How Grove Collaborative Plans To Become Plastic-Free By 2025

Currently, there's no financial incentive for companies to reduce plastic waste or find a solution. "People have made so much money selling products with single-use plastic, and they don't have to deal with it in the long run," Landesberg told us. "When you throw away a massive bottle of laundry detergent, that's going to be on the earth for the next 1,000 years or so, and the company doesn't have to pay for that."

To offset this issue, Grove Collaborative and its partners—including Seventh Generation, Mrs. Meyers, and method—are taxing themselves for every product they make or sell with plastic. The taxes will go toward Plastic Bank, a company that accepts used plastic as currency in developing nations, providing an economic resource to developing nations and limiting the amount of plastic bound for the ocean.

One of Grove's bestselling products is a walnut scrubber sponge, which is meant to reduce the number of paper towels people use. They also make glass spray bottles to hold surface cleaning sprays or hand soap, reducing the number of plastic vessels sold. 

The company is revealing the formula for their All-Purpose Cleaning Concentrate in an attempt to encourage competitors to create something similar. By switching to a concentrate, rather than a spray, buyers get more use out of the product and accumulate less waste. According to a news release, the concentrate has "saved almost 500,000 pounds of plastic since its launch." 

"Plastic recycling in the U.S. is pretty broken," Landesberg told us, "so we want people to be aware and be recycling properly." Unfortunately, most plastic that goes into a recycling bin doesn't actually get recycled1, and if it does, it takes a ton of energy and can only be recycled a limited number of times.

If industries follow suit, it will be much easier for consumers to make smart decisions about their plastic use. 

"I'm hopeful this is Step 1 of 100 that we will see business leaders take over the next decade for the sake of our planet, our children, our health," Landesberg said. "All these things are impacted by the consumer economy."

But that doesn't mean we have to wait until 2025 to reduce our single-use plastic purchases. If the change seems overwhelming, try taking it one room at a time. Whether it's the laundry room, the bathroom, or the kitchen, sort through your cleaning products, and start fresh.