Lunchboxes for good

When we made our suggestion for compassionate Koala gifts last month we couldn’t have imagined the scale of devastation of the fires that have occurred since then. Catastrophic bushfire has affected everyone’s family and friends and with that the consciousness not just of our nation but the whole world. The smoke itself can be seen as far away as South America - they are right now doing a circuit of the earth that highlights to us the interconnectedness of our world and the profound moment in time this has become. The effect of fires that have burnt such a large area are understood by everyone. As we walk around our hometown of Sydney, air pollution masks are sadly becoming an everyday sight.

But on top of all of the terrible news and tragic loss of life we’ve learned today that the quiet and humble Koala is now endangered. They’ve been declining for awhile now as our cities and towns get bigger and we take away more and more of their habitat, but this is on another level entirely.

RePlated was founded with the best of intentions - to stop creating unnecessary waste, a lot of which winds up in our oceans. We have already quietly opened for preorders but as we start to publicise our systems in the next few months we want our customers to know that purpose is at the heart of our mission and that the events of this summer have effected what we do as well.

Some of the work that has been going on in the background is gearing up to become a BCorp and we hope to qualify for this a little later in the year when we’re eligible. Because we are for purpose (and profit) this means that we can choose to pledge a percentage of our revenue, profits or time to causes dear to our heart and central to our purpose.

We are pledging revenue because, well that can take time for startups and we want to make paying it forward a reality as soon as possible. But we are also looking forward to donating our time to directly supporting the people who are making a difference on the ground.

While causes that work towards cleaner oceans are absolutely going to figure in the partnerships for good that we make, so too will our iconic cuddly friends - because they need us now more than ever. We’d love to hear from our partners & customers about the causes they support. The animal focused organisations we are currently supporting are the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital and Wildlife Victoria.

In the meantime we are going to keep creating ethical, intentional products that enable businesses to transition away from single use, for the good of the planet.

Photo by Jan Kaluza on Unsplash