Veles

Veles touts their groundbreaking solution as a ‘resource negative' product, meaning that their product is made using almost no raw materials. In fact, 97% of Veles's cleaning solution comes directly from food waste. The only ingredients that are not taken directly from food waste, making up only 3% of the solution, are a low-impact mix of lavender, bergamot and mint essential oils, along with a non-petroleum-based fragrance stabilizer that gives this cleaner it's pleasant, refreshing scent. Let's talk about the 97% of the solution that's derived from food waste, ‘cause we know you're thinking about it! The four active ingredients are water, acetic acid, lactic acid, and alcohol. The average liquid cleaning solution is also made from water, over 90% water in fact. The difference is that water in Veles cleaner comes from the 45 trillion gallons of water that are lost in one year's worth of food waste, and not from tap water that municipalities expend 30-40% of their energy towards cleaning for drinking. Acetic acid and lactic acid are also common ingredients because of their A ratings from the Environmental Working Group. Normally, these chemicals are derived synthetically, often using petroleum based inputs. Veles, on the other hand, derives these ingredients naturally from food waste. Not only does Veles derive their ingredients from food waste, they do it themselves! This means that Veles doesn't work with any third party suppliers, formulators, contractors, etc. Because of this, Veles controls every part of the supply chain and the production ensuring that no part of the process creates waste.  The last step in the process is the packaging, and Veles didn't cut any corners. Their unique formula comes in an aluminium bottle that's both refillable and infinitely recyclable. The aluminium for the bottle comes from a US-based overstock supplier. Each bottle should last you three months or more, but when it's done, you can either purchase a refill (available soon!) or recycled the bottle. Since aluminum can be recycled infinitely, your recycled bottle will be back on store shelves as a new aluminum product within 60 days! Not convinced? Veles put together a few more stats to help you out. Globally, 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted each year; if all of that waste were its own country, it would be the 3rd largest GHG emitter only behind China and the USA. The EPA states that food waste is the largest contributor to landfills including 45 trillion gallons of water and millions of pounds of still usable nutrients. If every household in the US used two bottles of the average cleaning solution in a year, it would waste around 30 million gallons of water. Finally, if every US household switched from their normal cleaning solution to Veles, the impact would be significant. Around 2.5 million pounds of waste would be diverted from landfills, and approximately 7 million tons of GHG would be removed from the atmosphere, the equivalent of 1.5 million vehicles taken off the road for a year!