Where do we produce our sustainable products and why? 🌍

All of our products are currently manufactured ethically and sustainably in Germany 🇩🇪, Sri Lanka 🇱🇰, India 🇮🇳 and China 🇨🇳.

We manufacture these products from BSCI (Business Social Compliance Initiative) and Sedex certified suppliers, which ensure that the highest levels of environmental and social ethics are followed in each manufacturing workplace.  

The more factories globally who have these certifications, the bigger the change can be. Employing millions of people with fair wages, in good working conditions, leads to happy humans. So we are thrilled to be working with the highest forms of ethics and sustainability with our manufacturing partners.

  • Natural Cleaners

  • Round Coconut Scourers
    Dish Washing Soap

    These products are all made in Sri Lanka by certified sustainable and ethical suppliers.

  • All of our GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certified Organic Cotton products such as Make up pads, Face cloths, Mesh Bags, Produce bags, Waste Cotton Twine and rest of our cotton based product line.

    We also manufacture all of our plastic waste products such as wireless chargers and coasters.

    These products are all made in India by certified sustainable and ethical suppliers.

  • All of our wooden, metal, compostable bags and sisal based products such as Acacia wood soap dishes, Bottle Cleaner, Bamboo Toothbrushes, Biodegradable Kitchen Sponges, Tea Strainer, Coffee Strainer are all made in China with certified sustainable and ethical suppliers.

 

Why do we not produce our sustainable products in the UK? 🇬🇧

We have tried hard to do so in the past, even investing over £200,000 in attempting to do so. For example our Gomi products were formerly all made in Brighton, UK. 

We have explored at length if we can manufacture our products in the UK. We have so far been unable to find a solution that is sustainable, affordable & socially beneficial. Results from our own research indicated people who are buying sustainable products would prefer the product to be affordable vs being made in the U.K and unaffordable or expensive.

One of our goals is to make sustainable products extremely price competitive in comparison to disposable unsustainable products, to boost their popularity in the market. We are trying to change peoples’ shopping habits and create new norms, which is hard to do with products that are outside of peoples’ budgets.

Right now manufacturing in the U.K is not compatible with keeping costs low. For example, our pack of 2 biodegradable sponges RRP, if manufactured in the UK, would increase from £2.50 to £4, and $4.50 to $6.50. 

There are also a number of environmental and social benefits to manufacturing in the way we currently do. For the time being, these are the factors that mean manufacturing in Germany 🇩🇪, Sri Lanka 🇱🇰, India 🇮🇳 and China 🇨🇳. is the most beneficial for everyone along the supply chain rather than in the U.K:

  1. Lack of natural raw materials in the UK - even if we manufactured in the UK, we would have to import most of the raw materials. It is better to send the final product in its assembled form from the origin of manufacture than ship raw materials, much of which will have to be processed and wasted when in the U.K. Thus, shipping raw materials to be manufactured in the U.K is not very carbon or waste efficient.

  2. High labour costs translate to high product costs. This then means lower demand for our products, which will lead to them being uncompetitive in the market, especially in international markets. We also sell to the USA, and if we manufacture in the UK and export, it will be unaffordable to USA customers. Not only this, but in terms of shipping CO2, the levels will be similar to manufacturing in another country and shipping to the USA. 

  3. Most who are buying sustainable products would prefer the product to be affordable vs being made in the U.K and unaffordable or expensive. Therefore, shops make more revenue and are more successful by stocking more affordable products.

  4. Creating well paying job opportunities in developing countries. Even if we did manufacture in the UK, it’s likely that the partners we work with would be paying the workshop staff close to minimum wage or living wage, due to having to keep products at competitive prices. So we would not really be creating well paid or skilled jobs for UK workers. Being able to pay workers in developing countries well to make these products means we are able to contribute to their ongoing economic development.

  5. Using global resources helps us on our mission of making a Zero Waste world. We believe it's necessary to use sustainable resources from all over the world to make this come true, not just the U.K. We are on a global mission, not a national mission. Nationalism certainly limits our possibilities for greater impact. We are all on one planet after all.

  6. Shipping CO2 emissions per product are minuscule - We don’t ship sofas or large furniture. Instead, our products are very small like bamboo toothbrushes, laundry sheets etc. Due to our products being small, the CO2 emissions involved in shipping are miniscule. On some products like the toothbrush, the total CO2 including shipping is so small that when we plant a tree per each product sold, we offset 18 toothbrushes worth of CO2 by planting just 1 tree. Here two some graphs which demonstrate the percentage of CO2 emissions generated by the transportation of each of our products:

Zero Waste Club’s Bamboo Toothbrush CO2 impact

Zero Waste Club’s Pack of 2 sponges CO2 impact

We hope this helps in understanding why we do not yet manufacture in the U.K and why we find our current model to be most in line with our vision as a company. 

We are open to exploring sustainable affordable manufacturing opportunities within the U.K. So if you are a manufacturer or would like to recommend someone please email tom@z-w-c.com. We are always open to new suggestions.

 
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