Sustainability

It is incredibly easy to sell yourself as “sustainable”. Many companies claim to be sustainable but, a little digging and you will find they are not. Sustainability to companies has become subjective. By showing on the surface they are somewhat sustainable, companies go out and make claims about being a (self-proclaimed) “sustainable company”. This is called greenwashing, and as responsible consumers, we need to watch out for this so that we don’t support unsustainable practices.

Many things need to come together to create and deliver a sustainable product. It is not as simple as using ‘eco packaging’. To create a truly sustainable product, every stage of its life cycle needs to be sustainable. This involves conscious actions that consider the bigger picture - such as reducing the transport distance of materials and ingredients to decrease transport emissions, ensuring disposal does not contribute to plastic and chemical waste, making sure your selected materials and ingredients have been responsibly and sustainably produced.

Sourcing ‘eco’ packaging from Ecuador to develop a product in South Africa, for example, is not sustainable because that packaging has to travel across the globe increasing CO’2 emissions. Think about this simple packaging example. How much waste went into moving that packaging to South Africa? How much packaging did that packaging have to have before it could get on a ship to South Africa (via multiple countries) to protect it through its journey? See what we getting at.

At Green Peach, we know that being fully sustainable is difficult. We acknowledge that and are driven by that. We need to start somewhere and we believe we have done what we can to bring you a quality range of products while not losing sight of the environment.

We have sourced all of our raw materials from as close to our mixing station as possible. Almost everything we use to formulate our products is sourced in Cape Town. If we can employ and partner with local people and companies then we are not only reducing transport waste but also contributing to social and economic upliftment. We are fiercely proud to be South African.

Our containers are glass or tin, so when you are done with the product you can recycle the container. We have specifically chosen the containers we have for more than recycling. These are containers that are a useful enough size that you do not need to throw them away at all. We would like you to reuse these containers, PLEASE! Clean out our pump bottles and use them for dishwashing liquid at the sink or homemade sanitiser. Wash the tin out and fill it with nuts for that post-lunch pre-dinner snack when you are still at work. Be creative and reuse or give it to someone who will. Think before throwing away. The bin has to be a last resort, always.

We are trying to look further than recycling. This means less packaging entirely, fewer steps in the production process, and bundling raw material orders to reduce transport emissions. Even if that means we are saddled with the cost. As consumers, we need to re-assess consumerism entirely and become uncomfortable with it, and uncomfortable with disposing of it.

With this in mind, we have made the conscious decision to make our CBD products more have high quantity’s than most other CBD products on the market, however, priced them similarly. So that when you buy our products you will have enough for a decent amount of time = less waste. To us lubricants and/or muscle rubs that are sold in quantities for single-use are unacceptable. There might be large profits in single-use packing but we have decided to look beyond that.

We are not perfect but we are not your usual run of the mill company either. Every single decision takes waste and carbon emissions, and how to reduce this into account. This will not change, but as we just said we are not perfect. No one is. We will keep educating ourselves and keep trying to find better packaging solutions, less wasteful transport routes and everything else that comes into bringing these quality products to you. 

If you think you have a solution to helping us be more sustainable, please contact us. We would love to hear it.

In the meantime, enjoy our products and remember what it's all about, spreading love.