New Zealand-based skincare brand Ethique is on a mission to eliminate plastic waste. That is why they chose to specialize in the niche industry of beauty bars. We’re talking about solid shampoos, conditioners, body scrubs, body moisturizers, and more.
Fittingly, the brand’s name means “ethical” in French. It was founded by Kiwi entrepreneur Brianne West in 2012, and since then has grown into a globally-recognized beauty brand. Ethique products are currently sold in the United States, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the United Kingdom, and can be purchased online and shipped almost anywhere in the world.
Since its inception, Ethique has created and sold over 40 different kinds of beauty bars. All Ethique bars are natural, vegan, cruelty-free, waste-free, and use biodegradable packing. To date, through their plastic-free alternatives to traditional personal care products that are too often packaged in plastic bottles, the brand has prevented over 6 million plastic bottles from being made and subsequently thrown into landfills.
It has been part of Ethique’s mission from the beginning not to contribute to the 80 million plastic shampoo and conditioner bottles thrown out each year worldwide. Further, Ethique aims for sustainability in all aspects of their brand. From using vegan ingredients to reducing water use, they want to give back as much as they take, and then some.
The first tenet of Ethique’s sustainability model is that they are climate neutral. They believe there is no choice but to lower their carbon emissions, and so they offset all of their emissions.
Second, there is no denying that animal agriculture is negatively impacting the environment. In fact, studies have shown that animal farming is responsible for up to 24 percent of global carbon emissions. Thus, Ethique is an all-vegan brand, using plant-based ingredients for each and every one of their products.
Third, reducing water use has been extremely important to Ethique since the beginning. According to their research, up to 90 percent of a traditional bottle of conditioner can be water. Meanwhile, there are already water shortages around the world that are expected to get worse. To combat this problem, Ethique’s bars are equivalent to at least three bottles of the traditional product version. This translates to roughly 1 litre of water saved for every bar made by Ethique.
Further, in line with Ethique’s commitment to using vegan ingredients, they also ensure that all ingredients they source are sustainable. Thus, they have a list of criteria that all ingredients must meet, and this includes healthy and safe to use, cruelty-free, and sustainably produced.
In regards to the latter criterion, Ethique always partners with small producers to ensure that workers are paid a fair price and that the environment is protected in the growing and harvesting of the ingredient. They also only use ingredients that are renewable, non-petroleum sourced, and naturally derived.
Finally, Ethique has completely embraced zero-waste packaging. All of their packaging is plastic-free, compostable, and has no chemical coatings. This means that all of their boxes and labels will biodegrade in a compost bin, rather than sit in a landfill. In addition, the material that the boxes are made from is sourced from PEFC certified forests. Forests of this kind are logged without minimal impact to the surrounding environment.
