Zero Waste Path is a small company dedicated to producing sustainable personal care products, located in Cambridge, England.

The beginning

Bianca Mularoni and her partner Giulio Corsi started this entrepreneurial journey in early 2018. They started testing and experimenting in a small room with some products and just some equipment. Their desire and enthusiasm for the project made them work on it without rest and that is why in just 6 months they managed to set up their online business. Bianca would then be the one who would carry the voice from now on due to another occupation of her partner. The small business was growing progressively thanks to the dedication and commitment of Bianca to try to reach the maximum possible audience. It currently has 5 employees and views to continue growing.

Values

ZWP considered strongly from the outset that a no-waste, plastic and natural lifestyle is possible, but the question was: to what extent? From the beginning, ZWP knew how to route the style as well as the what and the how of the brand. It was very clear, they didn’t want to be another Nivea or Dove, their purpose and intention went further. “Our purpose goes before profit, which means that our foundational values prevail for profit,” says Bianca.

“We sometimes make unprofitable decisions but stay in line with ZWP’s core values.” It should be noted here that globalized giant brands would be far from this philosophy. In fact, due to its massive infrastructure throughout the world, it makes excessive use of automated systems for the production of its chain products as well as great disposal of processing equipment among others. Even though they have plastic reduction plans in place in their products, they are quite far from getting it successfully in the short or medium term.

Mission

ZWP is not only able to reduce the use of plastic, in fact in all its production processes they do not use any type of plastic but as they are well transmitted in their packaging, their products are vegan, without animal abuse, handmade, natural and without palm oil. Not everything is reduced to be sustainable, they apply it to all levels of product production that they can. “We hope to inspire other businesses by being sustainable at every step of the production process of a product rather than just focusing on the final product,” explains Bianca.

Ecobranding

At this point, we need to talk about ecobranding (ecological brands), which is catching more and more weight today. Brands that have the value of caring for and preserving the environment and connecting with users through it. This, therefore, entails the responsibility of the brand to guide its consumers in this way of sustainability. But here, too, the word greenwash appears as a threat from the movement, referring to the image wash that makes some brands look like eco-friendly brands and are just fake makeup to position themselves and sell more.

Ecobranding is an aspect that ZWP, without wanting to know, has carried and established on its own since its creation. Something quite interesting when it comes to positioning itself in your sector without having to make added strategic adventures.

Equality

Another point to note is the gender of products and/or brands, an issue that is increasingly socially and politically exposed. As Bianca tells us in the definition of his brand: “We are ethical products for the whole world, not for a particular niche of zero consumers.” Something that makes her stand out directly in the face of competition. And it is that gender inequality and gender bias are at the same level as the environmental problem, which means that they have to adapt equally to the identity and culture of brands.

Colaborations

Bianca told us in the interview that they did not have a designer inside the company but that he had counted on the work of some self-employed people hired for specific design needs.

Referencing the giant Dove again, it’s clear they play with an advantage. Designers like those who work at Dove have a great weight at present. From graphic design to marketing, communicative strategy, etc. they are making important decisions towards the direction of where the culture of the organization wants to go. Nowadays it is difficult to find a company or brand that does not have designers or a department of it. With the passage of time and the changes of eras, the designer has acquired a very valuable role in the strategies of the companies. Any employee of a company could create a design, a product or a service, but it would be no other than the designer who could give life and meaning to all of them and at the same time endow them with personality.

In this case, we could extrapolate this aspect to the Zero Waste Path brand whose personality is intrinsic to its products and vice versa. When someone buys them a product, they feel identified with the culture, with their values and mission. Somehow they know that they are putting their granite and contributing to the conservation of the planet. They are friendly products, like the brand, which is a friend and advocate of fair trade and of not leaving any harmful traces in the world.

Commitment

But it doesn’t all go out of doors, having talked to its employees, there are more similarities around the organization. The team agrees that this is a change in the way a product is produced and its impact on the consumer. And the commitment to carry out that change is no easy task. “ZWP tries to be responsible, friendly and helpful to the environment,” says one of the employees. In addition, they all concretize that this task of building change is what motivates them and makes them proud. “Every step we take and every decision we make revolves around a term: sustainability, that’s why our clients trust us,” states Mateo, ZWP supervisor. All employees share the same principles and causes by which they are there and that makes them somehow live the culture from within and from outside as well.

A unique porpuse

Finally, as a general rule when someone wants to open a business, be it physical or online, the goal is the same: to thrive economically and maximize profits. But we have seen and discovered that the illusion and passion of some people to believe in a change can lead to the creation of a culture, a lifestyle, a way of thinking. This is why it makes Zero Waste Path™ so special. We have seen that since its beginnings, they were counting on that sustainable essence and that as time went on it took root and consolidated its brand more. Both the values and the principles of the ZWP brand have always gone in the same direction and with a single purpose and that is what makes them who they are and how they are.