Go Mag Issue 68

IN PROFILE

The Story of Baresop Change the world and clean up plastic waste, one bathroom at a time. We chat with Founder of Baresop Prisca Ongonga-Daehn about how Baresop began.

"We are excited for the Go Vita community to join us in our goal to eliminate one billion single-use plastic bottles from landfill and 50,000 tonnes of CO2 from our atmosphere."

“Several factors came together to coalesce the Baresop proposition and concept in my mind, with the aim of creating personal care products that make it easy to create meaningful change, without compromising your lifestyle and needs. The first factor was living in South-east Asia, where I witnessed first-hand how much single-use plastic was immersed in our everyday lives; the second was having an outspoken daughter, whose main wish in life is to clean up the Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch. Together, as a family, we decided to do our bit to reduce plastic waste. We started by researching just how much single-plastic waste was created by personal care products, and working out how to find a solution that was a fully closed loop, and not ‘greenwashing’. I took the responsibility to create the solution I wanted and aimed to bring the community along with me to create positive change. It was not to be a linear journey, in any shape or form. Undertaking conversations with Australian consumers showed that 90 percent saw the importance of finding an alternative to single-use plastics, provided that it was convenient, easy to use and

provided value. I was also surprised to learn that it is the water content in personal care products which makes it necessary for them to be packaged in single-use plastic, so I decided to find a way to cut out the water content. Despite initially being told by many cosmetic chemists that this was impossible, persistence paid off. The result is Baresop. Baresop products are Australian-made, with plant-derived ingredients and none of the toxic chemicals often found in traditional personal care products. They are palm oil- and cruelty-free, and suitable for vegans. The bottles are made from recycled waste and the sachets are also recyclable. Importantly, our concentrate concept means we cut a huge percentage of carbon emissions from the processes of making, transporting and storing our products. We are excited for the Go Vita community to join us in our goal to eliminate one billion single-use plastic bottles from landfill and 50,000 tonnes of CO2 from our atmosphere. We also aim to conserve 600,000 litres of water by 2035; plus, for each litre saved we make that amount accessible to communities that do not have clean drinking water.”

clean ingredients inspired by native Australian bush scents create impactful change with every wash

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ISSUE 68 • 2023

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