have found that these layouts ultimately have the opposite effect (among many other shortcomings).
One multinational company unveiled a new open office plan in the hopes that the increased transparency would improve ethical decision making, collaboration, and creativity. Instead, managers found that employees shared fewer ideas, and the ideas that they did share were less creative.
That’s why it’s crucial to be deliberate about your approach to transparency. Here’s how to get the balance right.
1. GIVE CONTEXT
When you communicate with your organization, consider what that information means in the larger picture and how to communicate that to your audience. If it’s a goal, include the reasoning and some KPIs. If you’re sharing results, speak to what went well and why. It’s also important to share what didn’t go well and why that might have happened.
For example, when one company decided to share its employee bonus targets, they went one step further. They tied those targets to (explicitly stated) goals that the entire organization was aware of.
That same company also shared its goal for operational savings generated by employee ideas. The response was overwhelming—employees were eager to suggest cost-cutting ideas.
2. EMPHASIZE LEARNING
When you share negative results, it’s important to nip any doubts in the bud to avoid sparking a blame game among colleagues. That’s why you need to emphasize the goal of publicizing that kind of information. If you’re like me, that’s usually learning and correcting our course. For instance, with my online form company, after the long-anticipated release of a new product, we initially faced subpar user reviews. I shared this with my teams not to discourage them but to encourage them to keep digging and figure out what went wrong. It turned out that users didn’t particularly dislike the new product—they just preferred having a choice between that and our previous version. So we gave it to them, and users thanked us for it.3. BE AUTHENTIC
Sometimes leaders venture to share about themselves to connect with employees. If you do this appropriately, this can be effective, but overselling or sharing overly personal information just to make a point will have the opposite result. As Harvard Business Review cautions: “If it’s something that you’d be thankful to hear, chances are your reports will feel similarly. If it’s something that would give you pause, err on the side of caution. Be curious about your own intentions. Are you sharing from a place of authenticity, or are you trying to fabricate a connection with others?”4. RESPECT OTHERS’ PRIVACY
And finally, don’t forget to draw a definite line at divulging personal information about employees. It’s incredibly crucial to create a culture where people feel comfortable sharing their goals and concerns with management. That’s why I have an open-door policy at our office. However, respecting people’s privacy is a requisite. The right amount of transparency can increase employee engagement and boost performance going into the new year. If your organization has unique values, publicly promoting your culture can attract like-minded talent. Just be thoughtful about how you’re sharing—be sure to do so from a place of authenticity. Even if it means admitting that you don’t have all the answers, people will appreciate your genuine transparency.Brands Respond To Demand For Sustainable Skincare
From Kesha revealing her natural face full of freckles to Kardashians sharing no-makeup videos, 2019 is the year for a natural, makeup-free kind of beauty.
As celebrities embraced their natural selves online, social media soon followed and hashtags like #nomakeup, #nofilter went buzzing.
Naturally, consumers started to invest in skincare, but not just any skincare. With millennials and Gen Zs now making up half of American consumers, consumers started to demand and respond to sustainable skincare .
According to the NPD Group, within the U.S. prestige beauty industry that reached $18.8 billion in 2018, the skincare category grew by 13 percent and contributed 60 percent of the industry’s total gains.
Out of $6.5 billion worth of skincare sales in 2018, natural brands, which accounts for $1.6 billion, remained the top contributor to the sales growth.
“Knowledge is power. There has never been a time where young people had more knowledge about sustainability and access to information on companies and what they are doing to help create a healthy planet,” Maria Davis, a marketing director at Jurlique USA, a sustainable skincare brand based in Australia, told The University Network (TUN).
All across the globe, both big name and starting brands are bringing out their shade of green with products that are kind to both the natural skin and our Earth.
Despite today’s surging demand and supply of sustainable skincare, the skincare industry had and still has many shortfalls regarding sustainability.
First, the most basic ingredients are sourced unsustainably. Most skincare products require a lot of water to make and can cause water waste. Also, palm oil, which is used in 70 percent of all cosmetics, can cause widespread deforestation and has led to decimated rainforests and deforestation in countries like Indonesia and Malaysia.
And deforestation accounts for more carbon emissions than cars and trucks in the world combined, according to the World Carfree Network.
Addtionally, other ingredients that are widely used in skincare industry, such as shea butter, silk, vanilla and cocoa are often sourced in dangerous working conditions and may include human trafficking and child labor.
