Lo Bros Not Soda is reinventing soda and helping rid our oceans of plastic.
Isn’t it nice to buy a quenching, delicious fizzy drink knowing it’s better for you? What about if it’s also better for the planet too? That’s what Lo Bros Not Soda is all about. This new clean soda, from the brand that gave us New Zealand’s number one chilled kombucha, is quenching our thirsts for a healthier soda alternative and in the process aims to clean up two million plastic bottles from our oceans in the next three years, in partnership with the ocean-impact organisation Seven Clean Seas.
The team at Lo Bros had become increasingly conscious that for all the good their drinks were doing in naturally removing sugar from people’s diets (thanks to their nifty fermentation), they had yet to make a dent in the other crippling issues being caused by the beverage industry as a whole — the soft drinks industry is responsible for more than 33 per cent of all PET product globally and up to 34 billion plastic bottles end up in our oceans and waterways every year.
As Lo Bros founder Didi Lo says, “When you become aware of the statistics it’s something that you can’t un-see.” And they knew they’d found the right partner to do something about it when meeting with Tom Peacock-Nazil and Ben Moody from Seven Clean Seas. “Much like us, they were energetic and proactive with an insatiable passion and drive to fix the problems of plastic in our rivers, oceans and marine life,” says Lo. Their holistic approach to creating sustainable projects and solutions was also a drawcard. “They work to try and fix the problem at the source, as well as cleaning up areas that are most affected by plastic pollution.”
The partnership created will remove two carbonated PET bottles (equivalent weight) from our oceans with every Lo Bros Not Soda can purchased, contributing to fixing a broken system of plastic waste and recycling.
But Lo Bros Not Soda isn’t stopping there — in an effort to not only remove plastic from our oceans, there’s a company commitment to remove plastic from the entire Lo Bros brand. This includes partnering with Plastic Collective, a leading global player creating circular economies for plastic. Plus, Lo Bros will offset all remaining unavoidable plastic use through credit programs, becoming a net zero plastic brand.
Which all adds up to some real feel-good factor when cracking into a Lo Bros Not Soda. Especially considering the contents of the can too. Fermentation is the key word here. Twenty years ago, trends like organic, plant based, fermented, fair trade and local were not the norm, or considered ‘cool.’ But Lo Bros has always known the best taste comes from using real ingredients and authentic processes. Their mission was to look at how to use these processes — some of which have evolved over thousands of years — to create delicious and relevant products that all Kiwis can enjoy.
“We love the idea that you can take ingredients that are not great, like sugar, and through fermentation create amazing flavoured drinks that are bursting with goodness,” says Lo. “We’ve known we could use our knowledge in fermentation to create delicious versions of the drinks that most consumers love, like soft drinks”. Not Soda is a perfect example — available in fizzy and refreshing Raspberry, Lemon, Orange, and Pink Grapefruit flavours, all have zero sugar and are naturally sweetened.
“It’s as good or better than the soft drinks you love but without the sugar, the artificial ingredients or the negative impacts. And that makes us really happy,” says Lo.
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Advertise with NZME.Now with the Seven Clean Seas partnership, the company has evolved from a better-for-you one to an impact-led “better-for-all-of-us” organisation. “For us, that means creating products which are still better for you but then going a whole lot further to make sure they also provide a benefit for our communities and our planet.” A drink and a concept very easy to swallow.
Lo Bros Not Soda is available in Countdowns nationwide and North Island New Worlds and PAK’nSAVEs. For more information, go to Lobros.co/pages/not-soda-nz
