Ethico India, a sustainability platform, emerged from the 2017 citizen movement, the Mahim Beach Clean Up. This initiative aimed to clear the Mahim shoreline of marine litter. The founders moved into a sea-facing apartment in Mahim in 2017 and were immediately confronted with the extensive oceanic litter problem. The entire one-kilometre stretch of Mahim beach, from Hinduja Hospital to Mahim Reti-Bundar, was buried under layers of plastic and other waste, some up to 3.5 feet high. Despite repeated calls to the local Municipal Corporation helpline yielding no concrete response, they decided to take matters into their own hands.
Equipped with rubber gloves and gumboots, they embarked on their mission, starting small by focusing on a small patch of land. Although their initial efforts seemed insignificant, the visible improvement inspired them to continue. The clean-up became a weekly activity, conducted for over two hours every Saturday morning, barring interruptions due to the pandemic. Over time, the UNEP-felicitated Mahim Beach Clean Up attracted more than 30,000 volunteers from Mumbai and beyond, reaching over a million people through social media. This monumental effort resulted in the removal of 10,00,000 kilos of trash from the Mahim shoreline. The experience underscored the importance of individual impact and conscious living, leading to the creation of Ethico.
Mission and Vision
Ethico India’s core values and long-term vision focus on two primary goals:
- Making Conscious Living Convenient: Ethico aims to simplify the transition to a sustainable lifestyle by offering practical and accessible solutions.
- Driving Conservation through Consumerism: By promoting sustainable products, Ethico encourages consumers to make choices that are less harmful for the environment.
Product Range
Ethico India offers a diverse range of products and services designed to promote sustainability. The offline store in Siolim, Goa, features plastic-free organic groceries, homecare products, upcycled goods, and furniture made from reclaimed wood. Customers are encouraged to bring their own containers for groceries, or they can use eco-friendly home compostable packaging provided by the store.
Additionally, Ethico houses a café where visitors can enjoy coffee, cake, and sandwiches. The co-working space, Ethiclan, serves as a community hub for individuals and organisations working in sustainability, environment, and climate crisis sectors. This space fosters connections, networking, and community building.
Ethico also operates a recycling station, which has recycled over 5000 kilos of post-consumer waste in the past 1.5 years. This station is open to residents and tourists alike at no charge, providing an educational platform to raise awareness about multi-layer plastic packaging and encourage consumers to reduce or refuse unnecessary packaging.
The online offering ethicoindia.com features inspiring entrepreneurs and individuals leading sustainable lives and also explores environmentally ethical practices that one can follow to make the switch from convenient to conscious living.
Sustainability Practices
Ethico ensures sustainability in its product lines and operations through several key practices:
- Full Transparency: Ethico offers complete transparency to its consumers, ensuring that all products are plastic-free. They collaborate only with vendors who provide plastic-free products and ensure customers leave the store without any plastic.
- Selection Criteria : Ethico works with vendors who have appropriate regulations and certifications, aligning with similar ideologies.
- Local and Ethical Sourcing: Ethico maintains a balance between locally sourced materials and those sourced from outside Goa. This approach highlights Goa’s beauty and culture, attracting customers who wish to give back and protect the region.
- Recycling Post-Consumer Waste: Ethico recycles all post-consumer waste dropped off at the recycling station and encourages customers to bring their own containers for grocery shopping. Their Community Recycling Station is open to both residents and tourists, promoting recycling and conscious consumption.
- Eco-Friendly Packaging: All packaging at Ethico is home-compostable, further reducing their environmental impact.
Community Involvement
Ethico India actively engages with the local community through various initiatives. They promote many local and ethically sourced products through their Siolim store, working with local artisans to provide unique food delicacies, such as jackfruit marmalade, Lakhnavi phirni, granola, cakes, cookies, and biscottis. The store also features locally made cloth bags, table runners, cushion covers, bed covers, and furniture, as well as artworks by Goa-based artists.
The recycling station engages the local community and has recycled over 5000 kilos of post-consumer waste in the past 1.5 years. Ethico’s mission is to drive a behavior change movement rooted in a business model that fosters conscious consumerism.
Challenges
Establishing a sustainable business model presents significant challenges. One major hurdle is educating people about the value of local and ethical products, which are often overshadowed by mass-produced, overly shiny items. Changing consumer habits and encouraging consistency with sustainable alternatives is also challenging. There is a common misconception that organic and natural products are expensive, making it difficult to shift consumer perceptions.
During the Mahim Beach Clean Up, engaging with the waste prompted many volunteers to reflect on their household waste production and seek alternatives. This experience heightened their resolve to lead a zero-waste and plastic-free life, illustrating the impact of hands-on involvement in waste management.
Customer Engagement
Ethico fosters customer loyalty and gathers feedback through direct interaction with each customer. Building relationships is at the forefront of their approach, ensuring that community-building precedes business growth. The Ethico loyalty program rewards customers based on their purchases, encouraging repeat visits. For online purchases, customers earn 1 ethicoin for every Rs. 100 spent. At the store, customers receive a 10% discount on their 11th purchase after making 10 purchases of over Rs. 1000 each. Regular participants in the recycling station program also receive discounts.
Educational Initiatives
Ethico India promotes conscious consumption through various educational campaigns and initiatives:
- The People’s Project: This initiative supports talks, panel discussions, performances, workshops, and presentations on pressing global environmental concerns. Recent sessions included a talk on “The Reality and Fiction of Climate Change” by Climate Scientist Dr. Anoop Mahajan and a “How to Grow Your Own Food and Composting Workshop” by urban permaculture expert Biplab Dutta.
- Book Stocking: Ethico stocks books on climate change, waste generation, and slow living to help people expand their knowledge on these topics.
- Online Platform: Ethico’s online platform features inspiring entrepreneurs and individuals leading sustainable lives, exploring environmentally ethical practices to encourage a switch from convenient to conscious living.
- Two-Pronged Educational Approach: The online platform focuses on “understanding the crisis” by curating and creating content on environmental issues and “creating consciousness” by sharing stories that clarify complex and polarising topics related to climate change and sustainable living.
- Beach Cleanups: Continuing beach cleanups serve as forums to educate people about the impact of waste on the environment and the importance of sustainable practices.
Future Plans
Ethico India has several future developments planned to expand its impact:
- Website Relaunch: By the end of August 2024, Ethico plans to relaunch its website with a focus on online shopping, aiming to reach customers across India.
- New Store: Ethico intends to open a new store next year, further expanding its physical presence.
- The People’s Project: Ethico will continue to collaborate with environmentalists, artists, and ecologists, making it a hub for diverse perspectives on sustainability
Advice for Entrepreneurs
Aspiring entrepreneurs looking to venture into sustainable business practices can benefit from Ethico’s insights:
- Start Small and Stay Real: Focus on your product or service and value organic growth. Transparency in sourcing and operations is crucial.
- Plan for Long-Term Sustainability: Sustainable businesses require financial planning for at least five years, compared to the conventional three years for other businesses.
- Aim for Carbon Neutrality: Strive to reduce your carbon footprint in all aspects of your business.
- Avoid Single-Use Plastic: Commit to eliminating single-use plastic from your operations and products.
- Packaging matters – Take some time to research amongst different compostable materials instead of going the conventional route and picking the easiest non biodegradable packaging