Second, stemming from a false belief that more is better, both the industry leaders and consumers have grown a habit of overconsumption.
Starting from around 2012, K-Beauty entered into the global skincare market, creating an instant hit. A K-Beauty star would come out and show her 8-step skincare routine that would differ in products for day and night. And disregarding their unique skin type, consumers would fill their shelves with the same products the star used.
However, the truth is that with more layers, just like makeup, there’s a higher risk of your pores getting clogged and you breaking out as a result.
“Layering multiple products doesn’t mean you’ll increase the benefits to the skin. Chances are, you’re increasing the likelihood of the different active ingredients inactivating each other,” Brian Oh, founder of Venn, a minimalist skincare brand, told the Guardian.
Also, other products of K-Beauty, such as single-use sheet masks and cleansing wipes, are dubbed as the plastic straws of beauty industry in terms of their harmful environmental impact.
Third, due to the fragile nature of the products, excessive packaging is hard to avoid and often leads to improper recycling or recycling contamination.
According to Zero Waste Week data in 2018, more than 120 billion units of cosmetics packaging were produced globally, the majority of which were not recyclable.
And according to the U.S. Environment Protection Agency, out of 14.5 million tons of plastic containers and packaging generated in 2017, around 70 percent wasn’t properly recycled and went to landfills.
Fortunately, consumers’ demand for sustainable skincare is strong enough to hit the breaks for brands who would have continued with their unsustainable practices.
The general demand for natural and organic skincare is already high.
Specifically, millennials and Gen Zs are increasing in both number and purchasing power. And these growing influential consumers expect companies to value and apply sustainability in their business practices.
According to The Business of Fashion, 66 percent of global millennials are willing to spend more on brands that are sustainable and more consumers are expected to demand that brands be held accountable for waste and carbon footprint.
And a 2018 study by WP Engine revealed that 69 percent of Gen Z consumers are more likely to buy from a company that contributes to social causes, while 33 percent have stopped buying from those with values different from their own.
“They (younger consumers) are very aware, conscious about what they consume and add to landfills in general. There is a new much more alert awareness of that generation,” a Kjaer Weis representative told TUN.
Both starting and big name skincare brands are responding in their own ways.
Jurlique
Founded in 1985, Jurlique is a sustainable skincare with a business statement to preserve the integrity of nature. From its biodynamic farm and clean energy Natural Beauty Plant, both powered by 75 kilowatt solar panels, Jurlique grows and harvests its ingredients sustainably.
Since 2016, Jurlique’s farm has sent zero waste to landfill. Since 2015, Jurlique has not only reduced 20 percent of transport emissions through its freight management initiative, but also reduced its water usage by 18 percent by using rain and recycled water.
“Sustainability has always been fundamental to everything we do here. From our biodynamic farm and clean energy Natural Beauty Plant in the Adelaide Hills, to our commitment to reducing our carbon cycle and looking after our people, sustainability is at the core of Jurlique,” said Davis.
Jurlique hopes not only to be transparent about its business, but also to educate its customers on what they can do on a daily basis to become more eco-friendly.
“Our focus is on transparency and education,” Davis said. “We want to continue to provide honest information to customers about our production and manufacturing processes. As new technology becomes available, we will continue to improve our processes and adopt better ways of creating formulas and packaging.”
Kjaer Weis
Founded by a veteran make-up artist Kirsten Kjaer Weis, Kjaer Weis is mainly a sustainable makeup brand, but it has a sustainable skincare line as well.
“Our founder Kirsten Kjaer Weis, who is a 20-year make-up artist veteran, saw an open gap in the market for a make-up line without compromises on ingredients’ performance and luxury. It didn’t exist,” said a Kjaer Weis representative.
Ninety-five percent of Kjaer Weis’s ingredients come from organic farming, meaning they don’t add chemicals to the soil. And all of its products are refillable, meaning their package does not need to be thrown away after a few months.
Additionally, with a purchase of both cleanser and toner, Kjaer Weis offers its own organic cleansing cloth, which is made from organic cotton remnants from womenswear brand Loup Charmant, for free. Unlike single-use wipes or cotton pads, organic cleansing cloths can be reused after every wash.
Neal’s Yard Remedies
Founded in 1981, Neal’s Yard Remedies is a UK-based brand that came first in many things. In 2008, it was the first high street retailer to become carbon neutral. In 2014, it was the first health and beauty brand to receive 100/100 for ethics by the Ethical Company Organization.
