While a plastic bottle can take up to 1,000 years to degrade, Ecostick products are packaged in a unique paper-based material that, once used, should break down within 10 years.
When you consider that there were some 271 million visitor nights in Australian hotels during 2018-2019, that adds up to a lot shampoo, conditioner and bath gel bottles being used in hotel bathrooms – and often sent to landfill. Which is where a new range of ‘eco-stick’ bathroom products for the hospitality industry are making an impact.
Developed by Health Pak, the sustainably minded Wallawa range – a shampoo, conditioner, body wash and body balm – comes in degradable, single-use, paper-based packaging, with water-based inks used to create the labelling. The Ecosticks represent only about five per cent of the total packaging weight of a typical hotel bottle and the sustainably sourced paper exterior makes up about 70 per cent of its total weight.
There’s another plus: the products are made with Indigenous botanical ingredients sourced from across the country, including eucalyptus oil from Victoria, Tasmanian bush pepper and lemon myrtle from Queensland. Health Pak has developed the range in conjunction with CorporateConnect.AB, which works to link the corporate sector to Indigenous enterprise and employment opportunities.
It’s a double bonus for guests: they can feel like they’ve made a contribution towards the health of the environment, plus assisted Indigenous initiatives.
