The sweetest plastic
Did you know our supplement packaging is climate positive? It's all thanks to sugarcane, a clever little raw material we use to make our I'm Green™ pottles.
For every 1MT of sugarcane plastic produced, 3.09MT of carbon is captured, making it a much more sustainable option than traditional plastic, which creates 5.0MT of carbon for every 1MT of plastic produced.
Why we switched to I’m Green Pottles
We’re constantly looking for new ways to minimise the effect we have on the environment, and in 2020, we spent many months researching more sustainable packaging options. We were inspired by iconic kiwi brands like EcoStore to make the change to sugarcane plastic and help reduce our carbon footprint.
Most plastic is made from non-renewable raw materials such as oil or natural gas. The extraction of these materials, along with the process of converting it into plastic, releases carbon into the atmosphere which adds to climate change.
Unlike the raw materials for traditional plastic, sugarcane is a renewable resource making it a much more sustainable option for packaging. It also has a climate-positive carbon footprint because sugarcane helps remove CO2 from the air as it grows.
The sugarcane used for our pottles is sustainably and ethically sourced from Brazil as a byproduct of the sugarcane industry where it’s milled and transformed into sugarcane ethanol which is then used to create Sugarcane Plastic. The processing facilities that make sugarcane ethanol operate almost exclusively on energy that comes from sugarcane by-products, and any surplus energy is sent to the grid. The Sugarcane Plastic is sent in bulk to our packaging manufacturer in Auckland where it’s molded into our I’m Green™ Pottles.
Whilst our I’m Green™Pottles may be made from 100% sugarcane, the plastic behaves and performs in exactly the same way as our old packaging: it’s sturdy, food-safe, totally recyclable and is still classed as #2 HDPE plastic plastic, unlike some other types of bio-based plastic. Although nearly all councils accept #2 HDPE for recycling, we know that about 40% of all collected plastic still ends up in landfill. This is why we choose to partner with TerraCycle to guarantee that our packaging can always be recycled in a zero-landfill recycling programme - including our new I’m Green™ Pottles. You can read more about our TerraCycle scheme byclicking here.
Why we chose to stick with plastic (hear us out!)
We know, we know. Plastic has a bad rap. However, it’s not quite the bad boy of the packaging world that it’s made out to be...
Before choosing to change to sugarcane plastic we spent many months researching different types of packaging to understand the pros and cons of the options available to us. From the simplified table below, you can see that it’s actually very complicated and unfortunately there is no perfect packaging solution. For us, the pros of sugarcane plastic easily outweigh the cons, especially when compared to alternative types of packaging currently available.
Other steps we’ve taken towards sustainability this year
- We’ve invested in the TerraCycle Global Recycling Programme (NZ and Australia), giving our customers access to a closed-loop recycling programme.
- We’ve replaced all of our courier bags with home compostable courier bags.
- We’re proud to continue working with an innovative and sustainability-focused New Zealand-based packaging company, PharmaPac. We’re in constant discussions with them around the latest packaging innovations.
This is just the beginning for us. We’re not perfect and we’ve got a long way to go - but we’re so glad that you’ve chosen us and you’re coming along on our journey to sustainability. We can’t wait to share more with you as we learn, grow and adapt.
The team at Jeuneora
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Sources
- For further information on I’m Green Plastic and how it’s sustainably sourced click here.
- The world is running out of sand, click here.