Dental as anything - Laura Nixon, Solid (edited excerpts)
Listen to the full episode here.
Vincent
We're all so used to rinsing and spitting, which seems ingrained. And you're telling me that this is the wrong thing to do. Please, please correct me.
Laura
As you said before, we are so used to toothpaste in a tube. Whereas we've gone back to the start and looked at why it needs to be in a tube? Our main products, as you mentioned, are toothpaste tablets and toothpaste in a jar, which is a thicker, dentist style paste in a jar. The reason that I wanted to get away from toothpaste tubes is that worldwide we're throwing out 1.5 billion tubes every year. And it's one of those things you do without really thinking about it.
Vincent
Completely unrecyclable presumably?
Laura
There have been some efforts to make them more recyclable, but generally in New Zealand, you can't recycle a toothpaste tube, unfortunately. And if you want the full nitty gritty, I have written a blog on it.
Vincent
In the video you've got on your website, you pop a tablet into your mouth. It looks a little bit like a small Oddfellow. And then you brush and then you've got a brilliant smile. What happens between popping that tablet in your mouth?
Laura
You chew it and it turns into a paste. And then you brush as normal. Even though it sounds like really weird, it's actually all the toothpaste ingredients you need, just without the water, squashed into a pill form.
Vincent
We're also the most remote country in the world. And so shipping is a big part of our story, right?
Laura
Yes, and I think that's where the refill aspect comes in for us. As you mentioned before, we have toothpaste dispensers. They're like a metal sausage machine. You can just send over your tablets in the lightest way possible and then people can bring in their jars and refill them that way..
Vincent
It's so obvious when you explain it. Why is it taken so long for someone to do this?
Laura
Back in the day, you used to actually get toothpaste in a tin. Some of our customers still remember that. It's like shampoo and conditioner in bottles but now you see shampoo bars and conditioner bars coming out. That just makes so much sense because in terms of conditioner, that is literally up to 90% water. It just seems ridiculous to make this big plastic bottle where you're putting 90% water in and just 10% of your active ingredients. It's similar for toothpaste. You can just take out the water and then you can rethink that packaging.
Vincent
You're part of a cohort of Kiwi companies that are removing the water and plastic, but globally, is this a movement as well?
Laura
It is, but I actually think for things like this, New Zealand is leading the way a little bit. I think it's our relationship with our land, that we just think a bit more about the impact it's having. And also just being a bit DIY and thinking outside of the box for the ways we can do things better.
Vincent
As you say on your website, 150,000 tubes already out of circulation. So, for every jar of Solid that's bought, that's one less tube that comes out of the Colgate range?
Laura
Actually, it's because our toothpaste is a thicker and more concentrated paste, so you need to use a lot less. One of our jars equals two tubes of toothpaste, which is pretty cool.
Vincent
You're expanding into Australia, which is very exciting, becoming an export business, just the story that everyone wants to hear. How is it landing in other markets?
Laura
When we started Solid in New Zealand, we were an online business. It was just where I was most comfortable. We've done the same thing with Australia and definitely had a lot of interest. What's also been really cool is interest from sustainability groups over there. In New Zealand we've got two products in New World supermarkets, which has been really cool for for getting more people to be able to try it.
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