Photo Credit: Kurt McManus Photography
Anyone who has taken a deep dive into sustainability or the environmental and social crises we are all facing will appreciate how complex it is. But it is also quite simple - if we want to sustain life on this planet, we must live in harmony with it. Every system on our planet is circular. It is the water cycle, the carbon cycle, the LIFE cycle. Therefore, it’s obvious to us that business models and economies need to be circular.
This is the reason why we started Fora. To disrupt the industry of home cleaning products and the established business models that are based on a linear design. Fossil fuels are extracted from the planet to create plastic bottles. These plastic bottles are then filled with water and toxic chemicals which are transported around the world.
Where do those plastic bottles go?
What is the impact of extracting those fossil fuels?
What is the impact of transporting all that water around the world?
What is the impact of those chemicals on our homes?
Well, we did some research.
Pollution
67% of the litter on New Zealand beaches is plastic[1]
Every year, Kiwis throwaway 58kgs of plastic each, making us one of the highest disposers of plastic in the world.[2]
Global plastic production now averages more than 300 million metric tons per year[3], there are over 5 TRILLION pieces of plastic in the world’s oceans[4] and if we continue with the existing approach to plastics there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans by 2050 by weight.[5]
What are we doing about it?
By working to a circular designed business model, we’re helping to design plastic pollution out of our economy. We chose aluminium for our Forever bottles to make them durable and long-lasting, but also because aluminium is an infinitely recyclable material. Our bottles can be easily sent to recyclers through kerbside collections should a customer wish to dispose of them. However, our Forever bottles have been designed to last a lifetime, and we hope you love them as much as we do!
Fora refill sachets are made from home compostable materials, so can be added to your home compost. Home composting is such a fantastic way to help restore our environment, please see our blog post for some easy tips for setting this up at home.
Climate Change
Further to the pollution created by a material that doesn’t biodegrade back into the circle of life plastics are a huge contributor to our climate crisis. It now feels like almost every day we are hearing news of another extreme flooding event, drought, event, storm, or other weather-related disaster.
Today, about 4-8% of annual global oil consumption is associated with plastics. If this reliance on plastics persists, plastics will account for 20% of oil consumption by 2050 and 15% of the annual carbon budget (how much carbon the world can emit and keep our planet habitable).[6]
In 2019, the production and incineration of plastic added more than 850 million metric tons of greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere—equal to the emissions from 189 five-hundred-megawatt coal power plants.[7] This is on track to reach 295 Coal Plants worth of GHGs by 2030.[8]
On top of all that, typical cleaning products are 90% water[9], that’s a huge amount of water and unnecessary weight being shipped around releasing GHGs.
So What Are We Doing About It?
Our aluminium Fora bottles will be empty when they arrive with you. You’ll just need to empty the refill sachet into the bottle, add water from your tap, then Voilà you’re ready to clean!
When you need, we will post you more of our lightweight, home compostable refill sachets. Zero water shipped.
Safe Products
We avoid any harmful chemicals, synthetic fragrances or artificial dyes. The products are biodegradable, septic tank and greywater safe. The fragrances used in our products are from 100% natural oils.
Collaborators
One thing that has become very clear to us from our work so far is that these challenges are HUGE and can't be solved by one business. This is why we have pledged to donate $1 for every Combo Starter Kit sold via our online store, to environmental charity Sustainable Coastlines. Jump on board and help to protect our beautiful coastlines while keeping your home clean and stylish.
We are also working with our pals at Go Well Consulting who have been a great sounding board for us as we bring Fora to life. They have helped with our decision-making around ways in which we can design the business in a truly sustainable way and have set us some goals to work towards which include becoming a carbon positive business. More on this soon!
[1] https://insights.litterintelligence.org/
[2] https://environment.govt.nz/news/taking-action-on-problem-plastics/
[3] https://www.statista.com/topics/5401/global-plastic-waste/#dossierKeyfigures
[4] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25494041/
[5] https://emf.thirdlight.com/link/f668rdcezflu-oxunnl/@/preview/1?o
[6] https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-new-plastics-economy-rethinking-the-future-of-plastics
[7] https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Plastic-and-Climate-FINAL-2019.pdf
[8] Ibid
[9] https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular-examples/replenish