100: Green Your Laundry Routine

Narrarator 0:04

How would you like to improve your health and keep your family safe? You're listening to the Healthy Home Hacks podcast where we firmly believe in joining optimal health shouldn't be a luxury. Healthy Home authorities and husband and wife team Ron and Lisa will help you create a home environment that will level up your health. It's time to hear from the experts. Listen in on honest conversations and gain the best tips and advice. If you're ready to dive in and improve your well being and increase your energy, you're in the right place. All right, here are your hosts, baubiologists, authors, media darlings, vicarious vegans and avocado aficionados, Ron and Lisa Beres.

Ron Beres 0:50

Spring has officially sprung and for most of us, that means you guessed it, spring cleaning. Yeah. All right. So the question is, do you have a pile of laundry waiting for you to scrub suds, fluff and fold? If so, you're certainly not alone in the US. 660 million laundry loads are washed every week, totaling a whopping 35 billion loads each year. But have you ever consider what's lurking in your laundry detergent? Could your laundry detergent be toxic to your health and the environment? The short answer is yes.

Lisa Beres 1:29

From phosphates and dyes to synthetic surfactants optical brighteners parabens, synthetic fragrances and chlorine bleach. Did you know mixing bleach with other chemicals like ammonia creates deadly toxic fumes that if inhaled could be fatal. Your laundry detergent is likely exposing you and your family to a host of toxic chemicals, allergens, respiratory irritants, hormone disruptors, and maybe even a cancer causing chemical one 1,4 dioxane. 1,4 dioxane isn't an ingredient added to detergent. But yeah, our guests is putting a thumbs down and I'm underlining that it's not an ingredient but it's a byproduct created by mixing ethylene oxide and sodium lauryl sulfate SLS a foaming agent, the EPA classifies 1,4 dioxane as a probable human carcinogen. Guys, that's all pretty important when you consider your skin is your largest organ and can absorb up to 60% of what goes on it.

Ron Beres 2:29

Not to mention the plastic waste that your laundry jug is adding to the landfills. According to the EPA, over 26 million tons of plastic waste were dumped into landfills in the US alone. Out of 35 million tonnes of plastic produced in the US each year. Only 3 million tons are ever ever recycled. To add fuel to the laundry jug fire, this plastic can take more than 100 years to break down.

Lisa Beres 2:57

But the environmental buck doesn't stop there. Laundry detergent is a major source of micro plastic pollution. With a single load releasing up to 700,000micro plastic fibers into the water. We know that these microplastics can harm marine life and eventually enter into the food we eat. Our guest today Anita Spiller leads ESG for Tru Earth, one of Canada's fastest growing companies, and Anita's work and life are characterized by leaving the planet better than she found it. She is also a United Church minister.

Ron Beres 3:35

Tru Earth is a certified B Corp global household cleaning product company. And a neatest job is to focus on eliminating household single use plastics, battling microplastics and donating earth friendly products to organizations in need. Bravo, and welcome to the show I Anita. Yeah.

Anita Spiller 3:58

You guys are bringing the energy up.

Lisa Beres 4:00

Hey, you brought it and we're matching it.

Anita Spiller 4:02

Thank you for having me. I am thrilled, thrilled to be here today. Thank

Lisa Beres 4:06

Thank you so much for being here. This is going to be an awesome show. And we are thrilled to have you. So let's get started. Now our listeners are pretty savvy, but when they heard the terms, eco friendliness and sustainability that can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Can you share with our listeners what some of the key issues true Earth's cleaning solutions aim to solve?

Anita Spiller 4:29

Excellent question. And we have a bunch but I might just start with our core about our core Bible is in the plastic packaging. plastic waste, as you started with Ron, at the very beginning is a massive global problem. And we think that making small changes by your viewers is going to make a huge difference in the world. And the onus should not be on them. The onus should be on us, as organizations, as producers to innovate the solutions that can bring the future that they want. If we want to see a future without plastic in our homes, which I for one battle that every single day, then we can purchase the future that we want. You don't want to see plastic in your household, then stop buying it.

