The Good as Dirt Chronicles
Top Ten Eco-Friendly Brands
Ten Great Brands Getting Eco-Friendly Right and Helping Consumers Go Plastic-Free
Here is a list of eco-friendly brands working to reduce the volume of plastic and toxins in the everyday products we buy and the packaging they come in. Supporting these businesses fosters their success and encourages other manufacturers to follow their lead. While it's great that going green is now in and manufacturers are jumping on board with it, unfortunately this has led to an explosion of greenwashing. Greenwashing is the quietly deceptive practice of giving the illusion that a business is eco-friendly with token steps that do little to nothing to help the environment. Greenwashing businesses want to look like they’re helping the environment but it's mostly hype. Rest assured, there is no greenwashing from the businesses on this list below. They’re all legit. They don't cut corners or woo us with superficial talk about caring for the Earth. They’ve invested in non-toxic plastic-free and organic materials and made products that are truly eco-friendly and better for you and the environment.
1. Axiology. Axiology is a make-up brand started in 2013 by a young woman -- then living in Bali -- after she learned her make-up was tested on animals. Her mission: vegan cruelty-free make-up. She began making it in her kitchen and it grew from there, packaging it in recycled plastic. But a few years later she learned that the beauty industry created a whopping 120 billion units of plastic waste each year and switched entirely to paper and cardboard packaging. No plastic wrappers, boxes, labels, packaging or anything else. It’s a simple and common sense move yet it seems revolutionary given the ubiquity of plastic housing used for make-up. The cardboard easily lasts as long as the make-up itself so there’s no need to put it in something that lasts forever and pollutes the environment. Axiology’s make-up is also completely plant-based, chemical-free, non-toxic and cruelty-free.
2. Avocado Green Mattress, My Green Mattress and Naturepedic. These are three of the top mattress-makers that use none of the toxic materials, like polyurethane, formaldehyde, synthetics and fiberglass, that are common in mass market mattress. All three use natural latex, organic cotton and, for some models, wool. They meet fire retardant laws with natural non-toxic materials instead of fiberglass or harmful chemicals. Their mattresses are toxin-free, breathable and safe to sleep on. All are made primarily with organic materials and all are made in the U.S. All three manufacturers have mattresses for infants and children too and Avocado and Naturepedic also offer a vegan mattress (no wool). Use code goodasdirt15 for 15% off of anything from Naturepedic.
3. Corkor. Corkor’s bags, briefcases, belts and other accessories look like handsome leather but they are all made of locally-grown cork by a family-run business in Portugal. They’re completely vegan and cruelty-free. Cork is a great eco-friendly and sustainable raw material from which to make fashion accessories and other products. It's a major carbon sink -- more so than other trees -- meaning they draw from the air more carbon dioxide than they emit and thereby help to remove that leading greenhouse gas from the atmosphere. Even better, after the cork bark is harvested, the trees absorb even more carbon dioxide — three to five times more -- as they work to regrow new bark. It's estimated that for every ton of cork harvested, 73 tons of CO2 is absorbed and then sequestered within the trees and held there throughout its lifetime, which is about 200 years. This is a win-win cycle and does not harm the trees.
4. 8000 Kicks: 8000 kicks makes shoes, backpacks and other accessories mainly from hemp, a fiber that, like cork, is also an eco superhero. Long banned by the Controlled Substances Act, commercial cultivation of hemp as a raw material was legalized in the U.S. in 2018 and its use as a textile for a wide variety of products has since blossomed. (It's legal in numerous other countries too.) 8000 Kicks’ shoes and bags are all made primarily from hemp. Many of the shoes also have semi-synthetic bioplastic soles made mainly from algae, the harvesting of which helps clean up waterways suffering from algae contamination and eutrophication. The soles also have a protective membrane of recycled polyester to ensure they are waterproof. Some soles are also natural rubber. Among the many reasons hemp is environmentally beneficial is that it’s a carbon sink. It absorbs from the atmosphere more carbon dioxide than most other plants. It also protects and improves the soil in which is grows, removes heavy metals from the soil, and it's naturally anti-microbial and disease and pest-resistant, avoiding the need for pesticides. All 8000 Kicks’ products are shipped in recycled cardboard.
