Environmental Impact
Having eco-friendly practices and suppliers is very important to Do Better & Co. I also believe in transparency, this is why I am listing my suppliers in this blog post. I don’t believe in gatekeeping information if it can better our community. With my motto being we can do better as a business and in our homes, this can be helpful for you as a consumer to make more knowledgeable purchases for your home. I’ve separated this blog into 4 different categories, why we sourced the specific ingredients I use, where we sourced our ingredients from, what we use for packaging, and what we are hoping to achieve in the future.
1. We are always working on improving our sources in order to make sure all of our practices are ethical and environmentally friendly. All of the ingredients are home compostable. We have also sourced from local sources such as, Rise Up Coffees used grounds, and a local florists unused eucalyptus leaves which we then process. We source my mint leaves and lavender buds from farms in the area or when in season grown by Rachel. The rice we use for the reusable heat pads is non-GMO. All fabrics are 100% Cotton, dyed with non-toxic dyes or naturally produced pigments. We firmly believe that in order to create the best products they need to come from the best sources. We believe that our earth has created wonderful and natural products that can serve us without additives or toxins.
2. For everything we have sourced, we have tried our best to ensure that it is either Made in the USA or is Fair Trade Certified.
I source my skin care ingredients from:
Nutiva: https://www.nutiva.com/pages/social-impact
Plant Therapy: https://www.planttherapy.com/why-plant-therapy
Wholesome Sugar: https://wholesomesweet.com/faqs/
Rise Up Coffee: https://riseupcoffee.com/
Natural Earth Pigment: https://naturalearthpaint.com/faq/
Floret + Vine: Kate@floretandvine.com
We source my ingredients for my Heat Pads from:
Mahatma: https://mahatmarice.com/faqs/other/ (I only use white rice as that is grown in America and non-GMO)
We source my fabric for the heat pads and tote bags from:
Cloud9: https://cloud9fabrics.com/about-us/
Birch: https://birchfabrics.com/frequently-asked-questions/
We use all the offcuts from the heat pads as pockets for the tote bags so that no fabric is wasted. All unusable scraps we will be using as stuffing for the laptop pocket of the tote bags once we have collected enough scraps.
3. All packaging and labels are either recyclable, reusable, or compostable. Gathering local businesses paper and then using it to make reusable paper colored with the natural earth pigment is how we offset our paper usage. We use an all natural adherent also purchased from Natural Earth Paint: https://naturalearthpaint.com/natural-acrylic-medium-16-oz/. All skin care products are packaged in glass with aluminum lids. All shipping materials are made from recycled boxes, and use compostable tape. These products are sourced materials from eco-enclose.
Packing Tape: https://www.ecoenclose.com/non-reinforced-50-recycled-water-activated-tape-2-75x-600-ft-single-roll/
Boxes: https://www.ecoenclose.com/shop/boxes/custom-corrugated-shipping-boxes/
Paper Shred: https://www.ecoenclose.com/100-recycled-ornament-paper-shred-15-x-360/
Hemp Twine: https://www.ecoenclose.com/shop/retail-packaging/hemp-twine/
We also source these items from local businesses that would otherwise throw these items away. There is no plastic in any of the packaging and if any ingredients come in plastic we make sure to either repurpose the container, or recycle at the local recycling plant. For shipping labels they are printed out on our recycled paper and attached to the box so the entirety of the package can be recycled or composted.
5. I have sourced most of my business material, as in the things I use in order to make my products, from buy nothing groups, or Facebook marketplace in order to keep things out of the landfill. I don't like buying new things for my business if I can help it. For every process I make sure that nothing I use is thrown away. Everything I use is either repurposed or recycled. I don't keep a large stock of every product so that nothing goes to waste. I try and sell as often as I can at local craft fairs so that I am selling direct instead of solely relying on shipping.
We would love any and all feed back or if you have any sources you recommend, please email me.
