Sustainability is a hot topic these days, and with good reason. While many people and companies are prioritizing earth-friendly acts such as recycling, planting trees, and conserving water, there’s another culprit lurking that’s causing the environment harm: our laundry routine and the plastics and chemicals associated with it.

With recent stats showing that of the three million tons of plastic waste discarded each year in Canada, only nine percent is recycled, while the rest ends up in landfills. Laundry detergent jugs are one of the most common household items that contribute to unrecycled waste, and the chemicals that they’re made of can be detrimental to public health. But sustainability advocate Dawn White wanted to change the way we think about laundry, which is why she created ecoegg, a sustainable laundry solution that replaces traditional detergents. The mineral pellet-filled egg doesn’t just cut down on plastic waste and chemicals, but it also comes at a fraction of the cost.

This month, ecoegg launched in the Canadian market, and we chatted with White about her sustainability mission, challenges she conquered during expansion, and what she envisions the future of eco-friendly living will look like.

ICON/REFINED: What made you sure that reducing plastics and chemicals through laundry routines would be a winning business plan?

Dawn White: The laundry category has been dominated by large packs from powders and then onto liquids as the category is driven by habitual behavior learned from your up bringing and then through your life. Customers were moved from cardboard to plastic packaging, and this has been repeated with the move into pods, too. Our eco-friendly goals ensured that our product development took a different approach to how customers were reacting to plastic packaging, as this is the second largest source of landfill waste in Canada. I believed there must be a better way to cut single-use plastic or reducing re-processing of this material. The ecoegg Laundry Egg helps to remove 80 plastic bottles* (* based on a 3L – 66 load pack) during the 10-year guaranteed life.

Regarding chemicals, the ecoegg Laundry Egg was designed to operate at lower temperatures (60°F to 140°F /15°C to 60°C), with most everyday loads being lightly soiled, where harsh chemicals will not only clean, but fade clothes over time. The Laundry Egg is a gentler formula, and the slow-release process ensures that loads get the right amount of detergent, rather than liquids or powder that aren’t always measured for each individual wash. Again, people are driven by habitual behaviors for laundry, so we’re bringing change to customers who make the swap to our product. They become accustomed to the process of filling the Laundry Egg, re-using it based on the defined loads, and refilling it again and again. Our communities are all being encouraged to recycle, reuse and refill, as lots of other categories re-assess their packaging away from plastic to more sustainable materials.

IR: What have been some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced in expanding ecoegg into new markets?

DW: Getting people to understand how easy it is to use the Laundry Egg was initially challenging. This is why, initially, the business worked with Home Shopping Channels and the .com business, where you can showcase how simple it is to use the Laundry Egg. Home Shopping slots helped demonstrate the performance of the product and reviews on .com business endorsed the product and made a real difference to customer engagement. We have seen this in UK and Europe, where major retailers have added our ecoegg Laundry Egg and Refill packs and sales of the refill line start selling from Day 1, as consumers who already have already purchased a Laundry Egg elsewhere come into the store and replenish with the refill pellets.

We continue to strive to make our product more accessible for consumers and we are delighted that London Drugs and selected Canadian Tire stores are now offering our lines. We are hoping to announce further store groups that will be offering our range in bilingual packaging.

IR: Can you share a pivotal moment or decision that changed your business for the better?

DW: I had left the business in 2015 and based on a visit to an eco-friendly store in Bristol, where I live, I saw a big display of ecoegg. This made me feel that someone else was bringing up my baby. I contacted the business and met with the Chief Executive, and I am delighted to say I was asked to join the leadership team of the business, which has helped focus our strategic direction and goal to grow the business through expansion of the range and improvement in product performance in line with our four value pillars of being eco-friendly, ideal for sensitive skin, convenient, and providing great value for money. These values have helped the team to focus and enabled us to launch new products such as the ecoegg White Laundry Egg Range which is designed to keep your whites bright and clean.

IR: What trends do you see shaping the future of your industry, and how do you plan to stay ahead of them?

DW: A continuation of consumers shopping more eco-consciously and having confidence that products deliver on their green pledges. We are a climate-positive company, where we work in association with Play it Green to offset employees carbon footprint by planting trees.

Consumers will continue to want convenient solutions for laundry, so we will continue to strive to find new solutions to the everyday chore of laundry. This is where our four value pillars will help us.

IR: Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently in your business?

DW: Good question. If I had more resources to support me in marketing and innovation, then we would have reached the Canadian market much quicker with the appropriate packs for the market, which are different to the UK.

Also, we now have collaboration with SpongeBob SquarePants, and ideally if we could change anything, I would have liked to have started this collaboration many years ago, which would have made more people aware of our product and the opportunity to reduce plastic in the laundry category.

Finally, working with the right people is essential in a small business, where everyone is a link to making ideas come alive. So, delivering new innovation in the laundry category is challenging, but making the best decision for customers against our four value pillars has always been essential and we wouldn’t change this.