Lisa Beres 5:13

Yeah, be that change. Gandhi said it best. Be the change.

Anita Spiller 5:17

Right? I love my yogurt and it only comes in a plastic tub. So I need someone to innovate, right? I myself can make that change.

Ron Beres 5:26

Anita I love that. Because you're like the onus is on us. This is one of the first times I've heard, basically, our company is in essence through you say that, right? Because most people are putting all the responsibility on the consumer to make the right decision, but you're making it such an easy lift for them to not live a plastic toxic life. Right.

Anita Spiller 5:44

And part of it is, you know, we can do all kinds of things in this battle against global plastic, right? We can purchase with our dollars, we can vote at that voting booth. You know, we can make the change and help people also to do that. But our critical cause is to make true lasting change that helps save the planet. Yeah, and we can't do that. If we continue to use single use and short lived plastics, we just have to say no.

Lisa Beres 5:44

We have to say no, just say no. Our readers are really savvy. We've talked about microplastics a lot in our weekly newsletter and from showing up in our drinking water. Most people's drinking water to the meet this big study came out about it showing up in meat, we know it's in our food. I'm going to plug you here, you guys actually prevented 160 million plastic containers shouldn't being created. That's like Bravo. Okay. And that's you're just getting started, right? I mean, you're fairly a new company ish.

Ron Beres 6:39

Yeah. 160 million and one right now.

Anita Spiller 6:44

And more! We are about 70 million in cash.

Ron Beres 6:47

Oh, wow. Okay, that's great.

Lisa Beres 6:53

Let's get these numbers straight up

Ron Beres 6:54

Get the mathematicians out here, right.

Anita Spiller 6:57

It's a big number because it matters, right?

Lisa Beres 6:59

Yeah, it matters.

Anita Spiller 7:00

It matters because plastic waste is bad for the health of the people and the planet. Most people know that. But it is also our job as organizations and major CPG companies to educate people.

Lisa Beres 7:13

Education is part of it, right? I mean, if everyone saw a landfill, and saw the destruction to wildlife, it would be so many things, right. But like you said, it's convenient. And we used to drink plastic bottled water, like so many Americans until we smartened up and umbrellas and started filtering our own water, which has been many, many years at this point. But once you stop drinking out of plastic bottles, not only are you reducing your microplastic intake, but the water tastes better guys like water out of glass, and stainless steel has a different energy. You're not getting endocrine disrupting chemicals to leach and these microplastics and all of that, and it goes with our laundry do because these plastics, as we know, when they break down are getting back into the waterways.

Anita Spiller 7:56

I think it's important, right? I mean, we're always looking and we commissioned a study on human health recently, and more than two thirds of Americans are aware of the connection between a single use plastic and the negative impact they have on their health. But only one in five can explain or articulate why that matters. And they certainly don't know what to do about it.

Lisa Beres 8:17

Really. That's interesting. If you ask them why it matters, what did they say?

Anita Spiller 8:21

You know, they sort of give these like loosey goosey. It's like, well, I maybe heard that it's like in our water system, or maybe it's in the food we eat. Or maybe I heard about this recent meat, right. So understanding the issues requires collective and unified strategies from all of us, including informing consumers, like you're all doing. I love this podcast, let's break down the myth. Let's talk about what is true and real. And the other great thing about our survey was that 83% of Americans were committed to making a small change to reduce their plastic pollution. Wow. So that's super encouraging.

Lisa Beres 8:57

That's encouraging. We got to do it guys. Like do something like do something. Today. Yeah, baby steps and today's a really easy switch.

Ron Beres 9:06

Absolutely. I guarantee there's a listener right now going okay, well, I liked the idea of this eco friendly laundry detergent, right? I don't understand how it's not in plastic. So Anita for this listener or these listeners are having that question. Can you tell us more about Tru Earth's eco strip, and how they compare to traditional liquid laundry detergent, which is in plastic containers? Normal the traditional ones.

