We are pleased to introduce you to one of our newest corporate supporters — Plaine Products. Founded by two sisters, Lindsey and Alison Delaplaine, Plaine Products is a personal care company that began with a dream to have less plastic waste in the world.
To learn more about their work and mission, we sat down for a Q&A with Plaine Products CEO and Co-Founder, Lindsay Delaplaine. Here is what she had to say:
What was the catalyst for creating Plaine Products?
For 10 years I lived in The Bahamas doing environment education work. In addition to being a gorgeous place to live, it also exposed me to truths that are harder to see here in the U.S. On small islands there’s no first world infrastructure to insulate you from the piles of plastic waste we are creating. You see plastic trash in unpopulated, remote areas; bottles and flip flops on the beaches, packaging spilling out of the landfills. There’s even a place so full of plastic it’s called “Junk Beach.” The message that plastic lasts forever, no matter how long we use it, is much more obvious living there than it is here.
Once I saw where all the plastic waste ended up, I decided I wanted to start using less single-use plastic in my life: carrying a reusable water bottle, reusable grocery bags, skipping the straw at restaurants and bars. I looked for other ways to use less plastic. But I couldn’t figure out how to get those plastic bottles out of my shower. There were no alternatives that worked for me and my hair.
As my family contemplated a move back to the United States, I realized that I might be able to solve my own problem. Even better, I might be able to help other people use less plastic in their lives. I pulled in my sister, Alison Webster, who has a design degree and strong opinions about the importance of high quality products. Together we spent two years working on a solution to make it easier for people to get quality products without having to buy single-use plastic bottles.
Plaine Products was co-founded by sisters Lindsey and Alison Delaplaine to help people reduce plastic waste in their homes by offering personal care products in reusable, circular packaging.
Plaine Products was founded in February 2017 to reduce waste in bathrooms across the country by offering circular packaging that can be returned for reuse. In six years we have eliminated more than 625,000 plastic bottles from the waste stream.
Here’s how it works:
- You order your preferred products.
- When your bottles are low, you order a refill, or you can subscribe and we’ll send the bottles automatically.
- When the refills come, you’ll switch the pumps over and send back the empty bottles in the refill box, Plaine Products covers the cost.
- Then we clean the bottles, refill them, and reuse them.
When did focusing on the sustainability aspect of your business come into play, was there an “aha” moment?
Our “solution” to sustainability is pretty simple, we’re just washing and reusing the packaging. We’ve just gone back to how packaging was managed before it all became disposable and convenience was the only metric used to judge success. Many of the products and solutions people are working on today rely on new technologies, which is great, but we’re happy to provide an option that just requires a little consciousness on the part of the consumer, and a little more work on our end.
Were there any unexpected challenges? How did Plaine Products overcome these obstacles to continue its mission to promote sustainability?
It’s always tricky running a small business, but one using a new model of consumption is even harder. It’s challenging to explain the reuse model to our customers, although those who adopt it seem to love it based on the feedback and the help we get from word of mouth referrals! It is hard to help people find us when awareness about reuse models is low and when the keywords for our business are still being created and are evolving as the circular/reuse movement grows. However, knowing we are enabling our customers to opt out of a disposable culture, and help reduce plastic waste, keeps us going. We rely on partners, like the Oceanic Society, to help us reach people who are looking for the products and reuse services we provide.
Plaine Products allows customers to return bottles to be cleaned, refilled, and reused (the company covers the cost). When they can no longer be cleaned and reused, the aluminum bottles are recycled.
Your eco-friendly practices and unique refill-model makes Plaine Products stand out in the market. Can you shed some light on what sets your personal care products apart from conventional options and how these choices contribute to a greener planet?
When we started, we were the only company that paid for customers to return bottles to be cleaned, refilled, and reused. We are still relatively unique in putting in the extra effort to fully using our bottles, not just providing packaging that can be recycled.
The nice thing about aluminum, as opposed to plastic, is that when it is eventually recycled (after going through as many wash and reuse cycles as possible), there’s no loss in quality. It just turns right back into more aluminum. When plastic is recycled it is downgraded into a lower form of plastic until it becomes unusable and ends up in a landfill or the ocean.
What is your approach through giving back with your company?
I worked in nonprofits throughout my 20s and 30s and value the important work they do to raise awareness and provide education on topics that are critical to our planet and well-being. There are just some things that businesses will never do and nonprofits fill that gap. It was important to me that we support nonprofit work around plastic research and reuse, and as a 1% for the Planet Business member, I like that this commitment holds us accountable to donate 1% of our revenue to nonprofits like Oceanic Society.
What is your favorite thing to do in nature?
All the things! I’m a big hiker, but sailing would also rank high. My husband and I lived on a C&C 36 in our 20s. We sailed from Florida to Central America and spent a year exploring before we ran out of money and sailed back to the Bahamas to go to work. We now own a Melges 15, a little two person race boat, so we can still sail locally in Wilmington, NC where we now live. We try to take a sailing vacation with my mom, my sister (and Plaine Products co-founder) and her family at least every two years. Traveling by boat is such a great way to visit out of the way locations, get in lots of diving and snorkeling, and have time together as a family since our teens are without wifi and no can get away.
Anything else you’d like to share?
We are thrilled to support the work of the Oceanic Society through our 1% Percent for the Planet membership, but also through our Plaine Promoters program. If you use the coupon code OS20 while shopping online at Plaine Products, you’ll get 20% off your order and an additional 10% will be donated to Oceanic Society.
