Dead Dinosaurs and Hot Air

Yup . . . this is Dr. K’s blog post about sustainability.

The fossil fuel and climate change discussions are everywhere and God knows I (formulator nerd speaking) don’t want to rehash all of the same nonsense all over again here like proselytizing to my beloved guests (you).

So, what I am going to do is hash out where we stand on it as a company and why we make the choices we do, because, dammit, we’re proud of what we do.

As far as we’re concerned, there are three main things driving much of the way we handle . . . stuff.
1 - Fossil fuels are limited and won’t last forever
2 - Plastic recycling can’t be relied on
3 - The carbon/fuel costs of making stuff and moving stuff are underconsidered as they’re more obscure.

It’s important to us to take all of those things into consideration at every step of our business, from how and where we conduct business, how many appliances stay plugged in at the office (the answer is only the refrigerator with temp-sensitive ingredients in it), and how we purchase supplies and package products for sale and shipping.

You know the old saying, “reduce, reuse, recycle?” It’s a cliche from hell by now! But we don’t just believe it’s three words - we believe it’s a full-on pecking order. Reduce > Reuse > Recycle.
I know, I know. “Someone who’s selling us something is telling us to reduce?” Bet your ass I am! I want you to buy just enough of your favorite product that all of it gets used up before time catches up to it and it has to get thrown out.

It gets even more insane, are you ready?
We want you to put the small amounts of plastic you get from us in the trash.

Yes. I sound like I’m either irresponsible or a dumbass, but hear me out: (mobile users and small screens zoom in please!)

This is why our big bottles are only refills, so the plastic pump/spray tops (with no affordable plastic-less alternatives yet) don’t get tossed out again and again.

This is why all of our bottles are aluminum or steel;
1 - Plastic needs to be minimized. Case closed.
2 - Glass sucks too:
- It’s heavy and bulky and therefore requires more fossil fuels per amount of product to both get the empty glasses to us from their manufacturers AND to ship them to you.
- In my neck of the woods they don’t take glass in the curbside recycle, so it would be a spare trip in my combustion-engine car to go throw it in a glass recycle bin, adding insult to injury.
- While it’s not generally toxic like plastics, it doesn’t biodegrade because it’s freakin’ melted sand. (Three guesses and two don’t count where the fuel to melt it comes from?)
3 - Aluminum recycles easily and recycles into high-quality products, unlike plastics that degrade during reprocessing.

I think glass is cool, but shipping 1.5 ounce aluminum bottles versus 4 ounce glasses that both hold two ounces of snarky luxury . . . done deal. It’s a karma thing. My kids don’t have a choice but to take the reins someday and I have to look them in the eye tonight.

Happy shopping. I love you.
- Pathologic Introvert