Sign In / Register
An enterprising 20-year-old recently added home compostable dog poo bags to her company’s range of eco-friendly products.
Brie Downey, who also works at Peak Pilates, started her own business two years ago – soon after graduating from Orewa College. She says her awareness of environmental problems came from her love of the ocean – she is a keen surf lifesaver and surfer.
“I noticed more and more plastic on the beaches and when out in the water and I wanted to do more to help,” she says. “It’s been a personal environmental journey as well as a business. My bathroom and kitchen are now almost entirely single use plastic free. What worked for me was just cutting out one plastic product at a time and replacing it with something reusable – rather than trying to do all of it at once.”
Brie’s Cavoodle dog, Ruba, and the banning of single use plastic bags, was the inspiration for her latest product.
“We were using imported biodegrable plastic bags to pick up the dog poo. As these bags break down, they produce methane, which contributes to global warming, and can leave tiny pieces of plastic (microplastics) behind,” Brie says.
Also, they took a very long time to break down in compost, so most of the poo-filled bags ended up in landfill.
Brie’s solution was to develop a thin bag made of 100 percent plant based materials – mainly corn starch and plant starch.
Although her company is based in Red Beach, she had to have the bags manufactured in China.
“Once I found I couldn’t afford to get them made in NZ, I worked hard to find an overseas company with sustainable practices,” Brie says. “I would rather have had them made here, but as a small buisiness owner those cost savings were very important.”
The bags look and feel like plastic. Getting the right thickness was key – so they were easy to handle and strong but would break down quickly.
Brie says they take around six months to break down in home compost, without producing any methane or microplastics. As they contain animal faeces, a separate compost bin is needed – you cannot risk putting compost that has had dog poo in it on any edible garden plants.
If you don’t have a compost, Brie says the bags will still break down in landfill but take longer because of the temperatures.
Info: www.thegoodsource.co.nz
