We keep coming back to our motto – Going green is not a cult, it’s common sense. Instead of some extreme lifestyle overhaul, all it takes is simply making alternative sustainable choices. Like our founder Mirela Orlovic explained in our exclusive green living series features that cover various aspects from travel, work, fashion, food and how you can get greener with simple tips & solutions. In our green living series we also did features on plastic reduction, how to go zero waste & how to do green laundry. We now introduce you to a set of cool new non-toxic cleaning products that help you do all three! Say hello to Common Good – an eco-friendly household soaps and cleaners brand, with its new innovative line of plastic-reducing direct-to-your-door refill boxes. These recyclable boxes reduce plastics use, eliminate the hassle of lugging heavy cleaning supplies, and slash costs for consumers all at the same time.
Founded by mom-trepreneur, Sacha Dunn, out of her Brooklyn apartment in 2011, Common Good uses only gentle, plant-based ingredients and 100% pure essential oils in its soaps and cleaners. Now, thanks to the new at-home refill boxes, the company is building on its core mission—to eliminate single-use plastic bottles in households. We love Common Good already for 3 key highlights:
1. Plastic reduction mission – Every bottle refilled via this method amounts to an 83% reduction in plastic waste.
2. More moms in the news! CEO + Founder, Sacha, who started the company pumping soap in a tiny apartment while nursing two young children, is an entrepreneur and mother trying to make life, wellness and sustainability easier and more accessible for all!
What inspired Sacha?
Hiking the tranquil Hudson River trails in upstate New York would eventually change the course of Sacha Dunn’s life. Imagine this: a young family strolling along the mossy trailheads and leafy understories near Hillsdale, New York: two young children running along tinkering with sticks, chasing butterflies, and picking up plastic bottles and wrappers peppering the trails. That’s right, these children were avid recyclers and each hiking trip, Sacha and her family would arrive home with their pockets full of discarded bottles and packaging, and it didn’t take long for her to connect the littered trailways with the environmental impact of the bottles stacking up in her own household.
- Sacha Dunn and husband Edmund with daughter Sadie and Max
The solution was clear: she needed to limit the amount of single-use plastic bottles found in the home, so she started with her laundry. As every new parent raising their children with cloth diapers knows, laundry day is everyday. Recalling her Australian roots, Sacha looked into refillable containers of detergents like the ones she had used growing up in Sydney, only to realize that no such product existed along the aisles of the her local supermarket. In 2011, she decided to make her own and Common Good was born.
What’s so good about Common Good?
In America, we’ve been led to believe that effective household cleaning products require disposable, single-use packaging and harsh chemicals like bleach and bleach. The first Common Good cleaners were a partnership with a team of green chemists specializing in gentle, sustainable non-toxic cleaning product formulations that were still effective. Today, our biodegradable plant-based soaps are friendly to sensitive skin, babies and pets. Inspired to make cleaners that were non-drying and lightly scented, Sacha and the team at Common Good refuse to use harsh chemicals, optical brighteners or synthetic scents (phthalates). Since the first bottle of laundry detergent to today, Common Good is scented with 100% pure essential oils and a formulation that washes clean and clear, leaving behind no chemical residue that can dry and irritate your skin.
There are quite a few eco-friendly cleaners out there and only one Common Good, so what makes them different? Sacha knew from years of experience in print styling for magazines that sustainability and design go hand in hand. What started with a few sketches after dinner and bedtime has turned into our now iconic Common Good illustrations and minimal packaging that tastefully complement with any room decor: whether on the bathroom counter, nightstand or kitchen sink.
The Common Good products have been loved and covered widely. From customers who love them to famous fashion blogger Garance Dore to Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop (where you can shop Common Good too!) to W Magazine, Common Good has been a popular green choice.
The next step – You join in to do some Common Good!
Clean green, reduce plastic & build a green brand by backing Common Good. Plastics still contribute significantly to landfill and plague our oceans and in order to achieve a significant impact in reducing the amount of single-use plastics, we needed to think bigger. We covered some shocking plastic facts in our green living plastic feature. According to a recent research by Ocean Conservancy, plastic bags are fast overtaking cigarette butts in ocean trash and plastic trash is a big threat to aquatic life. And, last year, a report for the Ellen MacArthur Foundation estimated that, by 2050, the volume of accumulated plastics in the oceans will be greater than that of fish. Less than 10% of plastic produced is recycled and most of it ends up in landfills or our water systems where it inflicts a substantial toll. Which is why we need to cut-down on plastic wherever we can. Refilling needs to happen in every home and it is important to make Common Good accessible to more people, and not just those that live near a neighborhood refill station. Most importantly, refilling needs to be easy.
Our solution is the Common Good Subscription Service. A direct-to-your door refill that reduces plastics by 83%, costs less and makes refilling your cleaners hassle-free simply. It is the same gentle, plant-based ingredients that their customers know and love, free of sulfates, betaines, synthetic fragrances, and dyes. The company has a fabulous rewards program too on registering wherein you can get heavy discounts on the product range. Also its a straight up 20% off on first purchase!
REDUCE PLASTIC NOW
With their cool design aesthetics and great green product, we are sure you are tempted to lay your hands on Common Good products! Buy them here and if you live close to their refilling stations then make sure you refill your cleaning solutions. See how easy it is to turn green! For more tips on how you can reduce waste to kickstart your Zero Waste journey, read our founder Mirela’s pro-tips right here!
Meet more women green startups founders:
1. The cool fashion sharing portal Hylla penderie partagée
2. London Ethical Knitwear brand STUDY 34
3. Revolution through Underwear with Mighty Good Undies
4. Stirring green revolution in a cup at Le Benefique
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