Designers with respective careers in UX and product design industries, plastic waste was a theme they faced often. They were continually shocked at the magnitude of waste big business created in product manufacturing.
Having children of their own opened their eyes even more to the sheer volume of waste that comes along with raising kids. Most of it, they realised, was made from plastic - purchased for convenience, outgrown quickly, and destined to sit for 500 years in a local landfill.
Throwing themselves into the research and spending months in the R&D process, ZERO was born. To solve the biggest problem that they believed really matters to parents, the waste associated with nappies and wipes.
“Evey parent we spoke to felt some level of guilt with the sheer volume of waste created by disposable nappies & wipes and knowing they are all made with plastic.
“We knew from our research and our knowledge of product design and manufacturing that the problem was solvable. Some brands do a little good, but we knew that to make a real shift, we need to get a 100% bio-based, high quality nappy into the hands of the mainstream customer. Eco needs to move out the niche market and into every shopping trolley globally”
“In every respect, customer demand is stronger than the offerings on the supermarket shelf. We can’t recycle our way out of the plastic waste issue. We need to make the products needed for modern life with ZERO plastic - that's why we are here”
How is the vision coming to life?
“We have only recently released our first product - a dry wipe for babies, cleaning and skincare. It feels amazing to see it in peoples' homes and on shelves in stores.
“We are super proud of the quality of that product from an environmental impact perspective. Our dry wipe is an alternative to the wet wipe, and people don't always realise the plastic problem created by the wet wipes on the market today. 85% of all wet wipes are made from some form of plastic, and they are all wrapped in plastic packaging. It's a huge waste issue.
“On an emotional level, it's the stories I hear from our customers that make all the hard work worthwhile. When mums tell us that they won’t use anything else now because their babies skin is irritated using other wipes, we knew we were onto something! And that's just our first product! The nappy is going to blow people's minds!”
What's next for the brand and when can customers expect the ZERO nappy?
We have a wet wipe coming that is a world first - 100% plastic free wipe and packaging. That will come out before the nappy but our big goal is manufacturing the ZERO plastic free disposable nappy. We are really hoping to manufacture that product here in Australia and we will be channeling all revenue from the wipes product into standing up an Australian based manufacturing facility here in Sydney. That's the plan, and every sale of our wipes gets us closer.