Anita Spiller 9:26

Not just in plastic containers also in water.

Ron Beres 9:29

Oh, right.

Anita Spiller 9:30

So here's how it started. Right? When you look at your plastic container, about 80% of it is just water. And 20% of it are the ingredients we need to either clean or refresh our clothing which are two very different things and we can talk about that later. If you want.

Ron Beres 9:45

We need to be refreshed Anita so please tell us.

Anita Spiller 9:47

There you go right Ron. So we invented we were the OGs. We were the original on this. A single eco strip. That equates to one load of laundry.

Lisa Beres 10:00

You guy were the first ones to create that?

Anita Spiller 10:02

We were the first.

Lisa Beres 10:03

Oh my goodness.

Anita Spiller 10:05

It's highly concentrated. So we took all of that cleaner that normally comes in water. And we packed it all down that it's so compact, that it literally is this big. So a month's worth of laundry is the size of your iPhone.

Lisa Beres 10:20

Oh wow! A month is a size of your iPhone. Wow. Wow.

Anita Spiller 10:25

Yeahs size of your iPhone. Yeah, I've just really compacted. It's super, super, super concentrated. So you take one strip, and it equals one load of laundry, one load, and it prevents that giant pack. We don't need that giant packaging anymore.

Lisa Beres 10:41

Right? Because like you said, we're shipping water. I mean, I think that goes with other things too. household cleaning products and things like that, where everybody's paying, no one's winning in that situation. Because you're paying as the consumer for the shipping of that water. The manufacturers paying for the shipping of that water. And it's like makes so much sense to have this concentrated form. That's not only saving money, it's also saving space in your laundry room. And if you're like Ron and I, you have a little laundry room, you don't have a lot of storage.

Anita Spiller 11:12

You live in a high density city. Yeah, then space is really at a maximum. Right?

Lisa Beres 11:18

Forget it.

Anita Spiller 11:18

Forget it. My eighty years old mom to be lugging home this big thing of laundry. They're heavy. That's not good for her.

Lisa Beres 11:26

The ones in Costco, like oh my god, there's containers, but some of them I'm like, I could not lift that.

Anita Spiller 11:31

The amount of water it takes to produce the plastic jug to begin with. Right? Right. So takes almost as much water to produce the plastic that container comes in. As it does that the water it contains.

Lisa Beres 11:44

Yeah this is a water problem. Okay, so with every 30 to load, eco strip purchase from you guys. You eliminate one plastic jug, and other single use plastics from ending up in landfills. Correct?

Anita Spiller 11:56

Yeah that's our battle. Our battle is against the plastic container, because it's not necessary. If we have invented it, we have proven that it is not necessary. And a great habit Yeah, is that every other cleaning company and every other cleaning product can one day come in and condense for it. So it can be put in a cardboard package just like us. So it can go in your compost bin or your recycle bin and we never see it again. We don't need to recycle because it doesn't work. 8% of what you put in your recycle bin gets recycled.

Lisa Beres 12:25

Only 8%? Wow. Talk about a false sense of doing good, right?

Ron Beres 12:33

Well, you still should do it. Right?

Anita Spiller 12:35

Yeah, you should absolutely do it. It depends on your municipality, like where I live, and the capacities that they have. And some states do it really, really well. Some states are incredible at it and recycle at a very high level. But let's forget about recycling. Let's just know why.

Lisa Beres 12:50

We didn't have plastic, you know pre Industrial Revolution. I mean we can go back to that. It's like Grandma I always say what grandma used to use, you know going back to the base.

Anita Spiller 13:04

Instead of companies that are now giving us a plastic bottle full of water, and then they decide chemical so we also needed it to foam up. Yeah, so then they added air so then we even got less stuff. Yeah, just take a bar of soap. So let's just go back to the good all basis. So buy your eco laundry stuff, and by a bar of soap.

