What are they made from?
Waste coconut coir (which is made from the shell of the coconut) fitted around steel wire to create the circular frame of the scourers. The coir is 100% biodegradable. The wire can be recycled.
Where do they come from?
Made in Gampaha, Sri Lanka. Shipped via sea freight rather than by air to reduce the carbon footprint of the product. Zero Waste Club plant a tree for each item they sell to offset any carbon emissions they make during production and shipping.
Are they sustainable?
Coconut coir – What would be considered a waste product, the husk of a coconut is hard and hairy, and is just an obstacle to get into the good stuff inside, as the sweet milk and flesh of the coconut is where the money traditionally is. That husk is no longer considered to be empty and lifeless, as it has amazing properties that we can make use of.
Steel wire - Steel is the most recycled material on the planet. It can be infinitely recycled, unlike plastic which is downcycled. All stainless steel that currently exists is made up of around 60% recycled steel!
How about ethical?
Zero Waste Club put a lot of effort into being transparent about their supply chains. For each of their products, they provide a ‘makers story’ a mini-interview with one of the craftspeople who create these products. This is also printed on the packaging for the natural kitchen scourers.
Here is an excerpt from this makers story: ‘Hello! I’m Dharshana, I’m 58 years old. I decided to set up a system to use the waste from coconut harvesting and turn the waste coir into useful environmentally friendly products. Thanks to people buying eco-friendly products from us, we have been able to offer jobs to lift hundreds of people out of poverty. So we feel very grateful for people buying environmentally-friendly good products from us. It really helps with improving the living standards of the villagers here.’
Zero Waste Club state that the crafters are paid per scourer made, which allows them to work to suit their need, so they can fit it in easily around their other responsibilities such as caring for their family.
Extra good stuff:
Zero Waste Club are…
- Vegan
- Plasticfree
- Use no chemicals
- All their woodbased material used such as bamboo for products or cardboard for packaging is FSC certified. This means these materials only come from areas with existing harvesting practices, no virgin/old-growth forest is cut down for these materials.
- Zero waste Club estimate they have offset around 100,000 singleuse plastics from being used so far.
- They plant a tree for every item they sell which is now over 100,000 trees!
- They reinvest their profits into the business to create more sustainable products and increasing products made out of waste materials.
Conclusion –
Scour the scourge of microplastics going down your drain by swapping your nasty green and yellow plastic sponges for these brilliant, natural and plastic-free coconut coir scourers instead!
