Zero Co is returning to crowdfunding for its new body care range after a successful Kickstarter campaign two years ago.
The eco start-up ran Australia’s most funded Kickstarter in November 2019 and one year later launched its single-use plastic free products to market. Now in a world-first for the body care industry, they’re aiming to secure 5,000 pre-orders to launch a new single-use plastic free body care range.
“We know that Australians are willing to invest in more sustainable options from our success as Australia’s most funded Kickstarter of 2019,” Zero Co co-founder, Mike Smith, says.
“We’ve been lucky enough to build this business through the power of community from the beginning.”
Each year, Australians buy and throw away 80 million bottles of shampoo and conditioner, 20 million bottles of roll-on deodorant and 30 million bottles of body lotion. With the 2019 Federal Government Waste Report revealing that 85 per cent of plastics do not get recycled, this means 110.5 million of these plastic bottles are ending up in landfill each year.
In an attempt to address this problem and eliminate single-use plastics from Aussie homes, Zero Co has worked alongside Dr. Kate Forbes, ex-global head of product at Aesop, to develop a single-use plastic (SUP) free body range including shampoo, conditioner, deodorant and body lotion.
Zero Co’s crowdfunding campaign is to help launch these four new SUP free body products. In order to go into production, the company needs 5,000 Aussies to pre-order a Zero Co Body Box which contains all four refillable products with refill pouches made from landfill waste and reusable ‘Forever Bottles’ made from ocean, beach and landfill plastics (OBL).
Since opening early bird pre-orders to customers, it has reached 37 per cent of the 5,000 sales target in just two days. With about 80 days to go and just over 3,000 more orders needed, Smith is inspired by the support of the community.
“We have shared every part of the Zero Co journey with our customers from day one―the wins and the losses. Our community has been passionately part of our journey right from the beginning and have been instrumental in helping us grow this business from the ground up.
“I truly believe these new products will shake the industry on plastic standards and barriers for innovation, so I’m hoping we can get enough pre-orders to begin this next chapter and start making changes our planet desperately needs. They smell bloody good too,” he enthuses.