Lisa Beres 13:26

Soap is like amazing. Well, and so you know, I'm seeing some big brand, I say toxic conventional laundry product companies coming out with strips. What are some misconceptions that people have related to Tru Earth friendly cleaning products, give our listeners some tips on why they shouldn't be using that conventional brand. What's different about Tru Earth?

Anita Spiller 13:46

So remember that whole list I think it was wrong. It was reading at the beginning of all of the killer products. So we don't have any of that for starters. But I think probably the biggest misconception for people might be that it's well it's not as effective. How could this little tiny condensed thing be as effective as my you know, multiple pods or my glug glug glug glug of liquid? Because the reality is most people use more laundry detergent than they actually need? Because biggers better right? If you have that top and it's got the four lines it's like oh extra small small, medium large. I mean, we'll just go like more is better.

Lisa Beres 14:23

Right? Yeah, you got dirty clothes you think you need more?

Anita Spiller 14:26

Exactly. Which is not true. What you need is just a concetrated strip.

Lisa Beres 14:31

Yeah, and the high efficiency washers have really changed everything because remember when we first started Ron. We were on we were putting in the regular amount of laundry detergent and we were like oh what are these white like I would get white like what is it residue all over like black pants and stuff. I was like what is going on? And we realized oh my god we don't really need to use.

Ron Beres 14:50

We're like oh requires more rinsing. So we did more rinse cycles wasting more water, right. That was the old us. That was the old us.

Anita Spiller 15:00

It's pre measured for a reason. Like literally one strip one load. You just put it in there.

Lisa Beres 15:07

Well, okay, so you have a strip, you tear it off. It's really tiny. If you were going to do half a load, would you tear that strip in half? I guess.

Anita Spiller 15:18

And again, I mean, this is a good conversation to talk about. Are you refreshing? Or are you washing? What are you doing? You know, have you just been to the gym? The two of you and you feel like, yeah, that was a pretty good workout. Like, we need to wash those clothes. Yeah, but that full strip in there and clothes. Right? But is it just refreshing? Is it just something that you feel like it was sort of gently used, but we're going on vacation, maybe and we want to just do a refresh. You can use less? Right? None of us. None of us on this call, I don't think are like farmworkers who are actually getting 30 who need to actually wash our dirt.

Lisa Beres 15:56

We are not climbing in the jungle gym in the playground. I don't think you are.

Anita Spiller 16:00

You need to make that decision. Right. And then the other thing I would love to encourage your listeners to do is to watch a gentle every time. Every single time you just never change it. You just go gentle. Why is that? Because your machine can go like this nice and gentle protecting your clothing helping them last longer. Or you can bang them around like you think you're like, Oh yeah, you don't need to do that. And the other thing it will mean that many of us are washing polyesters it will reduce the amount of microplastics that enter the water system.

Lisa Beres 16:35

Wow, that friction is creating the micro plastic.

Anita Spiller 16:37

So be gentle. Cold water. Let's talk about the misconception of having to wash in hot water because hot water cleans things better, right? Not true.

Ron Beres 16:48

Not true. Wow.

Lisa Beres 16:49

I thought that was just for whites and lights. Right? You always did cold for darks and warm lights?

Anita Spiller 16:56

Cold for everything cold, everything, everything. Eco stripped strips for everything. You would be amazed.

Lisa Beres 17:02

If I have a very special item that I sometimes you know, that requires a hand wash and I'll put it on gentle and put it in maybe by itself, especially if it's something new and I'm worried about it bleeding or running.

Anita Spiller 17:12

You put them into one of those great bags right there. Yeah, we protect your clothing,

Lisa Beres 17:17

Right? That's good.

Anita Spiller 17:18

I mean, I would never say you should only wash one item, right? Because that's a waste of electricity. That's a waste of water. But if you have a handful of items. We gotta live our lives though. We got it. Right, right. Right we are. And sometimes you just need those items.

Lisa Beres 17:35

Sometimes if you're worried if it's new, and you're worried that it might run I've had I've made that mistake.