The brand uses the highest possible percentage of organic ingredients, including ethically sourced herbs, botanicals and essential oils, in all its products.
The brand maintains that sustainability is part of its DNA and is committed to creating its great products in a sustainable and ethical way.
As an example, it uses recyclable blue glass and 100-percent recycled plastic bottles for its products. It also offers refills on two of its products.
L’Oréal USA
Holding brands like Essie, NYX, Garnier, Maybelline, Lancome, Kiehls and more, L’Oréal is one of the big names in the industry. As the largest subsidiary of the group, L’Oréal USA has pledged its plans to achieve carbon neutrality in 2019 for all 21 of its U.S. manufacturing and distribution facilities. Currently, the company has 17 renewable energy installations across the country.
Just last month, L’Oréal finished developing the very first paper-based cosmetic tube, a promising alternative to the majority of plastic packages. Its goal is to release the first model on the market in 2020.
L’Oréal’s business statement stays constant throughout the group’s other brands. For example, in 2011, Garnier partnered with TerraCycle to make previously non-recyclable packaging recyclable, diverting approximately 11.2 million empty packages from ending up in landfills. Also, in all its scrubs, Garnier uses Perlite, a natural alternative to microbeads, which are microscopic plastic beads often used in face and body scrubs and litter our seas.
And one of its luxe brands — Kiehl’s — has a Recycle Be Rewarded system that gives one travel size product for every 10 empty packages a customer brings back.
Currently, 36 percent of L’Oreal’s products contain at least one sustainably sourced raw material, such as quinoa husk extract in its Nightly Refining Micro-Peel Concentrate or ginger leaf in its Ginger Leaf Hibiscus Firming Mask.
L’Occitane
For its packages, L’Occitane uses only renewable resources or those that are sourced from sustainably managed forests to make sustainable customized packaging. The brand also has committed to using 100-percent recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025.
From 2010 to 2016, L’Occitane reduced its carbon footprint by 14 percent.
L’Occitane is committed to using natural ingredients in all its products. For example, it uses ethically sourced almond in its Almond Milk Concentrate and ethically sourced and fairly traded shea butter in its popular, enriching Shea Butter Hand Cream.
LUSH
Lush makes some of its packages from a mix of purchased recycled plastic and recycled black pot material. Also, when a customer brings back five empty packages, they will get a free face mask.
To achieve zero waste, Lush sells 35 percent of its products, including soap bars and bath bombs, in a solid form to remove the need for packaging entirely. The other 65 percent of Lush’s products are packaged in either BPA-free or 100 percent post-consumer recycled plastic or metal.
The beauty industry is also using biotechnology to create sustainable skincare products .
An an example, Biossance, a skincare line, makes squalene, a naturally occurring oil traditionally derived from shark livers or olives, from renewable sugarcane instead.
And One Ocean Beauty uses biotechnology to reproduce marine extracts from algae, kelp and seaweed in a lab rather than harvesting them from the sea and tapping into our limited resources.
The trend is definitely there. The numbers show it.
According to Grand View Research, the global natural and organic cosmetics market reached a revenue of $10.31 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach a value of $48.04 billion by 2025.
However, trends come and go. And for any other trend, coming and going could have been okay. But, this one can’t for our Earth cannot go once and come back another time.
While brands have their responsibilities, consumers also have theirs. They have to turn this trend into a lifestyle.
What can you do?
First, buy only what your skin can take in. Especially for sensitive skin, finding the perfect moisturizer that won’t leave you breaking out is hard. Trust me. I understand. I’m one of you.
The more sensitive you are, the more research you’ll need to do. And once you find your match, stick with it and leave some room for your skin to work its intrinsic power to heal itself. The last thing you want to do is overwhelm your skin with so many products.
Second, once your skincare routine is fixed, recycle your empty skincare products properly. Make sure all containers are clean to avoid recycling contamination. Then, check the labeling and determine how to recycle it.
If unclear, try TerraCycle, a program that offers free recycling for all beauty product packaging, or Return to Origins, a recycling program that takes and recycles all cosmetic containers regardless of brand.
Hyeyeun Jeon is from South Korea and a graduate from Carnegie Mellon University with a double major in Professional Writing and International Relations. She is passionate about non-fiction storytelling. She loves reading, watching, writing and producing stories about extraordinary lives of everyday people.
