On Building a Sustainable Brand
Welcome to our new blog, here we’ll be sharing with you the journey of building a sustainable wellness brand for the communities we serve and more importantly we hope to hear your comments and learn from you too.
First things first- In our first post we’ll talk about sustainability and the process of using sustainable packaging for supplements.
On our journey to launching Nutrili, we've worked to get many aspects of our products right:
- Formulations that are effective
- High dosages that deliver results
- Ingredients that are clean and natural
- End-products that are delicious and delightful
Last but not least is packaging, it's an important yet often overlooked variable.
Sustainability
Working with our manufacturing partners and packaging suppliers has been a collaboration to overcome some of the challenges the industry faces in becoming sustainable.
Even as a start-up with limited leverage relative to global conglomerates, we wanted to make sure we wouldn't have to compromise on environmental principles. Sustainability and transparency served as anchors for decisions we took throughout the product development process.
Product Development
Early on in our research and development process, we learned it is easier to develop products using artificial ingredients and high sugar content for several reasons.
- Sugar improves the palatability of most supplements. Hence, many manufacturing partners will recommend raising the sugar content, especially with bitter supplements.
- Artificial is cheaper and brings higher margins. Hence the easier route for many brands is to use artificial ingredients wherever possible to cut costs and increase profits.
- Research is expensive and takes time, hence few manufacturers choose to take the time to invest in perfecting their products and raising the bar.
Finding the right partner with our shared values is vital to make sure we create products that are natural, effective and sustainable.
Recycling
While sustainability has been climbing higher on the agendas of companies in the supplements industry, it’s still not an enshrined value.
We realized 100% recycled material isn’t the default choice in packaging for several reasons:
- Recycling is expensive: Acquiring used plastic and recycling it costs almost twice as much as virgin plastic.
- Minimum order quantities are very high for recycled plastic due to it being a non-standard order, leading to a high upfront cost and consequent storage cost.
We believe that as more companies start adopting recycled materials in their packaging, and consumers become more sensitive to pollution of our planet, using environmentally friendly packaging will become the norm. Our goal is that 80% of the products we sell are made of 100% recycled materials. Currently, our gummy jars are made from 100% recycled ocean diverted plastic. We're also experimenting with packing our products in pouches that utilize 90% less material than traditional packaging.
Thanks for reading! What sustainability challenges have you faced while launching your brand or while looking for environmentally-friendly products?
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