The term garbage has a marketing problem
Here's how I think we should solve it
What if we rename garbage to landfill?
I recently saw this at a coffee shop.
They didn’t have the usual garbage and recycle.
Instead, they had landfill and recycle.
It made me pause for a second longer than usual.
To decide if I want to send stuff to a landfill.
Garbage doesn’t mean much.
It feels like it would be collected, separated, and taken care of.
With a landfill, you become aware that’s ending up in a landfill.
And it would sit there for decades, if not centuries
It would probably push people to think more about their waste.
And demand better products from the brands.
One that does not end up in the landfills.
For this week, I’ve 3 startups that are making low-waste alternatives for our everyday use items⬇️
Try pronouncing these…Methylisothiazolinone. Benzisothiazolinone. Could you? These are common ingredients found in our laundry detergents. A typical laundry detergent washes down the drain and carries harmful chemicals with it- some of which are carcinogenic. So they affect humans and the planet. We convert these chemicals into laundry pods by wrapping them in plastic and then use even a bigger plastic jar to store and transport these pods.😮💨
Forget your laundry jars…Kind Laundry has come up with an alternative to it- an eco-friendly and low-waste one. They have replaced traditional laundry detergents with laundry sheets. You can simply put these paper-thin sheets in the machine with your laundry. Free of any toxic chemicals, they completely dissolve in the wash cycle- without leaving any sticky, gooey, or hard residues.
These strips are hypoallergenic and are made from plant-derived ingredients.
Plastic-free packaging and products- better for the planet.
Take up very little space in your laundry area.
Not convinced?… As they are lightweight and compact, the transportation fuel consumption and carbon emissions are significantly less (~90%), compared to powder or liquid detergent. It’s one of the products that I can personally vouch for.
Look around you…Can you count the number of single-use plastic items in your house? Stationery items, cosmetics, food packaging, and toiletries- all of them have single-use plastic. Even if you are responsible and throw them in the recycle bins, there’s a high probability that they would end up in a landfill. And would stay on the planet for centuries.
Switch to reusables…LastObject wants to eliminate these single-use items from the planet and replace them with reusable and sustainable alternatives. Their first and most famous product is LastSwab- the world’s first reusable cotton swab. By using LastSwab, you can save 1000+ cotton swabs from polluting the planet. Some of their other interesting low-waste products are-
LastRound- a reusable alternative to makeup pads and rounds.
LastTissue- an environmentally friendly reusable tissue/handkerchief.
And the newly launched LastPad, a reusable menstrual pad.
Need to look good…The brand understands the importance of design along with reusability. I mean look at the LastSwab image above. All of their products are designed at their headquarters in Copenhagen. They deliver across a few countries in the world in a plastic-free manner.
Are you satisfied?… Everytime you throw your toothpaste tube away, do you ask yourself if you could have extracted more? Research says there’s a high chance that you used only 90% of what was in there. They are designed so that you buy the next one sooner. Manufacturers don’t really care about the waste that these plastic tubes create.
There’s an alternative…The UK alone uses 300 million tubes of toothpaste every year- enough to circle the globe twice. Georganics is trying to minimize the impact of these tubes on the planet- by innovating in the oral care space. They have replaced toothpaste with toothpaste tablets. These cruelty-free and vegan tablets come in a glass jar.
You can chew them, let them dissolve, and then brush as usual.
They are made without liquids which makes them easy to carry and store.
They might take some time to get used to but are a healthier and more sustainable alternative.
Nothing goes to a landfill…Similar to the toothpaste tablets, they also have mouthwash tablets that can be dissolved in water at home- instead of buying a plastic liquid mouthwash bottle. All of their products that have to be recycled, like the brush heads of the bamboo brush, can be sent back to them. They have partnered up with TerraCycle to recycle and repurpose them.
🙋Trivia of the week
The answer to last week’s trivia is Australia, which has an estimated food waste per capita of 102kg, the highest in the world.
Thanks for reading today’s edition. If you think this could add value to others in your network, please do share it with them.
Hit that 💚 if you learned something new today.
Thanks and see you next week😄