early last year to help replace plastic straws. With over 500 million plastic straws ending up in the landfill every day, we knew we could offer a better solution. Since we launched the straws last spring, they’ve become one of our most popular accessories. Awareness around plastic straw use has seen more press lately, and we are happy that we can offer a solution that works towards phasing out plastic straws entirely.
How are you trying to change consumer behavior?
Educating consumers on single-use waste is a huge part of our mission. We regularly partner with like-minded companies and organizations to provide river clean-ups across the country and encourage consumers to learn about the importance of clean water. Keeping our waterways clean falls on us as a society. To us, measuring what matters means imparting the importance of being conscious of our own responsibilities when it comes to the earth. Buying a reusable bottle or container is an easy step everyone can take to reduce waste.
Why have you partnered with festivals and events?
Many festivals and events produce large amounts of single-use waste. Partnering with them is a way to reduce this waste and encourage consumers to make changes to their own habits going forward. One of our newest partnerships is the Ragnar Race Series, where we have helped the organizers eliminate single-use cups entirely from the race venues.
To us, a good partnership is one where we can make a big difference by offering alternatives to single-use waste and educate consumers on small changes they can implement in their own lives. We are always keeping our eyes open for potential partnerships with events that share our mission for reducing waste but may not have the resources or knowledge to implement changes on their own.
How have you gotten consumers engaged through your "Bring Your Own" campaign?
We implemented the Bring Your Own campaign to start a conversation around the policies and cultural ideas that encourage a disposable lifestyle. It’s easy to think that you, as an individual, won’t have an impact on creating change for such a large-scale problem. Many people are also not aware of how much waste our nation generates. We believe it’s important to share knowledge with those who can help spread awareness and encourage others to bring their own reusable containers.
We launched the Bring Your Own project with a series of short films that highlight why we’re so passionate about reducing single-use waste. We’ve also used social media in a big way to reach the public through the #bringyourown hashtag. This encourages consumers to join the conversation and spread the word. We’re encouraged by the positive reaction to the campaign we’ve received from our community.
As a 1% For the Planet member, you’ve contributed more than $2 million directly to environmental organizations dedicated to preserving and restoring wild places. Why is this important to the company?
Being a member of 1% For the Planet is part of Klean’s overall commitment to doing the right thing and showing up to enact change. We work hard every day to create quality products for our customers; however, part of being a good steward of the environment
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