ecostore paves the way to a sustainable future

ecostore products ensure a toxin-free home.

With the goal of making everyday products safer and healthier for both people and the planet, ecostore has been campaigning for "no nasty chemicals" for some time now and is finding good traction.

"You do need to say what's in a body product, but for cleaning products you do not have to put any of the ingredients on it, and you do not have to do any testing of the ingredients for the safety of the consumers. And that's got to change. When that changes you'll see a revolution in our health and wellness as a community." So says Malcolm Rands, founder of ecostore, maker of the country's favourite eco hair and body products, baby products and cleaning products.

ecostore celebrated a coming-of-age milestone this year - the company turned 21 years old. It seems apt that its time has come for a big OE, with rapidly expanding markets in Australia, Asia and the US. Back home, however, ecostore has become more than just a household name, but a source of pride for the many Kiwis who use nothing else.

It is a shining example of Kiwi ingenuity, from humble beginnings in an eco village in Northland, it is a story of great innovation and perseverance, and now it is joining other great Kiwi businesses as an international success. It has evolved through leading-edge science and doing things differently to break new ground, and continues in this vein.

Its latest innovation is changing 98% of its bottles to the new Carbon Capture™ Pak, a sugarcane-based plastic which will save the New Zealand business at least 639 tonnes of CO2 each year - the equivalent of 123,000 daily commutes - through the inherent carbon capture and storage of the sugarcane plant, rather than the carbon release of fossil fuels. The plastic in the bottles has essentially the same chemical structure as a normal HDPE plastic bottle, however it is renewable, as the ingredients to make it didn't have to be stored underground for millions of years and dug up, but rather grown. Sugarcane is a fast-growing crop with an annual cycle. It was enough to win ecostore the award for Mega Efficiency Innovation at the recent NZI National Sustainable Business Network Awards, and Rands himself the Sustainability Champion award.

Rands feels that the public consciousness of ethically produced, safe, healthy and eco-friendly products is rapidly expanding, and poised to become mainstream. "What has happened in supermarkets already, and you can see it in the aisles, is that people, when they buy their food, they'll forget the branding on the front and turn to the back, and they'll start looking at what's in the food. People are getting quite good at that.

"But people also have to do that now for their cleaning products, and their body products. And they also have to demand that the companies selling to them are completely transparent about what they're doing."

Rands set up ecostore as a source of funding for the Fairground Foundation - a charitable trust which is active in education, stewardship and advocacy for sustainability and the restoration of the environment. It began by setting up organic gardens in schools in 1999. As ecostore expands, so will the ambition and scope of projects undertaken by the Fairground Foundation. Currently the foundation is engaged in setting up a 'future-proof neighbourhood' in Auckland - a development based on environmentally friendly and socially inclusive principles. The neighbourhood will be designed to work in harmony with its surroundings, and enhance the land on which it is built. It follows the ecostore philosophy, best summed up by Rands. "My point is no nasty chemicals. The world is awash with chemicals that are not needed for products, not good for people and not good for the environment . My chemistry is finding out what they are and telling my brilliant formulators what they can't use. "They need to find alternatives that are cost-effective but work as well, and they have to be plant-based."

Find ecostore products in all good supermarkets and health stores, online at ecostoredirect.co.nz or at its store at 1 Scotland Street, Freemans Bay, Auckland.

Find out more at ecostore.co.nz

Malcolm Rands talks about ecostore's genesis and philosophy.

Check out the ShopGreen ecostore deal where you can get an ecostore healthy home pack for just $39.