August. September. Forever!
Featured, PLASTIC FREE JULY

August. September. Forever!

A better life without single-use plastic often starts in the home, and we’ve made it easy-squeezy to get started and go single-use plastic free at your place this Plastic Free July.

One of the big reasons we bounce out of bed at Zero Co in the morning is to prevent as much single-use plastic (SUP) from being made as possible. And to clean-up the plastic that's found its way into our oceans (fingers crossed these two things STOP the production of single-use plastic, for good).


Making plastic impacts easy to understand. 

We know that there is a mountain of literature out there that can quickly become overwhelming and hard to penetrate. 

 

So we've compiled a bunch of stats that bent our minds backwards and pretty sure they’ll blow your hair back too.

 

Let’s start at the top, hold on tight (you might get a fright).

 

1 million tonnes of plastic!


Just wow.


59kg of plastic per person per year in Australia


If that's not enough to make us Aussies pay attention, our country as a whole leads a list of countries that generate the most single-use plastic waste on a per capita basis.  Australia is ahead of countries including the United States, South Korea and Britain. This is not the type of list that we want to be leading folks. 

 

Our solution: Everything we do at Zero Co and every box of plastic-busting goodies we sell is an effort to help bring us down the ranks on this ladder.

Australia leads a long list of countries for the most plastic waste per capita!

 

In Australia, 84% of all plastic we use is sent to landfill and only 13% is recycled. Most of us think that when we put stuff into our recycling bin, it has another life but the reality is, it's not really solving the problem long term. 


To solve this once and for all, we need to tackle it at the source and say no to single-use in the first place. Making the switch to Zero Co stops single-use plastic in its tracks. Not only are we in the business of forever-use over single-use, we are committed to cleaning up the plastic that's in the ocean through our ocean and beach clean-ups. 


Our solution: Our Aussie beach clean ups are funded by the legends who use our products. We invest $5 from every starter box we sell into our clean-up kitty our clean up kitty to fund our ocean clean-up activities. True story. Some of our latest adventures were cleaning up the harbour in Sydney and world’s largest sand island K’gari (Fraser Island).


85% of plastic ends up in landfill!


At Zero Co, our mission is to untrash the planet by stopping the production of new single-use plastic and cleaning up the plastic waste junking up our oceans. No-one wants to swim in a dirty ocean, we get it. Let’s spin beneath the surface for a sec and think about sea life too. This isn’t where we post pictures of turtles with straws up their noses but it undeniable that ecosystems get destroyed by plastic. If it's on the bottom of the ocean is it still our problem? Yes!



one garbage truck per minute is dumped in the ocean

 


For a lot of us, the saying "out of sight out of mind" really rings true when it comes to rubbish. It gets picked up every week and taken away. It’s super hard to see something and believe there's a problem to solve if it doesn't exist in your field of vision.

 

Any plastic we place in the bin, literally never really goes away. There is no "away"! 


Based on the sheer amount of plastic waste we’re producing as a country, approximately 130,000 tonnes of plastic leaks into Australia's marine life each year.

 

Zero Co Plastic Stats

 

Our solution: Start simple. It's easy as. You can eliminate ALL single-use in your kitchen, laundry and bathroom at your place by flicking the switch to Zero Co today. Head to zeroco.com.au to switch to SUP free at your place.

 

By 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans


Anyone else gobsmacked? Us too.

 

At least two thirds of the world’s fish population is suffering from plastic ingestion. If you think that doesn’t affect you, you might want to think again. We eat fish (and if you are a fruitarian, vegetarian or vegan) you still drink the water that we are dumping our plastic into.


Alas, there’s no need to panic or get into a spin. We're here to help, take the weight of the world off your shoulders and show you how super simple getting started to go single-use plastic free really can be.

Our eco-friendly personal-care and home-cleaning products are free from single-use plastic. Hooray! (We also just happen to conveniently deliver direct to your door, carbon negative too).


Our forever bottles are made from made from 50% Recycled and Ocean Plastic that you keep at your house forever. Our refill pouches are made from up to 40% recycled materials and you send it back to be refilled over and over and over again (forever more)! 


To turbo charge your plastic free effort you can start by simply ordering a box of Zero Co today. You’ll rid your bathroom, laundry and kitchen of single-use plastics straight away (and on average that’ll be preventing your personal contribution of around 50kgs of single-use plastic each year).


Nappies make up 4% of landfill

Did you know that 3.75 million disposable nappies are used each day in Australia and New Zealand? Each of them take roughly 150 years to decompose. Mind. Officially. Blown.

 

If you're expecting or do have a bub, you could consider saving disposable nappies for emergencies only and invest in good quality reusable cloth ones instead. Yes, you may have to use extra products for sanitising and washing, but it’s again just a behavioural shift that we’ve proven we can do!

 

Our solution: To help you make the shift we sent our Laundry Liquid to a group of fellow legends at Clean Cloth Nappies and were met with their tick of approval. They added Zero Co to their list of recommended detergents. 


They said: “Zero Co would suit regular families with cloth nappies, and those who want a plant based zero waste alternative that works”!

 

Yes. It’s true. It leaves your garb super soft, super clean and smelling sensational. And it works. Who knew? There’s a nontoxic, environmentally friendly Laundry Liquid that has less impact on the planet than plastic nappies, and it’s called Zero Co.

 

Shifting our behaviour (we can do this 'Straya)!

A big part of any of these shifts is in our behaviour, and Aussies have proven we know how to change for the better.

 

Cast back to circa pre 2018 when you used to visit the supermarket and go home with a boot full of single-use plastic bags packed with your groceries. It wasn’t all that long ago. At the time of these national announcements, while there was huge relief for many, it created a whirlwind of ‘what am I going to do’, ‘what if I forget my bags’ and ‘what a hassle’.


A swift two years later, it’s our new normal. It didn’t take long for us all to become proud of keeping our new reusable bags in the boot instead of single-use ones in the bin.

 

Winning! 

 

We know that Zero Co is just one amazing solution to the plastic problem we're facing on our planet. We encourage anyone (everyone) to do something (anything) that kick starts their single-use plastic free journey. Starting small is easy as.

 

every piece of plastic made since the 1950's still exists

 

*Gulp*

 

Ready to be a legend and start kick-start your single-use free shift today? Order your starter box and win the war on waste at your place.

Published on Wednesday 30 June, 2021