The biggest-polluting brands need to change their business models – and fast

The onus is not solely on the individual consumer to fight for a more sustainable future. Big companies need to make an effort too, writes Emma Henderson

Zero-waste products are more important than ever in the battle for a greener planet (Getty)

New year, new you is how the motto goes. Out with the old and in with the new. Most people’s resolutions following this idiom would most likely have fallen by the wayside weeks ago. If anyone is still keeping up their new year resolutions, we salute you. We all know it’s no easy task.

But if yours was to consume more sustainably, then I’m pretty sure you won’t have found it as hard as some of us with unattainable hopes such as giving up that daily, wonderful chocolate bar, as brands are starting to react to how conscious the consumer is becoming (and who doesn’t love chocolate?).

Aside from edibles, what I’m really talking about is the products we use day in and day out, from cleaning solutions to shower gel. We buy it, use the contents and then throw it away, only to buy a new one which is exactly the same. But there’s nothing wrong with any of the bottles we have.

When my bottle of shampoo runs out, isn’t it absurd that I then need to buy a whole new bottle that’s exactly the same as the “old” one, when its only crime was that it just so happened to run out of the main purpose I needed it for: its contents. It hadn’t, god forbid, committed the cardinal sin of leaking in my bag, but neither had it been able to biodegrade. Instead, it will last hundreds of years, stuck in a huge rubbish pile, polluting our soil and oceans and anything that dares to attempt to eat it.

But there are brands who aren’t profit-obsessed and are breaking the mould to start offering refillables. Some of these brands are B Corp certified, meaning they’ve had to reach – and prove that they consistently attain – incredibly high standards of sustainability. There’s no greenwashing and they’re not there to watch the zeros rack up on their bank accounts. They want to make a difference.

As the editor of IndyBest, our product review section, I’ve had plenty of emails come into my inbox from brands who are changing their models to also sell refills.

Kankan, a brand making hand washes, uses glass bottles for its products and its refills come in aluminium cans which are 100 per cent recyclable and – more importantly – retain its properties indefinitely, which plastic does not. An estimated 75 per cent of aluminium ever produced is still in use today. If you don’t want your glass bottle anymore, you can also return it to the brand to be reused.

Bower collective (also B Corp certified) is doing the same for almost all of our daily needs, from laundry to household cleaning, period products and even dental floss.

Yes, there are already zero-waste shops where you can fill up all of your reusable containers with lentils, soap, milk and practically anything else you need. But it’s big brands that need to make changes. They’re the most polluting, and the onus is not solely on the consumer. We can only consume what’s available, so it’s important for sections like ours to find and champion the brands like these going the extra mile.

Yours

Emma Henderson

IndyBest editor