As avid hikers and campers, we used to joke that the most important item was our wet wipes packet and the second most important was "the backup packet". After burying white "biodegradable" wet wipes, we started to realise that it just didn't quite fit in with the bush and asked the question, "does this really break down properly?"
As caretakers and lovers of our environment it became clear to us after an abundance of research that white wipes are bleached with dioxins (a dirty dozen chemical) and in order to create wet wipes, a bunch of preservatives are necessary, not to mention the soft plastic to carry it in. After searching for an unbleached bamboo wipe to no avail, we realised we needed to make some. We were our first customers!
Sitting in our small garage doing drawings and getting prototypes made we hit many walls due to our non-negotiables which were:
- No soft plastic (which is necessary to hold moisture)
- No nasty preservatives (which is necessary for long shelf life)
- No chlorine bleach (which helps the wipes not break down too fast)
- Not more expensive than existing wipes
- None of our products from material to packaging should go in landfill
Many people around us told us not to worry so much, otherwise we'd make no money. But we're environmentalists first, and 5 years of being broke and grinding we figured out our system and have created a whole line of epic products with awesome plans for expanding our vision and doing some ECO Warrior work.