The Better Planet Project with BetterYou
BetterYou products utilise pioneering delivery methods to maximise nutrient delivery and uptake in your body, for greater benefit and a BetterYou. They strongly believe that better health shouldn’t come at the cost of the planet. That’s why they’re working towards a better planet.
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What is the Better Planet Project?
The Better Planet Project is their ambitious eco-initiative aimed at minimising the environmental footprint of their operations and products. The project encompasses various efforts, including the use of sustainable packaging materials, responsibly sourced raw materials, reforestation campaigns and collaborations with environmental organisations.
The seven pillars of the Better Planet Project
The Better Planet Project covers all aspects of their business but is centred around seven key pillars:
1. Sustainable Packaging: Embracing plant-based plastics
Global warming is the single biggest threat facing our planet right now. To reduce and reverse the damage humans are causing, we need to look at intelligent, alternative solutions to bringing down our CO2 emissions.
Conventional plastics are produced by extracting ethanol from fossil fuels such as crude oil. The production is energy-intensive, damaging to the environment and relies on non-renewable sources.
The majority of the product range are now manufactured from plant-based plastics from a sugarcane source, using the ethanol created as a by-product in the harvesting process. This bioplastic is much less energy-intensive than traditional plastic production and the community-managed sugarcane plantations remove large quantities of CO2 from the atmosphere during their growing cycle.
What’s more, as the plastic is chemically identical to its fossil-fuel-produced counterpart, meaning it can be recycled alongside traditional plastics without the risk of contaminating the process.
This means that, when recycled, the resulting plastic material is carbon-negative, as verified by The Carbon Trust.
So far, this has meant that BetterYou have removed over 125 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere due to this process.
2. Sustainable packaging: Utilising ocean plastic
Waste plastic enters our oceans at a staggering rate of approximately eight million pieces a day and its impact affects the entire planet.
Plastic in the ocean is meant to double in the next 15 years and shockingly, it’s believed that by 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish (by weight). That’s why it’s imperative that we not only clean up the plastic already in our oceans but that we act now to stop more from ending up there.
Your purchase of BetterYou products bearing the Ocean Plastic logo supports the Resea project and ensures the equivalent weight of waste plastic is removed from the Java Sea by fairly paid members of the local fishing community.
So far, BetterYou customers have helped remove over 70 tonnes of ocean waste plastic.
But why not ditch plastic altogether?
Plastic itself is incredibly versatile and effective for medical and health products. It’s the poorly thought-through way that it is manufactured, used and recycled that causes the real problems.
When starting discussions within their supply chain about making further improvements to their environmental commitments, alternative materials (including glass and aluminium) were investigated thoroughly. Finding that the bottles required less packaging when transported, used less energy to produce and used less energy when recycled.
Moving production to the UK
They have also moved all plastic component manufacturing from China to Norfolk, UK, reducing their carbon footprint by 4,831 miles for each shipment.
3. Zero palm oil and palm oil derivatives
BetterYou are against the use of palm oil in all products due to the destructive nature of its harvesting, its contribution to climate change and habitat destruction.
The use of palm oil has been increasing steadily over the last five decades, with production quadrupling between 1995 and 2015. Most goods now use palm oil, from pizza dough to spreads and almost all cosmetics. It’s cheap to produce, is stable in processing and has a long shelf life, making it incredibly versatile.
Palm oil production is a major driver of deforestation, particularly in tropical regions like Southeast Asia. This deforestation leads to the loss of critical habitats for endangered species such as orangutans, tigers, and elephants. Moreover, the conversion of forests to palm oil plantations contributes significantly to carbon emissions, exacerbating climate change.
BetterYou are proud to have always been a palm oil-free brand and support the fantastic work carried out by the International Palm Oil Free Certification Trademark Programme (POFCAP). They have also undertaken a project to investigate the origins of all ingredients, to ensure all products are not only palm oil free, but they’re also palm oil derivative free, too.
4. One tree planted
BetterYou believe that everyone should have the right to breathe clean air, that’s why they’ve teamed up with Earthly, carbon-busting specialists, to support their trail-blazing project run by Eden Reforestation, replanting mangrove forests in Madagascar.
Mangroves are important for the climate crisis as estimates suggest that they sequester carbon at a rate of two to four times greater than mature tropical forests.
Each mangrove tree removes around 308kg of CO2 from the atmosphere throughout its lifecycle. But they also provide lots of other natural benefits such as storm surge protection and vital habitat for many species. The scheme also provides essential work hours for local communities.
This project has resulted in 68,000 trees planted and over 21,000 hours of community employment.
5. Carbon-neutral certification
BetterYou are proud to be a certified carbon-neutral business.
To qualify, they have committed to removing the same amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, that they emit as a business.
To achieve this, they partnered with Planet Mark to calculate our carbon footprint and offset the carbon emissions by supporting third-party carbon offsetting projects across the world.
6. Responsibly sourced paper and card
Every piece of paper or card they use to house their products is 100% guaranteed sustainable and approved by The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Only forests that meet strict standards are given FSC certification and they only use paper and card allowed to carry the FSC logo.
And they don’t stop there, ensuring that every piece of paper or card used in the printing of literature and in-store point of sale is carbon-balanced. To date offseting over 212,000kg equivalent of CO2 and helping to protect over 40,500m2 of critically threatened rainforests and tropical habitats since being part of the World Land Trust’s Carbon-Balanced Print scheme.
7. From planet to people, their community initiatives
The Better Planet Project commitment extends beyond just environmental efforts, encompassing significant social initiatives.
- Supporting Baby Basics by providing essential nutritional care packages for families in need across the UK. Baby Basics are a volunteer-led project aiming to support new mothers and families struggling to meet financial obligations and the practicalities of looking after a new baby.
- Commitment to fairer pay: They’re accredited as a Living Wage employer, underpinning continual commitment to creating a great working environment for staff, ensuring they receive a fair day’s pay for their hard work. Just one of the many benefits of being a BetterYou team member!
BetterYou are an innovative natural health company specialising in the supplementation of key nutrients lost through modern diet and lifestyle. Taking pride in creating effective, scientifically proven products that support their customers to feel and live better.
From removing plastic from our oceans to eradicating all traces of palm oil from their product range and supporting vulnerable mothers and babies to get the nutrients they need, together, BetterYou are working towards a better planet.
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