Anita Spiller 17:39

So yeah, so you got to use a quarter strip, okay? Or guess what those strips can go in your sink or in a bucket as well. Okay, you can use it for hand washing, okay, in your sink or in a laundry tub, you know, small, can't whatever you happen to have.

Ron Beres 17:52

Anita I know it's refreshing. It's refreshing the fact that you're giving suggestions and tips for people to use a quarter of your strip. Right? Very contradictory to some companies are saying, why don't you just double the load, right? So you use and more more jugs? That is that really shows your character there. And that's much appreciated. In addition, what you're given all these tips with regards to laundry and washing clothes. You know, I understand educating consumers is important to Tru Earth. But can you share with someone listening who's just learning about healthy and sustainable cleaning solutions? Something they should just know.

Anita Spiller 17:53

Okay, I think I would say that you should just give yourself a break. For starters, you should give yourself some grace. If you're just starting on this journey, that you shouldn't try to make all the changes all at one time and make this like grand plan like you do for New Years. Like I'm going to lose 50 pounds and organize my life and fix my relationship. Let's not do that. Let's just make one small change. Yeah, but the change I would encourage is for your listeners to look at the ingredients that are on that package. So federal us guidelines do not require companies to include cleaning product ingredients on their packaging.

Lisa Beres 18:56

Yeah, the bombshell. Right the bombshell. Yeah, exactly.

Anita Spiller 19:00

So you will find on all of our packaging, our ingredients are listed right there for everyone to see. You can go onto Tru.Earth and you can see all of those ingredients because we should know when we are purchasing the things that we are putting on our bodies near our bodies.

Lisa Beres 19:21

We don't realize like our clothes, like how much contact it's having with our skin like we talked about. And then these chemicals that we mentioned at the top is a show that you do find in conventional cleaning laundry products and cleaning products. But like you said consumers don't know because if they're not required to list the ingredients and most of them don't, you're kind of guessing by their marketing terms. You're guessing by the label you're guessing by natural which means absolutely nothing or a green leaves, which means absolutely nothing. Right.

Anita Spiller 19:50

It's green package, which I love.

Lisa Beres 19:52

I love a green package.

Anita Spiller 19:53

Like that's gonna confuse the consumer. Well guess what, though? It does right in the eye. You're on you're trying to figure out or you're online, you're trying to figure it out. For me, I would look for certifications that matter, right? Oh, yes, ones that matter like made safe matters, EPA matters. Safer choice matters, right. And I'm gonna throw it out as a B Corp, certified organization, B corpse go under this huge scrutiny before they can be certified before you can see that on there. So I would encourage your listeners, like, take a minute, because remember, we're only making one change at a time, one product at a time. And my other key is that don't try to make the change until your current product is empty.

Lisa Beres 20:40

Right when not gonna go thrown out and wasted, right?

Anita Spiller 20:42

That's perfectly good product. So the next time you're out of laundry detergent is the time to make the choice, do the research. Read the ingredients, try to understand what the certifications mean. And then make a new choice at that point. And eradicate the old and don't try to do 1000 things at one time.

Lisa Beres 21:03

That's a great point. People will just they'll do what they do on a diet. When they kind of set the goal like absurdly like unreachable, they'll just get discouraged, right? And they'll say forget it. I can't do all of this. So they won't do anything. Whereas you're right, like just changing your laundry detergent today is going to have a marked improve on your health on the health of the environment. On your wallet. You're obviously we didn't even talk about that. But the money that we're saving, by reducing all of this plastic and water shipping and wasting all of that, and you know, the chemicals.

Anita Spiller 21:35

And one key tip is look for that concentrated cleaning products in any of your household cleaning anything. Like if it's concentrated, it's going to have all those benefits. Yeah, less packaging, less water, right? Less cost. I mean, anytime you can cut down,

Lisa Beres 21:50

Yeah, except for like, there are big brands that do have these strips that are still loaded with chemicals. So I do want listeners to understand that just because it's a strip doesn't mean it's healthy. It's the company and it's the certification. So you guys use no phosphates, no artificial dyes, no parabens, no bleach. Anything else that I forgot.

