The term "Sustainability" is thrown around a lot nowadays. You find the term used by large established corporations and small businesses alike, touting that their products are sustainable, irrespective of what they are selling.
All commercial activities directly or indirectly have an impact on the environment. For example, our bestseller, the Urli Candle, one of our sustainable offerings uses beeswax procured from abandoned honeycombs (usually in winters), essential oils from plants and trees, and our bronze urli require metallurgy to smelt bronze and cast them, all leaving an environmental & ecological impact no matter how ethically done.
A grossly overlooked aspect is the impact of transportation - getting these 3 core ingredients to the Kalos office, for us to put them together to make what is inherently a sustainable product, and then shipping them out to you, the consumer - uses fossil fuels in its many forms, one of the most polluting products on our planet!
So how can anyone claim to be Sustainable then? How can our choices make any difference?
The answer to this seemingly complex issue, is simpler than you can imagine - Balance and Consumer Education & Choices.
Sustainability is essentially the process of fulfilling the needs of today's generation without compromising the needs of future generations, while ensuring a balance between economic growth, environmental and social well-being. The keyword here being balance, and that is how each and every one of us can achieve sustainable living. Balance allows you to consume your favourite products (guilt-free), while reducing your overall environmental & ecological impact.
A simple example would be clothing choices, natural fibres vs synthetic ones. A well accepted notion is that natural fibres are more sustainable than synthetic ones, however, some natural fibres are water intensive, dependent on pesticides which pollute the local ecosystems. Natural fibres that circumvent these issues, leave consumers wanting when it comes to availability of colours, fabrics losing colour and form over subsequent washes, and affordability.
On the other hand, synthetic fabrics almost never fade and retain shape over years and can easily be used for 10+ years when cared for properly. This could mean that inherently unsustainable fabrics could in the long run turn out to be more sustainable than inherently sustainable materials. Paired with practices like thrifting can even further the life and use of a product.
This leads to the second aspect of Sustainability, which is Consumer Education & Choices. Consumers can make educated choices only when they are aware of what options are available to them as well as the latest technology & news.
Consumers can adopt sustainable trends as well as latest technologies like thrifting, microplastic filters for washing machines, repurposing plastics, replacing traditional cleaning agents with zero waste products, using menstrual cups & discs over traditional sanitary napkins etc., only when they are made of aware of the choices they have. While these products might start off being expensive, but as consumer interest in these sectors increase, companies will spend R&D to revolutionize those sectors bringing down the prices over time. Where the consumers choose to spend their money is what organisations will focus on developing.
At Kalos, sustainability is the backbone of every decision made - right from the type of products we choose to sell, how & who we source our products and raw materials from, and how we prepare the final products that our consumers love us for. We upcycle and repurpose products not just for creating products for you, but even repurpose old packaging materials while shipping out all our orders to reduce the amount of waste generated without compromising on the safety. Additionally, we run collection drives and initiatives to engage the public and regularly post information through our social media platforms to help our consumers make better informed purchasing choices.
This is how, we at Kalos, are able to balance our negative environmental impact, with positive ones to ultimately create products that are ultimately sustainable.
