Posted by Les Mauvaises Herbes
Sometimes, there are two worlds between desires and reality.
Let’s take the example of glass containers and compostable bags today. Let us tell you why we had to (partially) give up on these elements of our business. Reluctantly, yes, but in a completely self-assured, pragmatic way, out of respect for our customers' wallets... and out of love for the future of our business.
Once upon a time... compostable bags that composted on the shelves
In the early days of our company, we absolutely wanted to sell our ingredients in glass OR compostable containers. Nothing else. We were very firm on this detail. And we had every reason to be, didn't we? More sustainable, more ecological, more consistent with our mission and our values.
Except.
In the world of compostable bags, greenwashing runs rampant. Many manufacturers sell supposedly compostable bags... when in the end, the zipper and the valve are not, and you have to take a week off and take a course to learn how to deconstruct the bag before putting it in the compost... IF the bag is actually compostable in the first place! Because the fact is, these bags are compostable in very, very specific facilities that are far from accessible everywhere in Quebec. Wow.
When it’s not a greenwashing problem, other obstacles rear their ugly head. An example? Easy. A shortage of compostable bioplastic film (PLA). So, a shortage of our bags. So, an inability to have a reliable supply of said compostable bags.
What do we do in those times? We often develop products starting with the packaging. The size. The color. When we have a shortage of that packaging, it implies a major reorganization on our end, which we have done time and time again because of those famous suddenly unavailable compostable bags.
So for this specific problem, we turned to alternatives several times, until we found a supplier that seemed right to us, but... (hold onto your seat) After a few months of working with a new type of bag from the new supplier, we realized that, damn it, the compostable bags were literally composting on the shelves, right before our eyes.
YES, REALLY. And look, we want to do our best, but when it comes to being impractical, this hits hard.
Our ingredients often have a very long shelf life, from 1 to 2 years or even longer! You can understand that this situation is highly problematic for preserving the integrity of our products, even if just on our workshop shelves, while they are simply waiting for you to buy them.
Unicorns and butterflies
The concept of a compostable bag is nice on paper. Until you want to ensure the integrity of your product, you want a secure supply, you refuse to greenwash because you would like your bags to actually compost, completely and easily (but not on your shelves)... well, that's where the equation becomes difficult to bear for an SME, and for any type of business, actually! It's a lot of pressure on our shoulders and it's just completely unmanageable and unprofitable.
And now, add to that inflation and people's tighter budgets.
The cash!
Just imagine that compostable bags are actually way more expensive than a recyclable plastic bag. Like, significantly.
So... what do we do? Do you reach the same conclusion as us? Do we keep struggling like trout swimming upstream to keep our compostable bags at the risk of our mental health and our business, OR do we accept that it's a lost battle and focus our energy on our mission and our message?
So there you have it. After so many mishaps and headaches, we ended up turning to kraft bags and recyclable bags for some of our products.
We still have compostable bags for some items, like our plants. One type of compostable bag in particular works well! But it is not suitable for all our products. In any case, rest assured that we always indicate on the bags whether they are compostable or recyclable. Our desire is to always be transparent with you!
And what about the glass in all this?
Good grief. The other file!
We love glass. We really do! But it makes our lives incredibly complicated, hahaha.
First of all, you should know that glass is very rarely recycled in Quebec. A rather important and relatively significant fact, isn't it?
In addition, it represents a huge challenge in terms of postal shipments: not only does it cost much more to ship than plastic because it is heavier (and shipping costs are already a BIG challenge for SMEs, as we discuss here), but it is also more fragile and therefore requires more packaging and handling.
So, on top of costing more to buy, it costs more to pack in terms of materials and assembly time, AND it costs more in shipping fees, AND it involves risks of breakage (a bottle of oil that breaks in a package scraps the entire contents of the box: loss of products for us, disappointment for customers, free reshipment of products...), AND it is rarely recycled.
See what we mean?
If, on top of that, our customers want more affordable products (which is among the things a large recent survey revealed), you will understand that selling many ingredients in glass containers is problematic.
It is for this reason that we have started making changes for some of our ingredients. Rest assured, we aren't going to eliminate glass entirely from our company, but we are implementing strategic changes, for example for our larger containers that are more fragile, heavier, and more expensive.
In the end, in this beautiful process, we understand and accept that we cannot fight every battle.
Because fighting every battle distracts us from our mission, exhausts us, and jeopardizes the survival of our business and our vision.
The time and money we "lose" struggling to find compostable bags or packing, repacking, and reshipping super heavy glass packages is time and money we can't spend on developing our business and pursuing our mission. That's less money for improving our team's working conditions. That's less energy for creating new recipes and new workshops.
We learned
After nearly 5 years in the business world, we have learned that we cannot do everything. That we cannot be perfect, and that it is perfect just like that! We now know that we must have a global and broad vision, at the risk of displeasing some.
You know what? It's a price we are willing to pay because we know it's the right thing to do.
