We love hearing from our customers, getting to know you, and learning more about what you're hoping for from The Honest Company. It was fun and insightful to discover how excited you are to see the new diaper designs, what new uses you've found for our products, and that you have innovative ideas for improving packaging (some of which we're already working on!). Thanks for sharing with us. Now it's our turn to answer your questions...
Q. Do the cleaning products kill bacteria, germs, and viruses?
A. Our Honest cleaning products do an effective job at eliminating bacteria, germs, and viruses; however, they don’t contain antibacterial chemicals, and we don't make any % claims that are regulated by the FDA. Antibacterial soaps and cleaners got their start in hospitals, where sterile environments must be maintained. It wasn't until more recent years when they were marketed to consumers. And while the promise of killing a high percentage of bacteria, germs, and viruses is appealing—especially for families who want to avoid the notorious cold and flu season—these antibacterial cleaners may do more harm that good. Studies have found that living in too sterile of an environment has been linked to increased infection and allergies in kids (to learn more about the use of antibacterial products and their influence on our immune systems, read Christopher Gavigan’s discussion about the “hygiene hypothesis”).
Germ fighting in the home comes from thoroughly cleaning—even if it's just with soap and water—not necessarily with antibacterial chemicals. It's best to clean using non-petroleum based cleaning products, like those from Honest, or the old fashioned way with alcohol, lemon, and white vinegar. We avoid using harsh and toxic antibacterial chemicals like triclosan or benzalkonium chloride that are found in many antibacterial products, and opt to use ethyl alcohol derived from fermented corn sugars instead. Our Multi-Surface Cleaner is great for safely and effectively cleaning high chairs, bathrooms, and kitchen countertops because the ingredients work as natural disinfectants. And our Fruit & Veggie Wash works too!
Q. What are you future product plans...are you considering an antibacterial spray for the kitchen or the bathroom?
A. Since the beginning, we've dreamed of building a family brand that creates trusted, safe, and non-toxic products that are useful in all areas of your life. We launched by offering what busy individuals and families need most—everyday basics for the household. But thanks to the overwhelmingly positive response we've received from you, we are exploring everything from an expanded personal care line to baby gear and layette to home goods. And everyday we continue to work on developing new home cleaning products, like a bathroom cleaner. However, as mentioned above and consistent with our mission of making items that are safe for your health, any new cleaning products will be made without harsh chemicals and will use natural ingredients that effectively wipe out dirt, grime, bacteria, and other germs.
Q. How many people work at The Honest Company?
A. Because we're a new start-up company, our office continues to grow as the business expands. In fact, we're constantly rearranging office furniture as new talented employees join the team (it keeps things exciting!). Today, we have a little more than 60 employees — that includes our own Management Team, Customer Service Team, and Fulfillment Team.
Q. Do you use clean energy and renewable resources to power the company?
A. As a dedicated B Corporation, we strive to make healthy, sustainable, and eco-friendly business decisions and continually improve our practices. As stated in our Health & Sustainability Standards, which not only sets forth our commitment to reducing the presence of toxic chemicals in our work environment, minimizing waste, and maximizing (re)use materials, we are always seeking new innovative ways to minimize our carbon footprint through our manufacturing and management practices.
Here are a few specific examples:
- Ensuring all the electricity used in our headquarters and warehousing is from 100% renewable sources – we purchase 100% renewable California Solar (by purchasing REC from 3 Degrees) – reducing dependency on conventional fossil fuel energy (coal & petroleum) sources.
- Making efforts to continually reduce our carbon footprint by the way we run our business, and purchasing the necessary carbon offsets for operating our business operations, manufacturing, product shipping, and corporate travel at year end.
- Utilizing electronic and fully automated management systems to dramatically reduce paper, printing, and copying usage and supplies
- Employing warehousing facilities that use natural daylight, energy-efficient lighting, electric forklifts, and full recycling programs for all corrugated shipping boxes.
- Seeking partners who abide by our Supplier's Code of Conduct that addresses three major areas: human rights, environment, and documentation.
Supplier's Code of Conduct: The supplier must comply with applicable environmental laws of their country, have a written environmental policy, and implement a system to minimize or eliminate negative impacts on the environment. Partners must: 1) Publicly disclose environmental impacts and activities through regular reporting; 2) Eliminate toxic and hazardous substances from products and operations; 3) Increase efficiency and thereby minimize pollution and waste; 4) Reduce use of natural resources including raw materials, energy and water; 5) Take responsibility for proper waste management and any environmental problems associated with disposal of wastes.
- Ensuring all built and renovated offices spaces utilize low-impact, non-toxic, and sustainable materials – from furnishings and water filtration, to interior lighting, no-VOC paints, and beyond.
- Incentivizing eco-friendly transportation like biking, ride-sharing, public transportation, and alternative fuel/hybrid vehicles.
- Seeking the most-credible suppliers and raw materials manufacturers who are geographically located as close to our operational headquarters as possible (micro is the new macro!).
- Shipping efficiently by shipping as infrequently and as short of a distance as possible and by encouraging our customers to bulk order and avoid expedited shipping.
- Choosing ground shipping whenever possible, as expedited air freight generally uses six times more energy than ground shipping (we offer air shipping, despite its high environmental impact, as we understand the need for customer satisfaction and convenience as one of our important business promises).
We'd love to keep the conversation going...Comment below, Tweet your questions and ides using #HonestQA, or post on our Facebook page.
We aim to provide you with the most honest and credible information possible. This article was reviewed for accuracy by The Honest Team and its internal technical experts.
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