Anita Spiller 22:10

1,4 - dioxin, 1,4 - diacid.

Lisa Beres 22:14

You don'tn want that cancer, or like what a cancer causing chemicals? In detergent? Yeah, it's allowed because it's a byproduct. And then you guys are also vegan, which Ron and I are vegan. So we were happy to find that out.

Anita Spiller 22:26

Oh 'm an evolving vegan.

Lisa Beres 22:28

Okay. All right, back to that baby step.

Anita Spiller 22:31

So yeah, don't eat meat. I have tons of nut allergies. Maybe some of your listeners have the same problem. So so many of the substitutes for proteins are nut based. So doing a bit of fish. I'm trying really hard and oh man, I just love cheese.

Lisa Beres 22:46

Well, that's the last thing that usually people give up on the vegan journey is cheese. And for me it was seafood because I love seafood. I didn't like meat. I didn't like chicken. I don't like any of that or eggs or milk.

Ron Beres 22:57

Anita have you tried pea milk before?

Lisa Beres 22:59

Pea protein is really good.

Ron Beres 23:01

Oh my god. It's just phenomenal. I don't know if they have it in Canada.

Anita Spiller 23:04

I'm gonna find.

Ron Beres 23:04

It's Ripple pea milk. This is our go to and if you get the unsweetened version, they're not by the way, they're not a sponsor of the show. I actually just loved. I highly recommend it.

Lisa Beres 23:15

Maybe they should. It's got more calcium than milk. It's got tons of B vitamins. It's really delicious. Pea protein, hemp protein. So there's a lot of good. But you know, this brings back to the point that like we've been vegan eight years, I've been vegetarian since I was 17. This is a journey. Like it's a really long journey that it took to finally say I'm going in full. Right? If I tried to do that, at the beginning, I wouldn't have done it. It wouldn't happen. So like.

Anita Spiller 23:42

Don't be binary like it doesn't need to be all or nothing. And we need to compete against each other. It doesn't need to be like you're vegan and you're the best and you eat meat and you're the worst. Like if the mass majority of folks just had like a meatless Monday, we would reduce our meat instake.

Lisa Beres 23:58

It's huge amount. I've read those stats, and it's staggering. Just one day a week for a lot of people makes such a big difference.

Anita Spiller 24:05

Difference. Yeah.

Ron Beres 24:06

Wow. Well, you know, sometimes it can be hard to make a change. And you kind of talked about this earlier, but what's your advice to listeners who are looking to make their first eco swap with their first one being Anita?

Anita Spiller 24:17

Yeah, I think laundry I mean, anxiety is a real thing, right? Like, this is really hard for people to get quickly overwhelmed. And I don't know how to make the right change, and I just get so overwhelmed. And so of course, I'm gonna say laundry. Easiest thing, it's the healthiest choice, right? Like, I think for me, that is the easiest one. But also, I think it could start with just an inventory of your house. You know, you could just look at your recycle bin or you could look like under the sink or wherever you keep your cleaning products and just congratulate yourself on the things you're already doing.

Lisa Beres 24:52

Why we don't do that enough, right? Like give yourself a pat on the back for what you are doing right and that inspires you more.

Anita Spiller 24:57

Like paper towels and you're now using like swedish cloth? Hey, you, right? Yeah, if you're using a toothpaste tab instead of like a plastic bottle of toothpaste, yay, you. So I think the first thing is to just congratulate yourself for even wanting to try. Yeah, take a first step and find some really good folks to follow like the two of you who can give you a pretty simple advice and advice that you trust. Yeah. So that for me is yes, of course. I want you to do laundry, I want you to just try it today and see what you think. And talk to someone who's used it right. Hit us up on social media, and you'll get the reviews and we're pretty open. We throw it all out there.

