Zero-waste lifestyle: Brooklyn-based reusable packaging start-up secures US$4.5 million seed round

26 Sep 2019 ---Marketed as the “first and largest zero-waste lifestyle shop,” Package Free has announced a US$4.5 million seed round led by Primary Venture Partners to grow the brand and begin manufacturing its own sustainable product lines. The US-based seller currently runs an e-commerce business and operates a storefront in Brooklyn, New York.

The brand’s products are marketed as “chic, cute and useful” in the beauty, home, lifestyle and wellness spaces – not including gift shop items or “unnecessary trinkets”:

• Menstrual cups “for a more sustainable, economical and healthier period.”
• Reusable silicone snack bags that “say goodbye to single-use Ziploc bags.”
• Stainless steel straws that provide an alternative to single-use plastic straws.
• Beeswax food wrap that enable consumers “to reuse and switch out the plastic wrap.”

Package Free has disclosed that it has scaled its business from one to 30 employees in its first year, with the company’s average monthly sales growing 675 percent from 2017 to 2019.

In two years since its launch, Package Free highlights that its business has diverted over 75 million units of trash, including:

• 20 million plastic bags.
• 15 million plastic straws.
• 1.5 million plastic water bottles.
• One million coffee cups.
• 250,000 plastic razors from landfills.

A more sustainable future for packaging
Many leading brands this year are advocating the gradual phase out of industry-generated waste. In this space, innovative concepts that promote recycling, reusable packaging and new forms of material are contributing to a ubiquitous push towards a circular economy.Package Free founder and CEO Lauren Singer.

This week, MarinaTex, a bioplastic made from fish waste, was announced as the UK national winner of the James Dyson Award for its environmentally-friendly alternative solution to single-use plastics. Designed by Lucy Hughes, a recent graduate of the University of Sussex, the biodegradable material is resource-light and requires little energy and temperatures under 100 degrees Celsius to be produced. The format of a translucent and flexible sheet material enables its use in a wide range of single-use packaging, including sandwich containers and tissue boxes.

Following an “overwhelmingly positive” response to its bring-your-own packaging trial, dubbed “Unpacked,” UK grocer Waitrose is set to extend its packaging-free shopping experience in Oxford, UK, beyond the original end date of 18 August. The supermarket chain has also committed to introducing elements of the concept at three more establishments by the end of the year.

Similarly, retailer Morrisons announced plans to introduce plastic-free fruit and vegetable zones across many of its UK stores in May. In this concept, customers are able to choose from up to 127 varieties of fresh produce and buy them loose or put them in recyclable paper bags.

Hot on the reusability trail, Unilever launched Cif ecorefill in July – a new at-home technology that allows consumers to refill and reuse their Cif spray bottles “for life.” Made with 75 percent less plastic, Cif ecorefill simply attaches to the current Cif Power & Shine bottles and seamlessly releases the super-concentrated product into the bottle, which is filled with water at home.

In related developments, Olay is remodeling its Olay Regenerist Whip moisturizer with a refill pod made from recyclable polypropylene that fits within its jar. Brand-owner Procter & Gamble (P&G) says the beauty brand project will save over 1,000,000 lbs of plastic per five million jars sold. The packaging concept is set to debut in October 2019 and will run until the end of the year.

By Benjamin Ferrer

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