5. Terra Thread: Like other eco-friendly businesses, Terra Thread has a simple mission: to make organic cotton bags and accessories without any plastic. And that’s just what they do. The business was founded by a father and daughter team who wanted to do something to counter the harmful ecological and health effects of fast fashion and its near-universal use of synthetic fabrics. Their bags (duffels, backpacks, totes, toiletries…..) are made of heavy organic cotton canvas woven from cotton grown on an organic farm in India . There is zero plastic — no plastic details, films, lining or labels. Just canvas and metal hardware such as zippers and rings for shoulder straps and handles. The products, made in a Fair Trade factory in India, come in an array of vibrant colors. Terra Thread supports Feeding America’s campaign to end hunger in the U.S.
6. Lodge Cast Iron:Using a sand molding technique that's been around since 680 BCE, Lodge has been making cast iron pots and pans since 1896 and currently operates two foundries in Tennessee. In fact, it’s the longest-running cast iron manufacturer in the U.S. Cast iron is one of the safest materials to cook with as it is made from two natural non-toxic elements: iron and carbon and leaches no toxic chemicals or residue into your food. It’s naturally non-stick once seasoned and is known for its excellent heat retention, even distribution and strength. It can also add needed iron to food. Plus, it's got an attractive vintage look and feel and will last forever if cared for well. It’s packaged in biodegradable paper and cardboard.
7. Berkey Filter Systems: Berkey’s gravity-fed charcoal-based water filters are frequently rated one the best brands for quality and effectiveness. The Environmental Working Group found it was one of three filter systems that remove 100% of PFAS (the so-called 'forever chemicals' for their persistence in the environment and in animal tissue). But the other two are mostly plastic, unlike the Berkeys that are mostly stainless steel. They also filter over 200 chemicals potentially in tap water including toxins like lead, chromium mercury, other heavy metals, bacteria, pharmaceuticals, inorganic compounds, endocrine disruptors and more. They require no plumbing or electricity so they can be situated anymore and are ideal in power outages.
8. Save Trees: Save Trees toilet paper and tissues are made from bamboo, an eco-friendly powerhouse and the fastest growing plant in the world, up to three feet per day. The business has a goal of saving one billion trees from being cut down and estimates that it’s so far saved move than 131,000 trees, leaving them thriving in the environment. Another statistic: if everyone in the U.S. switched to bamboo toilet paper we’d save about 526 million trees each year. Save Trees’ paper is PFAS-free and free of other toxic chemicals too. Their bamboo is harvested from responsibly-grown crops in regions where it naturally grows and is FSC-certified. Bamboo is also a great carbon sink, absorbing huge levels of carbon dioxide as it grows, helping to remove that greenhouse gas from the atmosphere.
9. Leaf Shave: Recognizing that billions of disposable plastic razors are thrown out each year, adding to the mounting volume of plastic pollution, Leaf Shave makes all-metal refillable safety razors. They come with a small tin to store used blades to be recycled. Leaf was founded in 2019 by two friends disillusioned by how wasteful and expensive it was to use plastic razors. They estimate Leaf has so far prevented about 20 million plastic razors from going into landfills or being incinerated.
10. The Earthling Company: Earthling makes shampoo and conditioner bars entirely from non-toxic plant-based ingredients and packages them in plastic-free cardboard boxes. They also use non-petroleum inks on their packaging. Some of their organic healthy ingredients include jojoba oil, coconut oil, guar bean and marshmallow root. They are free of sulfates, silicones and drying alcohols, which can contribute to hair damage and loss. Earthling says the bars replace two to three bottles of liquid shampoo and conditioner and last several months. Earthling has also earned the Climate Label Certification.