Bye bye plastic! – How Everdrop makes the world sustainably cleaner
Munich-based startup everdrop aims to make the world a little cleaner through their sustainable household products.
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Everdrop has revolutionized the household cleaning market with its innovative cleaning tabs. The aim is to make the sustainable lifestyle as easy as possible for consumers. Water, Tab, Ready, Go!
Not only does everdrop shine with ingredients free of microplastics, vegan and biodegradable, but they also have the sustainability aspect in mind when it comes to product packaging: all packaging can be disposed of in waste paper.
With their mission to “make the world a little cleaner together”, the founders were not only able to convince a squad of the best-known business angels, but also to celebrate several successes in the first few months. Over 100,000 world savers are already using everdrop's products, which have saved over 1,500,000 plastic bottles.
In this interview, founder David Löwe tells us why he founded everdrop, what sustainability means to him and his team in everyday life, and gives us his top 5 tips for more sustainability in the home.
What was your intention to start Everdrop?
David Löwe: Daniel, Chris and I have been friends for a long time. We were simply driven crazy by the flood of packaging in our everyday lives, so we thought long and hard about how we could help make the world a little cleaner. We started 2019 with our plastic-free household cleaning products as tabs to dissolve. As of today, this has already saved us over 2 million disposable plastic bottles in addition to the many unnecessary CO2 emissions caused by the transport of water with conventional cleaning agents.
What distinguishes you from conventional products from the drugstore?
David Leo: Compared to conventional cleaning agents, our customers do not need to buy a new plastic bottle every time, which is mostly filled with water that everyone has at home. Basically, all our ingredients are vegan and biodegradable. We also keep the sustainability aspect in mind when it comes to product packaging: all packaging can be disposed of in waste paper and our spray bottles are reusable with the tabs – something that conventional household cleaners do not offer.
Do sustainable cleaning products also remove mold, viruses and other pathogens?
David Leo: According to the German Federal Center for Health Education (BZgA), regular cleaning helps to eliminate 90 percent of all surface germs. The Federal Environment Agency (UBA), the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) and the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) consider the use of disinfectants in private households to be unnecessary because they also pose health risks. Of course, there may be occasions when everything really needs to be free of viruses, pathogens, mold, etc., e.g., in a hospital or other medical facility. This is where a chemical mace can make total sense. Our sustainable cleaning products easily take on the majority of normal household dirt.
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Are sustainable detergents & cleaning products more expensive than conventional ones?
David Leo: As a rule, unfortunately, the more sustainable ingredients & packaging materials are almost always more expensive which is inevitably reflected in the price. One reason why we should fight for a more far-reaching plastic tax. Nevertheless, we try to find as low a price point as possible with our products, because we are convinced that everyone needs to be able to afford sustainable products so that we can make a big difference. For example, our cleaning tabs are available in subscriptions starting at 1 euro, making them cheaper than many conventional cleaning products.
You advertise that you customize the detergent to where the buyer lives. How exactly can I imagine this?
David Leo: That's right – what makes everdrop detergent special is its unique water hardness concept: detergent is one of the biggest chemical burdens on wastewater in the household. To address this issue we have come up with something completely new, detergents adapted to the water hardness of the place of residence. This not only saves up to 50% of unnecessary surfactants, but also makes a positive contribution to reducing CO2 consumption. The whole thing solves a little green tech element in the background, where you just enter your zip code on everdrop.com to find out your water hardness and get your detergent mix. So super easy for the customer to make an environmental impact.
You guys have managed to get over 80k subscribers following a product that is rather not "instagramable". How did you manage that?
David Löwe: We have observed that our completely new and unique product design with the simple concept and the great ecological impact leads to users being insanely happy to share their complete product experience on social networks. This word-of-mouth effect has played a major role in why we have such a large community today.
Adsventure and its fantastic team also provided us with excellent support as a performance marketing agency.
What does sustainability and environmental protection mean to you in everyday life?
David Löwe: Our mission is to make sustainability a natural lifestyle. Only if we make sustainability and environmental protection our personal standard of living, we have a chance to protect the planet from ourselves.
What are your top 5 tips for more sustainability in the home?
David Leo:
There are so many sustainable startups that offer great alternatives for the home – here are a few examples:
- Organic boxes are great per se. If there are also saved vegetables and fruits in it that do not meet the standard and would otherwise be thrown away, it is a MATCH.
- Less plastic in the bathroom: Young happiness
- Just as organic tampons in paper packaging: The Female Company
- Reusable drinking bottles: Soul Bottles
- For the snacks with less sugar and compostable packaging: the nu company
Where can you buy your products?
David Löwe: Currently online at everdrop.de and soon in retail stores.
What can we expect from you in the future?
David Löwe: We will be launching 5 more new products in the next 3 months… follow us at www.instagram.com/everdrop to stay up to date.
"Factory farming and the entire animal industry is not only one of the greatest ecological disasters, but also an indictment of us as humanity and compassionate beings. We urgently need to change that together. With us, it goes without saying that we design all products to be vegan."
Finally, is there anything you'd like to get off your chest?
David Löwe: We think your mission is great! Factory farming and the entire animal industry is not only one of the biggest ecological disasters, but also an indictment of us as humanity and compassionate beings. We urgently need to change that together. With us it goes without saying that we design all products vegan. Please keep fighting dear This is Vegan team to make veganism a lifestyle.
You can find out more about everdrop at www.everdrop.de.
Tip: Check out our Instagram page at www.instagram.com/this_is_vegan_official/. We raffle there an everdrop world saver set!
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Frequently Asked
FAQ - What readers ask
What was your intention to start Everdrop?
David Löwe: Daniel, Chris and I have been friends for a long time. We were simply driven crazy by the flood of packaging in our everyday lives, so we thought long and hard about how we could help make the world a little cleaner.
What distinguishes you from conventional products from the drugstore?
David Leo: Compared to conventional cleaning agents, our customers do not need to buy a new plastic bottle every time, which is mostly filled with water that everyone has at home. Basically, all our ingredients are vegan and biodegradable.
Do sustainable cleaning products also remove mold, viruses and other pathogens?
David Leo: According to the German Federal Center for Health Education (BZgA), regular cleaning helps to eliminate 90 percent of all surface germs.
Are sustainable detergents & cleaning products more expensive than conventional ones?
David Leo: As a rule, unfortunately, the more sustainable ingredients & packaging materials are almost always more expensive which is inevitably reflected in the price. One reason why we should fight for a more far-reaching plastic tax.
You advertise that you customize the detergent to where the buyer lives. How exactly can I imagine this?
David Leo: That's right – what makes everdrop detergent special is its unique water hardness concept: detergent is one of the biggest chemical burdens on wastewater in the household.
You guys have managed to get over 80k subscribers following a product that is rather not "instagramable". How did you manage that?
David Löwe: We have observed that our completely new and unique product design with the simple concept and the great ecological impact leads to users being insanely happy to share their complete product experience on social networks.
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