Earth Day, Every Day
Aubrey LindseyShare
Happy Earth Day! [original post April 21, 2024]
Earth day has been officially celebrated since 1970. It was organized as a day to celebrate the earth and bring awareness about keeping the environment healthy. Currently 190 countries celebrate this day!
Growing up and in school I fiercely remember the three R's being preached to us - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. We had a recycling bin right behind my childhood home so we would regularly recycle! Moving forward into college, my zoology class began researching alongside the Ocean Conservancy - Seafood Watch application. That was a useful tool to help you shop in the stores to pick quality seafood that was caught, appropriately. Those are two different ways to go along with earth day celebrations; being conscious of your food but also what you do with the contents of every day life. Some items cannot be recycled as easily (hence, reuse as often as you can!) Recycling is a privilege. We live in a society where these bins are not readily accessible to everyone. If towns do have them, people might not have access to get their items to these bins. Asking a friend or a neighbor to assist or getting together a group to recycle is a great way to begin this process!
In my daily life I try to be as eco-conscious as I can. When going to the store, I like to bring my own bags. If I don't remember my bags due to mom-brain, then I do use those plastic bags as my bathroom bin bags, or for the cat litter cleanings vs just tossing them out. Whenever I have packaged foods that I know the materials can be recycled, I do so. I think people sometimes get overwhelmed with the idea of all the green terminologies. It can be really overwhelming. From a business perspective, being eco-conscious is a never ending struggle - especially in the skincare world. In this business there is always some form of waste. From waste water, soap scraps, wax scraps, candle wick tips, shipping materials, carbon emissions from shipping in general, etc.
So, what is done to help decrease the waste? Whenever I make products I do as much as I can in one day to limit dishes, thus reducing wasted water. Every soap scrap is used in a re-batch soap that is donated to women's shelters - these create a really pretty mosaic soap. I personally use scrap wax in my wax warmer in my own home. Candle wick tips can be used in that scrap wax for fire starters or made in a smaller vessel of that scrap wax as an emergency candle (from the midwest here so a lot of storms and power outages can happen). Shipping materials, I reuse everything I obtain in orders. Carbon emissions from shipping in general - well, I order in bulk. So when I order supplies I make sure that it is a massive order to get it all in one go. I also try to send all of my outgoing packages out on one day, however the post does make daily trips regardless. When it comes to materials I use to package my items, I use soap boxes that are recyclable. They are made of a thick card stock paper and a matte finish. I also use soap bands for custom soap labels which are printed on thick paper and biodegradable. For the custom made wax melt bars I use cello bags which are 100% biodegradable as well. As for jars - I use glass (for candles) and plastic (PET specifically for skincare).
Glass and plastic have been in a constant battle for years. Whenever I started to make products I wanted to use glass, however as a new business starting out, plastic was more cost effective. I wanted to be sure that I was making the right move because I want to do everything I can to limit waste. When looking at packaging materials it is very important to look at the entire life cycle assessment of that material in the ECI (environmental cost indicator). That means looking into the raw materials that goes into making it, the energy used, transportation, ended expectation and dividing all of that into impact categories. Overall, glass does have a higher recycling rate compared to plastic. On the other hand, glass is derived from silica mining sites. Silica does make up 59% of the earth, but the process of mining has a lot of emissions. Plastic is a byproduct of the crude oil industry. Not, great, we can just state that outright. Single use plastics also have a lower recycle rate compared to glass overall. But, when compared together in the overall ECI plastic has a lower impact than glass. Less material is used to make the specific (jar), which uses less emissions and less cost for transportation. Bringing me to my next point, overall product cost.
As a young business I want to be affordable to everyone. Being affordable as a small business owner is HARD. I want everyone to be able to have quality products that are made with quality ingredients. For example: my lotion jars are packaged in 4oz PET jars and I charge $5 for them. If I were to use a glass jar, I would have to charge $10 (minimum). That is a drastic price difference and not what I am aiming to do. Why the higher price, especially if the price per jar is approximately 20 cents in variance? I have to take into consideration the shipping of getting me the jars themselves, which costs so much more for glass shipments. The cost to you, the customer purchasing the lotion in glass, would have a higher shipment as well and therefore would require additional packaging materials to prevent the bottle from breaking in transit (hence the increase of cost per jar).
When it comes to my jar packaging, I do not reuse anything again for skincare products that I make. Why? When it comes to skincare making and creating, I am following Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs). These are set in place to ensure that goods are made with a consistent quality and overall safety. For example: when and if you go out to eat at a fast food restaurant and you are given the wrong food items in the drive thru. You pull aside to go in and get your correct order. What you touched (including the entire bag) will be thrown out. Even though the food inside was perfectly fine aside from not being what you ordered, you touched it, so it cannot be given to someone else. The same scenario applies here. Whenever I fill jars of product I am working on a surface that has been sterilized and I am wearing gloves. I want to ensure that I will be providing sanitary skincare products to you, always. As for glass, I do not reuse any glass jars for products. Glass can crack easily but any microscopic flaw in the structure of the glass can cause it to spontaneously break. I have had it happen with the face of our oven. That is tempered glass which should not shatter. However, over time of the door getting shut too hard, people leaning on the oven and so on, it eventually had enough and shattered (RIP to our oven, 2023). It can take time for this to happen of course, so by all means you do you! I myself just cannot accommodate this for my business. Want to reuse your own jars? Yeah you do! I have loads of customers that love to reuse any material jar as plant starters, storage containers for rocks/buttons/dice/etc, diy containers for homemade play-doh/paint/chalk. You could even use the glass jar to catch and release lightning bugs (or fireflies) in the summer! The opportunities are truly endless.
All in all, Earth Day is a day to celebrate the beautiful planet we all call home. Doing your best to follow the three R's and understanding the entire life cycle analysis of products you use daily makes a difference. Taking little moments to be conscious about decisions. But most importantly to realize that big businesses and billionaires have the money AND power to make the changes needed seemingly overnight. So do your best guys! Small changes do add up over time! Be kind. Hug a tree. Heck, go plant a tree (and some wildflowers for the bees) and have a great week!
Bubbles and Suds to you all,
Aubrey Lindsey, Owner
References:
https://ecochain.com/case-studies/case-study-packaging-plastic-vs-glass/
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230427-glass-or-plastic-which-is-better-for-the-environment
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969722029746
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/14/3/371
https://sustainability.utah.edu/recycle-right/
https://thewhiteorange.medium.com/why-recycling-is-a-privilege-not-a-duty-75d19bd4eac9
https://safetyculture.com/topics/gmp/#