I REMEMBER A SPECIFIC MOMENT AND THINKING; THIS ISN’T HOW THE CORAL USED TO LOOK

I used to think that underwater was some sort of magical paradise. But over the years, it didn’t matter whether we were diving in Africa, Asia or Scotland, we saw so much plastic everywhere, and so much of the coral was just dead. It was really devastating to see such a rapid decline.

There was a specific dive which really triggered me. We were surrounded by these magnificent Manta Rays – they’re jaw droppingly beautiful creatures. But swarming around them was a whirlwind of plastic bags. It was just really shocking, and I remember saying to my partner and the co-founder, Jack, “do you remember the coral ever looking like this before? Did we just used to imagine the underwater paradise, or has it actually died over time?”.

It was at that moment we decided to just quit everything and take the leap. I had no business sense whatsoever, but I just decided to throw myself into it.

LONG STORY SHORT, WE DECIDED WE WERE GOING TO FIGHT PLASTIC

Obviously, that is a very big and bold statement. Plastic is everywhere, and where do you even start? Whether you’re in a shop, bar, hotel, or a restaurant, there’s so much plastic we interact everyday with which we don’t have any control over.So, we decided to launch a day-to-day range of plastic free products, covering everything you could need in your daily routine, from coconut bowls, hairbrushes, lunch boxes, straws, to cotton buds.

WE DIDN’T WANT TO CREATE A NEW PROBLEM TO SOLVE A PROBLEM, SO WE USE BAMBOO WHICH WOULD BE WASTED OTHERWISE

For us transparency is crucial. The bamboo we use has is already a waste product, so we’re not growing new but instead giving a second life to something which would be thrown otherwise. It was so important to us to know that we were not creating a new problem to solve a problem.
And climate change is always front of mind for us too, so we’ve been doing research with the University College of London to test the lifecycle emissions of various of materials, including plastic, aluminium, bamboo. We found our materials offered the lowest lifecycle emissions. So, you’re both cutting your plastic and reducing emissions in one swap.

THERE’S SO MUCH PLASTIC IN PLACES YOU WOULDN’T REALISE

I think washing up brushes are such a secret offender. They seem harmless, they’re reusable so they seem like they’re not too damaging right? Bu what we don’t see is that with every wash, we’re washing thousands of microplastics down the drain, into the ocean, which is ingested by the fish we eat, and that comes right back around to us. Our bamboo scrubbers are just an easy way to cut our plastic daily. Making that small swap will have a huge knock-on impact.

YOU DON’T HAVE TO COMMIT TO QUITTING EVERYTHING

I think a lot of people can get overwhelmed by the scale of the problem and think that they would have to quit all plastic to make any sort of difference. But actually, if you commit changing one small thing, like a water bottle for example, you can make a huge change. If you buy a water bottle 3-4x per week, think how much plastic you could have saved by committing to that one easy swap!