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Enjoy, Vinnie from Happy Human
Who are the lovely faces behind Happy Human and how did it come to fruition?
Happy Human is a female-founded Sydney startup founded by Vinnie Ong, who’s also an avid scuba diver. Over the years, she watched her favourite diving sites turn from beautiful paradises to plastic dumping grounds. She started to rethink how she was personally using plastic, and gradually cut down on her own single-use plastic consumption to contribute. When it comes to everyday essentials around the home, she found it challenging to find accessible plastic-free alternatives that didn’t break the bank. In 2019, she started to work with experts across Australia to create an accessible and refillable “just-add-water” range that reduces single-use plastic waste and carbon emissions, and that’s how Happy Human was born.
What was the creation process like from the idea to the design/packaging?
Happy Human is an eco-friendly brand and our mission is to end unnecessary single-use-plastics in all consumer products. We also wanted to make sure that the products would be accessible to all, so we took our time to make sure we were thoughtful with everything from the packaging to the ingredients. All of our ingredients are on the EPA Safer Chemical Ingredients List and none of the ingredients on the EWG Unacceptable List. Our packaging is either 100% recyclable or compostable, including the tablet wrappers and tape used to seal the boxes. Finally, we also wanted people to be excited to display our products on their countertops, so we opted for a simple, fun and fresh colour palette and design - because sustainable choices don’t have to be plain and boring!
The most shocking fact / bit of info that you would like to share?
Water makes up to 80 percent of current home care products. All the additional packaging and transportation means more pollution and more carbon emissions for our planet. That is why we’ve decided to launch a line of waterless cleaning products that reduces single-use plastic and carbon emissions. By condensing the tabs into small tabs, we can package them in paper-based compostable packaging, and we’re also reducing our carbon footprint as the transportation and production processes are much more efficient.
Favourite tips to help anyone create better sustainable choices?
Refill or reuse over recycle – I believe that each and every small contribution will collectively make a huge difference. The average Australian uses 130 kg of plastic per person each year, and over half of them are single-use that can be avoided. We were taught that recycling was the solution but statistically only 9% of plastics ever produced gets recycled, so unfortunately is a little more than a myth. Imagine what you could achieve in reducing it if you looked at switching to refillable or reusable solutions.
○ Instead of plastic cling wrap, use beeswax wraps
○ Instead of throwing out food scraps into your bin, look at composting systems
○ Instead of buying new clothes, look at shopping second hand or rental
○ Instead of recycling, look at refillable solutions like Happy Human.
Lastly, what sets your soul on fire?
We’re facing a climate emergency, plastic alone contributes to 13% of the world’s carbon emissions. The more plastic we make, the more fossil fuels we need and we can help by reducing single-use plastics. In Australia, of the almost 3 million tonnes of plastic that our country produces each year, 95% is discarded after a single use and 130,000 tonnes leak into the ocean. With greater awareness of these issues, we feel more empowered than ever when we see more people join our refill movement and share their journeys towards imperfect sustainability!
My personal experience with happy human?
It was love at first spray hehe...
This isn't sponsored or anything, I reached out to happy human because I love their product so much, their brand and how they shared interesting facts on socials. It is aesthetically pleasing, smells really nice and works a treat. It lasts way longer than I originally thought and literally have nothing bad to say hehe. I just feel really empowered when I make conscious purchases and support local Aussie brands <3