Lisa Beres 25:37

Yeah, full transparency.

Anita Spiller 25:39

Money back guarantee.

Lisa Beres 25:40

Your readers are your best feedback, right? Your consumers give you all the feedback.

Anita Spiller 25:45

Some of the freat's experience success we have, which was ridiculous. We did a sale a couple years ago around Valentine's Day, and we were encouraging people to give laundry detergent on Valentine's Day. Ah, and that works.

Lisa Beres 25:57

Were there divorces afterwards. Or their breakups and divorces.

Anita Spiller 26:01

No, no. Stocking for Christmas, like people are actually starting to give or earth frindly products to their family members, because they get so excited about it. So for us, we know that sampling works. So we just want you to give it a try.

Lisa Beres 26:14

Sampling does work. Oh yeah, I find that I mean, so many products we use for from sampling. Okay, so we talked so much about laundry detergent, but what other products do you guys have in your lineup?

Anita Spiller 26:23

Our latest project is fabric softener. For those who really want those, you know those sheets and towels to be super soft, we'd love for you to try our brand new fabric softener. Okay, but our goal is to have every cleaning product in an eco strip. So we also have a toilet bowl cleaner. So if you want to join the battle to eradicate the plastic duck, I don't know if you have that plastic ducky in your house, our strip unilaterally again, you just throw it in the toilet bowl, you leave it for five minutes you walk away, it turns blue, because everybody thinks that blue is a cleaning thing. That's another color blue. We tried it as white because we know we're trying to get rid of all those dyes because they're not good for us. And consumers are like but it's not blue. So we we added a little bit of blue just to make it blue.

Lisa Beres 27:08

Wow. But you still have to scrub it. You don't just drop it in and wack it in there.

Anita Spiller 27:12

Everything. I mean, we're all dirty. You gotta do it.

Ron Beres 27:14

Okay, okay,

Anita Spiller 27:15

The other thing we have is a household cleaner. So again, you take any bottle that you currently have glass or plastic God forbid, and just put the strip in at some hot water, shake it up.

Lisa Beres 27:25

Ah, that's genius.

Anita Spiller 27:26

That will get rid of that piece. We actually have a dishwasher tab we're trying to take on the kitchen as well with our dish detergent.

Lisa Beres 27:34

Will the dish washer be a strip then the dishwasher.

Anita Spiller 27:36

So it's actually a tab.

Lisa Beres 27:38

A tab.

Anita Spiller 27:39

Unfortunately, yeah, it kind of looks like like a stick of gum. little wider than a stick of gum.

Lisa Beres 27:43

Oh, gotcha. Okay.

Anita Spiller 27:44

Unfortunately, the dishwashers are not made for strips. They're made for liquid, they're made for pods. And so we don't want you to throw it in because it doesn't need to heat up and do the act of the dishwasher.

Lisa Beres 27:53

Right?

Anita Spiller 27:54

So the door does need to open. We actually you could use it in strip format, but it would require the end user to like roll it up. Fold it. Yeah. Put it in. Okay.

So folks we are all about the consumer experience. People would be confused, like, what am I supposed to do with this? Does this actually work? And so we decided to go with a tab so that it fits in the manufacturers drawers that you currently use.

Lisa Beres 28:17

How do you feel about the pods? Because I have seen debates on threads online about this. Obviously, the pods have some lots of downsides, especially the conventional ones. However, the debate is some people say the plastics 100% biodegradable and then I've heard that's actually not true. What do you think about that?

Anita Spiller 28:34

Yeah, I mean, part of it is what I can talk about is what we're trying to do. So anything that eradicates the plastic packaging. I'm all there for right? That is a really important piece. But yeah, we do not want plastics entering our water system, right? We just don't want that happening. It's not good for our health, for sure. So you know, our battle against those short lived plastics and they'll single use if we can eradicate that, then that's a good choice to make. But again, look at the ingredients. Look at the certifications, what is it that you want to be putting onto your skin as we know that we breathe in all of those chemicals, even in our household as well?

