Things are pretty busy here at the ol' Outlaw HQ, but we couldn't let Earth Day slide by without a tip of our hat.
We like the Earth. It's been our home since we were but single-celled amoeba waving our pseudopodia in the air like we just don't care. I can't even remember a time when we didn't live here.
When we started Outlaw, we gave a lot of thought to how we could create a sustainable business while also providing the best and most kick-ass products we could make. Because of this, we focused on reusable, durable equipment (we still probably are using those same pails in the photo from 3 or 4 years ago). We used recycled and recyclable packaging for our soaps and colognes, and that was about it.
To this day, we recycle anything we possibly can - all our cardboard and packaging. In November, we changed from using bubble wrap and wadded (virgin) newsprint paper to using a very beautiful kind of paper (you can read about it here: https://liveoutlaw.com/blogs/no-stinkin-outlaws/and-what-the-heck-is-up-with-that-super-cool-padding). We also eliminated our single-use plastic bags that we wrapped our liquids in, reasoning that we had almost zero reports of leakage, so we probably didn't need to fling those thousands of bags into landfills everywhere.
Over the years, we have added to our compendium: Lotions, body wash, hand wash... all these come in virgin plastic bottles. It has pained us, because we do not believe the world needs more plastic. And using virgin plastic means we're part of the problem. It keeps us up at night.
Earlier this year, we decided to make our move toward 100% post-consumer plastic. Plastic is durable, which means no broken glass in the shower. And there's a lot of unused recyclable plastic waiting to hop back into the game.
When COVID-19 shut everything down, our conversations about post-consumer plastic kind of stalled out. Instead, we have been looking for ways to ship our products in bulk packaging, so you don't even have to recycle that bottle you've got, you can just refill it. Eliminate that messy middleman, right? But we haven't been able to find any bulk packaging in anything resembling our tiny quantities.
So where does that leave us?
It leaves us where we always are: Just a little company doing our darned best. And sometimes that best isn't perfect, but we're always working towards it.
We know that it's important to you that we consider sustainability in our packaging. It's important to us, too. We're striving, and we appreciate your continued encouragement as we get better at being better.