HOW TO Recycle Your Beauty Products
While 90% of us recycle our kitchen waste where possible, less than half of us follow the same rules with our bathroom waste. So, what’s holding us back? If you’re not sure how to go green with your beauty waste, read my guide…
When it comes to the beauty industry, it is undeniable that more needs to be done to up eco credentials. Sustainable beauty might be on the rise, with more and more brands thinking about how to cut down on non-recyclable packaging and lower their carbon footprint, but what can we do right now to help? The first step is to ensure we are correctly disposing of our waste. But how do you recycle beauty products? Can you recycle makeup tubes? Mascara wands? Shampoo bottles? It can be very confusing! So, before you give up and throw the whole lot out, let me give you an easy-to-follow guide:
HOW TO RECYCLE YOUR BEAUTY PRODUCTS
TWO BIN RULE
We all have two bins in our kitchens, but most of us only have one bin in our bathrooms, meaning that everything ends up in landfill. The first thing to do is to add a second bin into your bathroom so that you have one for waste and one for recycling. The second challenge is learning what goes in each…BOTTLES
Let’s start with bottles. In general, shampoo, conditioner, shower gel and other plastic bottles can be recycled. However, you should make sure they’re cleaned before you recycle them (scoop leftover product out and throw in your waste bin rather than washing down the sink, or better yet, actually use it!). Lids can usually be recycled unless they are pumps, trigger head or flip-top opening.AEROSOLS
Deodorants, hairsprays and other aerosols are usually accepted in recycling schemes, but check your local collection and make sure they are completely empty.GLASS
Any glass jars or bottles can be easily recycled, either with your collection scheme or at a bottle / glass recycling bank. Just make sure they are clean and remove any plastic lids. And don’t forget that glass jars and candle holders often make pretty storage pots around the home so you can recycle them in this way, too!ELECTRICALS
Don’t forget that you can often repair or replace parts of old electricals rather than throwing the whole thing out, and if it is simply a case of upgrading, pass your old hair tools on to a charity shop. Cloud Nine has a straighteners recycling scheme, find out more here.WHAT CAN’T YOU RECYCLE?
The bottle caps I mentioned above can’t be recycled, along with makeup brushes, mascara brushes, nail varnish and fragrance bottles.TERRACYCLE
Brands including REN, L’Occitane and Kiehl’s are now partnering with TerraCycle, to accept old beauty containers to recycle on your behalf, often offering cash-back or free products. You can also visit https://www.terracycle.Horsham-based Bimbo Bakeries USA To Adopt 100%
Hippie Haven cares about customers, environment
Hippie Haven aims to empower customers to live well while caring for the oceans and earth.
The new store at 806 St. Joseph St. officially opened Dec. 1. It sells all-natural, eco-friendly, ethically produced skin care, personal care, kitchen and laundry products, and home goods. Hippie Haven is the retail arm of Bestowed Essentials, a wholesale manufacturing company launched in Rapid City in 2018.
Customers can shop at Hippie Haven or pick up items there they ordered through bestowedessentials.com/ . A new website, hippiehavenshop.com, will launch soon. Hippie Haven’s business hours will be 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
Bestowed Essentials and Hippie Haven are part of owner Callee Ackland’s mission to help others live environmentally low-impact lives. She describes Hippie Haven as South Dakota’s first zero-waste store.
“A less common term for zero waste is low-impact living. It’s being mindful of the choices you’re making, what you’re buying or what you’re choosing not to buy, as well as daily lifestyle habits,” Ackland said.
“Use what you’ve already got. Reuse anything you can. Try to find an item second-hand or borrow it. When you buy new, opt for the most eco-friendly option you can find.Try to make the best choice with what’s available on the market,” she said.
Hippie Haven will carry products from Bestowed Essentials and other carefully vetted sources that meet Ackland’s requirements for being eco-conscious. Even packaging must be compostable or recyclable. When possible, Ackland eliminates product packaging or encourages customers to use their own refillable containers.
Starting in January, Hippie Haven will introduce DIY classes focused on making household and personal care items from materials available in the store.
Ackland predominantly buys from female vendors and suppliers because she’s passionate about empowering women.
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“We should be supporting small businesses regularly and especially female-owned businesses,” Ackland said. “I’ve been so inspired throughout my life by so many strong women who take what life throws at them and turn lemons into lemonade. … I have been supported by so many amazing women and I love to turn that around and try to support other women. We are more powerful when we work together.”
