Finding Eco Alternatives, Just Became Easier!
Firstly, Happy World Ocean Day everyone! Monday the June the 8th 2020 marks a day where we all should be appreciating the gift of the deep blue... The incredible ecosystems that it hosts, the magnificent marine life, the playground it is for us all to swim, surf, snorkel & find absolute peace. Australia is completely surrounded by ocean and for that we are so lucky. Our home country is bound by a body of life that we must, must, must protect and preserve. Every single one of us, every single day.
On this special day, I wanted to highlight a company I've been spending a lot of time getting to know of late, The World's Most Rubbish. To explain the platform in a nutshell ... think of a search engine such as Google but imagine that it linked you to only the brands, venues, products, events, suppliers etc etc that were eco-friendly and sustainable ... on a global scale. Imagine if we were only presented with businesses in the search results who were building or expanding "circular economies", meaning their ethos would be based around "5 R's". To;
Reuse, Recycle, Re-Think, Reduce & Repair.
It's a pretty magic thought yes? As instead of sifting through hundreds of websites to find the sustainable options you are looking for, all that work would be done for you ... and the quality of the search engine finds would be of a premium level.
The great news?! This NOW this exists! Check it out here!! Born out of London and now traveling the globe, including Australia, The World's Most Rubbish is an online directory designed to highlight the "greenest" of companies. I think this concept is spot on in terms of what we need - hence my interest and eagerness to introduce it to you.
On World Ocean Day, it's a vital time to think about our daily habits in terms of what we use, how we use it, what we buy & where we buy it from. Why? Because SO much of what we do impacts our waste levels, our air quality, our world! And of this of course directly impacts the health of our oceans. This needs our focus.
Ocean waste is a massive problem around the world as it's being littered with all kinds of nasty crap that is not biodegradable. Bottles, plastic bags, packaging, fishing equipment, microplastics, chemicals & way more. We NEED to correct this before it's too late. Who wants to swim in an ocean full of waste? Not me! And who would want to live in a place where it was so easy to choke on a plastic lid, a microbead or become strangled in an old net? Not me, and I can assure you - no marine life want or deserves this quality of life either.
TWMR is a selfless company who is committed to shifting the mindsets of large groups of people (globally), so that people want & actively seek alternative ways of living that cut out our reliance on wasteful materials such as single-use plastics & nasty chemicals that are simply not essential to the quality of our lives & the quality of the world around us.
I was very fortunate to speak with the Creative Director of TWMR who is down in Australia to grow the platform, Nick Hoskin. I'm delighted to introduce both him and his wonderful platform to you all... so please read below & pass the info along to anyone who you think should apply to be listed.
Enjoy! x
1. Tell us about your wonderful platform, The World's Most Rubbish. For those who do not know, what exactly is it designed to do? And why have you built it?
The World's Most Rubbish is a global community of consumers, creators & brands. We're on a mission to make waste a thing of the past by transforming the circular economy into a mainstream business model that delivers value for everyone.
Our focus is on transforming the sustainability agenda from obligation (something we HAVE to do) to opportunity (something we WANT to do) and driving behaviour change through impactful experiences, events, content and resources.
We’ve just launched The World’s Most Rubbish Directory to make it easy for everyday shoppers to discover more sustainable versions of the products they’re already buying, or looking to buy.
From toothpaste to toilet paper, swimwear to building supplies, cars to bars and beyond — The Directory celebrates the businesses leading the way in making the circular economy a reality and connects them with people who want to make more conscious purchase choices.
There’s so many amazing businesses out there making the circular economy a reality but people either don’t know they exist, or don’t know where to find them. By bringing them together in one place we’re making it easy for everyone to make simple switches from what they’re already buying to better alternatives that lead to a brighter future for all of us.
Shoppers looking for a specific item can use keywords to find discover better choices and results can also be filtered by category or location if relevant. Those just looking to be inspired by what’s out there can just browse through categories.
We want The World’s Most Rubbish Directory to become a key part of everyone’s shopping habits – whenever they’re looking to purchase something, rather than use a search engine we’d love them to jump straight on The Directory knowing they’ll find more sustainable choices.
It’s not just products either, it also features bars, cafes and restaurants as well as a wide-range of resources for businesses of all sizes that are looking ways to become more sustainable.
2. In regards to providing businesses with information on eco-alternatives (across various industries), what industries would you say are leading in terms of their efforts towards "going green"?
