sustainability

Daegan is a Canadian born lawyer, married to a kiwi, with two Australian children currently living in Shanghai. They get around ;). Together with soul mate Renee, she founded Ritology. A personal care brand designed to simplify your daily rituals with quality products carefully curated for minimalist, sustainable living. Their mission is to be the world’s leading plastic free, design focused personal care brand, revolutionising an industry that has a devastating impact on our planet.

 

"Sustainability. A word thrown around a lot, but not always understood. To us, sustainability is the practice of treating the environment with respect. It is meeting our needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. 

 

With headlines of climate change, extinction, limited resources, overcapacity landfills and pollution, it’s no wonder ‘sustainable living’ seems overwhelming and daunting. Flashes of beaches filled with plastic and whales with a stomach full of waste. That’s how we felt, utterly confused and scared. How do we play our part in minimising impact on the environment, whilst enjoying the things we love?  That's when we started researching more into "sustainable" swaps. After all 'the greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it' - Robert Swan.

 

It's not easy to navigate consumer brands when companies are getting smarter with their marketing ploys and ambiguous labelling, eco products but overuse of unnecessary packaging and at times by default leaving us with no choice but to roll with what is in front of us. 

 

What did we do? We dissected our everyday rituals to simplify sustainability, from the very core of Ritology, the products, packaging, shipping and systems all without compromising our lifestyle and love for minimalist design.

 

Here are a few tips we came across along the way:

 

1.   Reduce. By simply reducing your energy usage by turning off the lights when not in use, installing energy efficient appliances and lowering your thermostat, you are conserving energy. 

 

2.   Reuse or recycle. Glass jars and tins can be reused for the perfect pantry and if it’s no longer in use, recycle! Glass and aluminium can be recycled indefinitely without losing quality of the material. Plastic, even recyclable plastic breaks down and loses quality over time, ending up as simple waste over time and why we need to eliminate plastic as much as possible.

 

3.   Dispose of disposables. Over 2 BILLION razors are thrown away in our country alone each year, none of which are biodegradable, compostable or recyclable. To fix this issue, we created our own @ritologydaily Safety Razor which is not only aesthetically pleasing for all bathrooms, but made to last being 100% plastic and waste free right down to its packaging.

 

4.   Eliminate plastic. This may take time. Just know that every small switch counts. Take your own bags to the shops, skip the plastic and bring your recycled glass jars to the bulk foods nearby. And don’t forget your keep cup for the café on the way.   

 

5.   Research. The last on this short list but one of the most important. There are plenty of amazing brands with ethical practices and sustainability at their core. There is no need to sacrifice your beauty or lifestyle to save the planet. How do you know? Look for transparency (you’ll be surprised once you start reading those ‘About’ pages how much you will and won’t find out about a brand); a brands corporate responsibility or ethical standards; and certificates such as Fairtrade, B Corp, TRUE Zero Waste, and GBB. 

 

Make the swap. Little actions can have a huge impact, so there isn't an all or nothing approach. Sustainable living doesn’t require a household of 'perfect' sustainability, it's simply doing your best by being more conscious of your choices. Small efforts soon become habit. Your simple swap to a plastic free razor could save, on average, 70kgs of plastic razors and cartridges from being thrown into the landfill in your lifetime.

 

Here's to minimalist design and sustainable living."

 

Article by Daegan Coyne, Ritology : Web, Instagram, Facebook.