Ackland’s businesses have evolved from a soap-making hobby she began in 2016 while stationed in Georgia with the U.S. Navy. She was making and giving soap to friends and family, then opened an Etsy store and sold soap at a local farmer’s market. The beauty of the Black Hills and South Dakota’s tax benefits for businesses enticed Ackland to establish her business in Rapid City. Bestowed Essentials products are currently sold at 150 retailers nationwide and recently expanded into Canada, Ackland said. She also speaks, consults, travels and hosts the Hippie Haven podcast.
From the beginning, Ackland’s products were organic, vegan, cruelty-free and encased in eco-friendly packaging. Then she saw a documentary, “A Plastic Ocean,” that inspired her to do more. The documentary examined pollution and microplastics in the ocean and how that, in turn, affects humans.
“I was struck by how big of a problem it was,” Ackland said. More research into pollution and microplastics prompted her to sell all-natural household goods, such as toothbrushes, bandages, shower mitts and even toilet brushes.
“When you’re using something made out of plastic, especially bristles or fibers, every time you use it some of that breaks off and those are entering our waterways and oceans. The average American is consuming one credit-card size amount of microplastics every week. It’s in the water, the soil, in the fish you’re eating,” Ackland said.
Ackland partnered with the Ocean Blue Project to remove and properly dispose of one pound of trash from American beaches for every order placed on Bestowed Essentials’ website. As of October, that partnership removed 1,208 pounds of trash this year, she said.
Hippie Haven also will offer Terracycle in its store. People can drop off items that can’t be recycled locally — razors and razor blades, beauty product packaging, oral care waste, contact lenses and packaging, Styrofoam and plastic straws. Hippie Haven pays the cost to ship the items to Terracycle for recycling.
Ackland offers more ideas for eco-friendly living at hippiehavenpodcast.com, and the Hippie Haven store will have a lending library where people can educate themselves about veganism, sustainable living, mindfulness and meditation. One of the best low-impact choices people can make is to eat foods grown locally and in season, she said. Turning off unneeded lights, using less water, walking or carpooling to work, choosing vegan products and other day-to-day habits are ways to live in an eco-friendly manner.
“The real meaning of zero waste is trying to do the best you can as often as you can in the society we live in,” Ackland said. “All the little things add up.”
Des cendriers pour contrer la pollution par les mégots
Pour contrer la pollution générée par les mégots de cigarettes, les Saguenéens et les Jeannois sont invités à participer à un concours de fabrication de cendriers.
L’idée émane de Johanne Morin, qui œuvre au café Cambio, sur la rue Racine. Lasse de voir le nombre grandissant de mégots qui jonchent le sol du centre-ville, à proximité du commerce, elle a décidé de prendre le problème de front.
Le concours lancé par Johanne Morin vise l’implantation de cendriers originaux aux quatre coins de la région.
Les bricoleurs ont jusqu'à la fin janvier pour mettre au point leurs prototypes. Les cendriers devront être assez robustes pour résister aux intempéries et aux vandales. Les designs devront être tape-à-l’œil et, idéalement, les créations seront fabriquées à partir de matières recyclées.
Les cendriers recevront les mégots, mais aussi les pellicules de plastique, le carton et le papier d’aluminium contenu dans les paquets de cigarettes. Cette pratique permettra d’éviter que ces matières prennent le chemin de l’enfouissement. TerraCycle, une entreprise spécialisée dans le domaine, les récupérera.
Le projet de Johanne Morin a reçu l’aval du Conseil régional de l'environnement et du développement durable du Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean.
L'idée, c'est de faire quelque chose de beau qui gagnerait l'attention et le respect des gens, poursuit-elle.
Johanne Morin était lasse de voir des mégots joncher le sol du centre-ville de Chicoutimi et a décidé de lancer un concours de fabrication de cendriers.
PHOTO : RADIO-CANADA
Ce qu'on souhaite avec ce projet-là, c'est de les détourner du lieu d'enfouissement et de leur donner une certaine valeur. C'est une initiative qu'on soutient, qu'on soutient même financièrement. En fait, on a versé 500 $ à Mme Morin pour qu’elle mène à bien son projet. L'initiative nous paraissait tout à fait intéressante, note le directeur général de l’organisme, Tommy Tremblay.
Les créateurs des cendriers les plus prometteurs se partageront l’enveloppe versée par le Conseil régional de l’environnement et du développement durable.
D'après le reportage de Catherine Gignac