I’m not sure if there’s any one industry on the whole leading the way. Obviously some industries have bigger inherent challenges to overcome than others (often due to convoluted supply chains), but from what we’re seeing there seems to be a desire to adopt more sustainable practices across nearly all industries… not just because it’s seen as an opportunity to create a healthier environment but it also enables businesses to become healthier commercially.
Those leading the way are generally the ones that have got the right people championing the change from the inside out, because they genuinely believe it’s the right thing to do not because they feel like it’s something they have to do.
We’re seeing really exciting progress in businesses across all industries and that was a big part of why we created The Directory. We saw so many different types of businesses creating more sustainable products and experiences across every touchpoint of day-to-day life, we wanted to make it possible for people discover them all in one place.
3. In the process of building The World's Most Rubbish, what have you found to be surprising in terms of knowledge gaps? For example, is there something that seems so obvious to you, that you've found is certainly not common knowledge?
Sustainability is such a big topic and a lot of the information out there is confusing to most of us, so nothing really surprises us in terms of knowledge gaps!
One thing that really caught our attention last year in the UK was how many people wrongly assumed wrapping paper was recyclable (well, it is paper after all!). Every year the UK alone throws out enough gift wrap to circle the globe nine times and the majority of it can’t be recycled as it’s either dyed different colours, contains foil or glitter, laminated or covered in sticky tape. We took this as an opportunity to raise awareness of the issues and made it easy for people to adopt new, more environmentally-friendly, gifting rituals with our #CutTheWrap [https://cut-the-wrap.com/] campaign.
Now that I’m back in Australia, we’re working on a follow-up campaign for this year that will be launched here too. Watch this space!
4. For new businesses who are starting from point blank, what is your biggest DO and DON'T DO tip, when referring to building a sustainable, agile business that has a high potential to last, grow & expand?
When it comes to sustainability, it’s easy for people to dwell on what businesses aren’t doing but we prefer to celebrate those doing what they can to make the circular economy a reality.
DO whatever you can to adopt more sustainable practices straight away, no matter how big or small. Becoming a circular business isn’t going to happen overnight, it's a journey and every step takes you closer to realising the bigger benefits. Browsing The Directory for inspiration from others is a great place to start, as well as the 5Rs (https://theworldsmostrubbish.com/our-story/the-5rs) for opportunities to adopt new ways of thinking.
DON’T get caught up in the negativity. There’s a lot of it out there, and if someone is looking to find things you’re doing wrong, they'll always find something. Focus on your goals and prioritise the changes you can make in the short, medium and long term. Remember it’s about progress, not perfection!
5. The World's Most Rubbish is also hugely about educating people! Getting people excited and proud to pivot their business & move towards a sustainable (plastic free!) structure. Why did you decide to use this tactic, verse the common tactic ... the fear tactic!
As a society our awareness of the issues surrounding sustainability and the environment are higher than ever, but as individuals in general we still feel a bit helpless. The problem just seems too big and no-one can seem to agree on the right solution.
This awareness is primarily the result of fear/scare tactics, which have played a really important role in giving us the motivation to make a difference, but they’re also causing people to freeze up. People are confused by the contradictory information they hear and nothing they can do personally seems enough to make an impact. So they do nothing.
We saw an opportunity to make a real impact at scale by creating a platform that converted this awareness into action, making it easy for everyone to adopt more sustainable behaviours in their day-to-day lives and businesses. Rather than focus on getting a relatively small number of people doing things perfectly straight away, we focus on getting a huge amount of people taking tiny steps towards bigger behavioural shifts.
6. What kinds of businesses are you now looking to list on the directory?
The Directory is global, but we really want to include as many local Aussie businesses as possible! We’ve got such a wide range of categories we can include any type of business, but they need to meet the following criteria before we can consider them –
Does it demonstrate what’s possible within a circular economy? (we know no one’s perfect, so we include businesses contributing to the circular economy, regardless of how far along they are on their journey)
Is it making it easier for people to adopt any of The 5Rs [https://theworldsmostrubbish.com/our-story/the-5rs]?
Is the business genuinely committed to sustainability, not just using it as a PR opportunity?
Does the business deliver quality products?
If you know a business you think fits the bill, we’d love to hear about it! You can submit via The Directory homepage.
7. How do people get in touch?
For those who want to stay up to date with all of our #TrashyPicks as well tips and advice on how to adopt more sustainable behaviours you can follow @TheWorldsMostRubbish [https://www.instagram.com/theworldsmostrubbish/]. Or if you want to get involved with what we’re doing, we’d love to hear from you. Just drop us an email (hello@twmr.org) and we can go from there.
