This month, indie deodorant brand Each & Every is making a big switch: from plastic to new sugarcane packaging. This new package reduces the company’s carbon footprint and is part of Each & Every’s ongoing commitment to sustainability—but getting there wasn’t a cakewalk.
 
“Before we even launched the brand, we wanted to launch with sustainable packaging but because we use 100% natural essential oils and no synthetic fragrance, none of the sustainable package options we tried were compatible with our formula,” Each & Every’s Co-Founder Lauren Lovelady told Happi. “The essential oils would break down the package materials. We ultimately decided to launch in plastic so that consumers would have access to our incredible formula and we decided that we would keep working on sustainable packaging in parallel.”
 
According to Lovelady, in 2019, the company continued its search and found a package that was made from post-consumer recycled material.
 
“This was a more sustainable option than petroleum-based plastic, but consumers told us that while they appreciated the effort, they didn’t see it as sustainable enough. We value the feedback of our incredible community and feel so fortunate to be able to have a two-way dialogue because this conversation led us to decide to look for other new materials instead of investing in a solution that they didn’t feel was sufficient.” 
 
Last year, the team found sugarcane—and they became “cautiously optimistic,” according to Lovelady.
 
“We spent a considerable amount of time understanding the supply chain to ensure it met our sustainability expectations and then we spent a few months’ compatibility testing. We then reached out to our community to get their thoughts and when they all came back with the thumbs up, we knew we were on to something.”
 
Each & Every’s signature Lavender and Lemon scent is the first to feature the new material as the firm plans to expand the packaging during the course of the year. 
 
The sugarcane packaging is recyclable and can be recycled at home or commercially. And while the package itself is black, it uses a special colorant that can be detected by infrared scanners for recycling.
 
“What we love about the sugarcane is that it’s actually carbon negative, so it reduces our carbon footprint.  Sugarcane is a renewable resource, unlike petroleum, and growing it absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere, so it’s a great sustainable packaging option,” she said.
 
Lovelady told Happi that the long road to finding a better package has had an impact on her own personal choices. 
 
“Throughout our journey to find more sustainable materials, our entire team has become much more educated on the topic as a whole and the complexities that exist in the industry—from recycling to renewable materials, to reducing waste and composting, there is so much take in. From cutting plastic bags out of my life to sorting my recycling, I have made a lot of changes to my personal approach to sustainability based on what I have learned on this journey,” she said.
 
In addition to the new packaging, Each & Every is rolling out 100% compostable plant-based envelopes for all shipments. The envelopes, made from corn biopolymers, can be composted commercially and at home.
Looking down the road, Each & Every plans to make further changes.   

“Our long-term goals are to continue to listen to our customers and raise the bar,” Lovelady said. “To continue to bring more information and more transparency to our materials and processes so that consumers can make informed decisions that they feel good about. We are constantly looking for ways to improve our current footprint, including continuing to look for new ingredients and other packaging materials that may be even more sustainable. We see sustainability as a journey of many steps and we will continue to invest in taking steps forward.”