How Abeego Achieved 100% Zero Waste Production
B CORP SAYS JUMP AND WE ASK HOW HIGH!
Earning a B Corp certification is a difficult milestone, but all things worth doing are! But being certified is only the beginning. You can’t rest on your laurels because B Corps are required to re-certify every three years and standards continuously evolve. A pass in 2021 is no longer good enough in 2024 which pushes B Corps to strive to do better and earn an even higher score.
Certified in 2021, Abeego passed with an assessment score of 82 out of 250+ possible points so we set out to make some major gains when we re-certify in 2024. Since starting the company in 2008, Toni Desrosiers, wanted Abeego to be a 100% zero-waste manufacturing process and achieve circular manufacturing. We set our focus on this goal and achieved it two years early!
WE’RE 100% ZERO-WASTE NOW BUT IT BEGAN IN 2008
Toni believes you need to think about your waste before you’re holding it in your hands, you need to think about it before it’s even created. Here’s her 3 Step Plan to ensure not a sliver of Abeego ever ends up in the landfill again:
Top-Down-Bottom-Up Design Minimizes Waste Before it Happens
Abeego Wrap sizes are no fluke, they were intentionally arranged to fully utilize a bolt of fabric while making the most versatile sizes to fit as many foods and dishes in their category as possible. Toni adopts a top-down-bottom-up design approach to minimize waste at production while offering the ultimate customer experience. This initial strategy meant less than 1% of raw fabric is lost on the cutting floor! Today most beeswax wraps adopt a pretty similar size strategy and it makes us proud to know they’re likely minimizing raw material waste as a result.
Recognize Scraps are a Resource, Not Garbage
Despite our best efforts, no production process comes without waste so we immediately identified it as a resource putting systems in place to count it as such. This mindset forced us to figure out ways to give the new resource a purpose. In 2010, we launched our Firestarters. They work like a hot damn but sadly they’d never make us 100% zero waste. Why? Well, they only used offcuts created during cutting, a fairly uniform part of our waste. If we wanted to hit our curricular manufacturing goal we needed to work smarter.
The Mini Campfire, the One Product to Use Every Last Scrap of Beeswax Wrap
Ideas can come slow, simmering away on the back burner for years. Abeego has been used to light fires forever, remember our Abeego Twist and Solstice Ball? Inspired by other portable Campfires, Toni made the link between our love of fire & food and how to incorporate every shred of Abeego, no matter the size or shape into one irresistible product. This little can of fire achieved our 100% zero waste production goal in 2022, two years before the deadline!
Backyards to beaches, balconies to backcountry, the instant, and portable Abeego Mini Campfire elevates moments to memories. Brighten everyday outdoor occasions with a small, captivating fire that lights quickly and extinguishes instantly.
Now we’re tackling our next B Corp goal because the hunger to do more good is insatiable. We’re focusing on our most valuable resource, our people. We’re working on reframing full-time work—32-hour work week anyone!?
If you're new to B Corp and Circular Manufacturing here’s the low down:
WHAT IS A B CORP
B Corp certification is given to businesses meeting the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability, balancing profit and purpose. B Corps must meet rigorous requirements complying with a set of legal responsibilities that are verified independently. B Corps use business as a force for good, creating benefits for all stakeholders, not just shareholders.
WHAT IS CIRCULAR MANUFACTURING?
Circular manufacturing aims to reduce and eliminate scraps through the reuse of materials and resources. Based on the circular economy, where resources are kept and excess is minimized by reusing, recycling, or upcycling materials, creating a closed-loop system where materials are continually reused and recycled. It's become an important part of sustainable business by reducing costs, increasing efficiency, and reducing environmental impact. Abeego set out to be a zero-waste company from day one and adopted a circular manufacturing mindset before we started producing beeswax wrap.
ABOUT ABEEGO
Frustrated by plastic wrap for the last time, Toni Desrosiers took matters into her own hands and invented beeswax food wrap in 2008, disrupting the billion dollar plastic wrap industry and sparking the world wide trend for beeswax wrap. On a mission to Keep Food Alive, Abeego is rewriting the story on fresh food preservation. Hellbent on debunking the "airtight" myth, Abeego offers food wrap that protects and breathes, mimicking nature's peel to keep fresh food for what feels like forever.
Abeego is B Corp Certified, proudly made in Canada and uses pure Canadian beeswax to make Canada's leading breathable beeswax wrap.
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