We are guided by a commonsense approach to balancing the needs of our customers with the highest levels of environmental stewardship.  We start with a first principles approach for each decision and ask if every material component we consider using is even necessary.  If so, how can we source our materials from responsible suppliers?

Do we even need it?

While surveying our competitor's lists of ingredients, it occurred to us that there were way more components in the ingredient lists than were likely necessary.  In addition, researching the sometimes-dubious claims regarding the efficacy of each element made us suspicious of some sources, many representing natural or organic products.  Even the more prominent corporate players touted lengthy lists but primarily unrecognizable chemical names in these cases.

With our heads swimming with lists of chemicals, their functions, and all the natural ingredients and their benefits, we decided to step back and start with a blank slate, adding the least number of the most promising ingredients and testing…testing…testing.  We added and deleted and then added some components back in.  We looked at what worked and selected the best ingredients to achieve our product goals.  The result is a product label with a fraction of the number of ingredients as most of our competitors.

fewer ingredients = fewer items to ship from multiple suppliers and less packaging to go into a landfill

Responsible material selection

Once we established the minimum list of ingredients to make our products performant and the best in each category, we aimed to identify and vet suppliers that shared our values of transparency, top-notch customer service, and a sound environmental policy.  We “tested” our supply chain almost as rigorously as we did our product, ordering every component we tested from multiple suppliers.  We timed how long they took to fulfill each order and paid close attention to how they shipped the product to us, including waste in packing material and origin warehouse distances.

For shipping, we use eco-friendly mailers with minimal packing material necessary to get the product safely to our customers. In addition, our containers are recyclable; some customers have even given our tin containers another life by cleaning them up and reusing them.  Check out our article on reduce/reuse/recycle for more information.