Ekos have had the pleasure of working with Hello Period through carbon mesaurement and certification. Hello Period is a New Zealand built and owned sustainable period products organisation. Ekos have interviewed Kat Sprowell, Chief Operating Officer at Hello Period. Read on to learn about Hello Periods sustainability journey!

What motivated you to begin working with Ekos and what do you aim to achieve?

We design, make and sell high quality, award-winning reusable period care products and are proud to be the world’s only one-stop shop offering a reliable, leak-free option for every person with a period, no matter whether they prefer internal or external products. Our products replace single use period products such as tampons and pads.

Sustainability is at the heart of Hello Period so working with Ekos was a no-brainer for us. We wanted to ensure we were accurately measuring our carbon footprint, and also come up with ways to reduce and offset any impact as our business grows.

We believe we’re all in this together in order to bring about the change that is needed, and we want to do our part.

What have you learnt from working with Ekos on carbon management? Have you seen any benefits? Were there any challenges and how did you overcome them?

We have learnt about the data collection process, how the information gathered gets analysed and the different areas that potentially have impact that you need to consider.

Knowledge is power and going through this process with the Ekos team makes us even more mindful of the impact our business is having which has been a huge benefit. Because our impact is front-of-mind, we are always actively looking at where and how we can make improvements - no matter how small. It has also been a really valuable catalyst for looking closely at every part of our supply chain and actively starting conversations with our suppliers about how we can reduce our collective impact - so putting it on their radar too.

The main challenge has probably been finding the time to really dedicate to this work. We’re a small team and when you’re constantly in the hustle of keeping a business growing and ticking over, it’s not always easy to find the time. Having the Ekos team working alongside us to advise and keep us on track is very helpful and motivating.

What sustainability initiatives are you currently engaged in? and how will these impact your business for a sustainable future?

Sustainability is at the very core of what we do - every menstrual cup or disc sold diverts over 2000 single-use products from landfill. To date, Hello Period has diverted more than 500 million single-use period products from landfill and waterways around the world, and we are super proud of that. In addition, we have a number of sustainability initiatives on the go that all contribute to reducing our impact on the planet over time, this includes a recycling programme for our cups, compostable product packaging and a commitment to reducing emissions generated through upstream freight.

What changes have made the biggest impact?

In terms of changes within the business that have had impact, we are working hard to reduce our reliance on air freight and send/receive shipments via sea whenever possible. It’s much easier said than done but we are really committed to this as it is an area where we can make significant headway in terms of reducing our carbon footprint. We manufacture as much as we can locally as well. Also these days we are a fully remote working team and we are able to reduce our environmental impact this way too, including no staff commuting to and from the office!

What might a climate positive business look like?

For us it looks like a combination of things - looking for new ways of doing things that will

eliminate or reduce emissions, reducing waste wherever possible, and then offsetting any residual footprint. As a Climate Positive business, we commit to offsetting at least 120% of our measured emissions each year, and also give ourselves specific challenges in terms of targets we want to achieve or new initiatives we want to bring to life.

What areas have you looked at to make your GHG emissions report more complete? Have you learnt about bettering your data collection?

The key has been to keep in mind throughout the year that we need to be able to easily access this data and ensure we are capturing everything that is relevant. Our two main emission sources are freight and business travel and so ensuring really good record keeping as we go is important to ensure high quality data.

What does your company's sustainability look like by 2030?

Our mission is to divert one billion single-use period products from landfill and waterways around the world by 2030 and we are already over halfway to achieving that target. In addition to that, we think our sustainability journey by the year 2030 looks like embracing new materials and technologies that enable us to reduce our carbon footprint. We have also set ourselves the challenge to reduce our GHG emissions by at least 20% by 2030.

How do you communicate your actions and certification?

We communicate this in a number of ways - on our website, we proudly display the Ekos Climate Positive symbol on our product packaging, shareholder updates throughout the year and our annual impact report.

What are the links between your sustainability and social goals?

Our vision is to make periods better for people, and the planet. Our sustainability and social goals are inextricably linked. Hello Period was founded on the core values of kindness, inclusivity and respect for the planet and that has always been what drives us. We have a giving programme called Hello Kindness and each year we donate hundreds of products, we partner with The Period Place to improve accessibility for all and we love getting involved with education initiatives. We are also currently supporting a Massey University research project being led by Dr Claire Badenhorst; a ground-breaking study that is looking at whether menstrual blood can be used as a health marker - it’s a world-first study and we are so thrilled to be part of it.