My Eco-Friendly Journey and Our Promise to You
When I first became aware of how much waste I was generating in my typical modern American way of life [1 in the picture below], I looked for reusable products as a solution [2]. I bought reusable produce bags, sandwich wraps, shopping bags, and reusable Starbucks cups and straws. Mind you that these were all made with plastics or synthetics, but they met my goal of reducing my single use trash. Now that I know that much of the problem with waste is plastic, I chuckle at my early attempts at going green. [Please know that I'm not judging you, if that's where you're at! I'm just sharing my journey.]
I had been contemplating how I would implement a eco-living store for a while and thought maybe bulk products would be the answer. After all, product packaging made up the majority of my household waste. But then I became aware of the fact that plastics don't really "go away" but rather break down into smaller and smaller "microplastics," and that much of the colorful waste on beaches was an example of this microplastic problem. The plastic containers that these products came in, though fewer in number because they were bigger than individual shampoo and laundry detergent bottles, were still plastic. I began to look for alternatives to plastic.
As I researched, I found a lot of greenwashing. Greenwashing is when companies make their product look like they're good for the environment, when, in fact, they are not. One glaring example is "green" disposable utensils. The marketing makes you feel like you're doing the environment a favor by using them. "They're biodegradable," "they're compostable," they say. Please don't be fooled. They are plasticized and they will break down only under conditions that they are unlikely to encounter in a landfill or our city's composting facilities. Meanwhile, if they enter the ocean, they will break down into microplastics just like the regular plastic utensils do.
Along my journey I've become aware of the fact that I have sensitive skin. I didn't just have "bad skin" all these years; my skin was trying to tell me that the products that I put on my hair and on my skin weren't good for me! Talk about a revelation!
So this is where I'm at today [3]: trying to find products to meet our every day needs that don't harm the environment and don't harm us. I search far and wide for products that can either be returned to the earth or reused when we're pau using them. Some of my favorites are bar soaps, shampoos and dish washing soaps, powdered laundry detergents, organic cotton material, and renewable bamboo products.
My promise to you is that the products we sell at Onekea Bros. General Store are products that don't contain unnecessary chemicals or artificial colors or fragrances. You can trust us to sell only what's best for you and for the environment.