What do you do when things don’t go as planned? You make the next best plan.
Wanna hear ours?
When I started a shower bar company in 2014, I knew it had to include an easy way to use a bar on the go.
I began the research phase for our Shoofahs: a mesh bag with a strap that was quick-dry, didn’t harbor bacteria, and helped the soap last longer.
After searching high and low for a way to create a Shoofah from natural or recycled fibers, I realized I didn’t yet have the benefit of scale so my options were limited. That's why I was delighted when I discovered an effective solution with a co-manufacturer for our Shoofahs; there was only one drawback.
They’re made from plastic.
The upsides of our current Shoofahs (and ultimately why Shoofahs exist today!):
- The type of plastic used is #1 virgin plastic. In other words, it’s the least toxic to be putting against your skin.
- #1 plastic is easiest to recycle.
- It is extremely light weight and completely non-absorbent, making it great for travel and outdoor adventures.
- It doesn’t harbor bacteria.
- It lasts a long time and helps each bar last longer, too.
But still. Our goal is to be completely plastic free by 2030.
So what do we do while we continue researching and developing for a plastic-free alternative?
We go PLASTIC NEUTRAL.
Thanks to our new partnership with @rePurpose_global, Redbudsuds products are now Plastic Neutral Certified.
Just what good does this certification do?
Actually, quite a lot.
For every pound of plastic that we sell in our Shoofahs, we fund the removal of plastic from oceans that would not have otherwise been reclaimed.
Thanks to rePurpose Global’s “100% additionality promise,” our partnership means that it isn’t just any old plastic that we’re helping recoup from the waste stream; we go the step further and target the stuff that isn’t otherwise reclaimed. Without our help, it would end up in a dump or in the ocean.
So while our Shoofahs may be easily recycled even without the certification, we are creating the opportunity for harder-to-recycle items to be recovered; things like wrappers, multi-layered plastics, etc.
And there’s more!
Through our Plastic Neutral Certification, rePurpose Global has connected us with a partner organization who is doing some truly ground-breaking urban sustainability work: CarPe.
We are delighted to work with CarPe, and here's why.
Located in India, locally owned and operated (with upper management being predominately women!), CarPe Waste Management empowers rural communities to create innovative solutions for waste management.
In other words, they make gross stuff great, and we get to help them do that even better.
Thanks to funding like ours, they’re turning post-consumer plastic waste into a valuable raw materials. Learn more about them here.
THAT’S living thoughtfully clean.
To sum it up:
In addition to totally STOPPING plastic bottles through our 4-in-1 bars (98,000 and counting to date!), we’re delighted to be offsetting the plastic we produce in our reusable Shoofahs by funding clean solutions with every purchase.
Happy showering.
Lisa