Lisa Beres 29:10

Oh now as a consumer, I have a suggestion. Can you guys please come up with a better dryer sheet? I don't use dryer sheets. I use wall balls, but so many people, same thing. They need that dryer sheet it makes them feel better. They're used to it and the pollution

Anita Spiller 29:25

We already did it.

Lisa Beres 29:26

Oh, you already did it.

Anita Spiller 29:27

We were degenerate with our fabric softener.

Lisa Beres 29:29

Oh the fabric softener.

Anita Spiller 29:31

Fabric softener is actually a three in one. So it replaces your liquid fabric softener that you would have right now. It replaces that dryer sheet. And it also if you like fragrance, it'll renew your fragrances. So it's a three in one. It goes in where your clothes go.

Lisa Beres 29:49

Is the fragrance like a non toxic fragrance essential oils. I know you have no parabens, which is a big part of fragrances you know yeah and phthalates.

Anita Spiller 29:56

That's our journey is to get even better fragranceI mean the best option is go fragrance free. Because you don't you really need it.

Lisa Beres 30:04

You don't no. Is that your best seller your fragrance free detergent.

Anita Spiller 30:09

Yeah, so the fresh linen really is the number one in terms of that. But the second certainly an up and coming is anything that's fragrance free. And that would be my tip for folks. Do you really need the fragrance?

Lisa Beres 30:20

I know, because there's so many allergies. Yeah, people have allergies to fragrance, even essential oils. I mean, some people really even react to that. So fragrance free.

Anita Spiller 30:29

That's what we find with moms, right, we have a baby laundry strip as well, because we know that you know new moms do not want to put anything near their little babies. They want it to be fragrance free. But that's consumer behavior. That's the world telling us that we can add you know, fragrances to everything and I mean most public places don't want you wearing fragrances now. So yeah why put it on your on your laundry. Yeah,

Ron Beres 30:49

Anita you did mentioned earlier that your mom is 88 years old?

Anita Spiller 30:52

Yes, she is fabulous Mother Mary.

Ron Beres 30:54

Like how is that possible?It doesn't seem I'm looking at you. You don't look like you have a mother who is 88.

Lisa Beres 30:59

She has her really late.

Ron Beres 31:02

I was trying to figure it out. Okay.

Anita Spiller 31:05

And you know, my mom's she's been an environmentalist, like since I was born. Oh, wow, she was a huge, huge environmentalist way back when, you know, she used to remember when we used to can everything in season and so you actually had it all year round, where you just ate food that was in season.

Lisa Beres 31:20

Wow, I'm now we didn't do that. My family did not do that. Adore people that did? Yeah. No, that's cool.

Ron Beres 31:28

I wonder what your inspiration was Anita. So your mom inspired you? And now you're doing great. work yourself? A question that people are all asking right now is okay, we talked about all these wonderful products? Where can we buy Tru Earth products?

Anita Spiller 31:40

Awesome question. So if you go to our website, Tru.Earth not dot com not dot ca dot Earth, no extension, and then Find a retailer near me. Boom. And you can find every state in the US what's the local, if you want to go out to a retailer, which I recommend, like, let's go back to retailers to touch and feel. Because that will support those retailers. And look at the ingredients and look at the certifications, which you know, often is difficult. But that's not for everybody. So if you want to buy it on costco.com do that. If you want to go on Amazon, go ahead and do that. Amazon is a great platform for comparing and contrasting and making those decisions. Yeah, wherever you buy it. Just make sure that you're looking at the certifications that you're looking at the ingredients that you know.

Lisa Beres 32:30

Tell our listeners one last time what certifications you guys have? Is it the EPA Safer Choice?

Anita Spiller 32:35

Yep, exactly. And the B Corp really is the one that we stand on. Because it is so all encompassing. It's so difficult to get. And it does all the third party verification. And that's what I say to folks. You know, a green leaf doesn't actually mean anything. It hasn't certified by anyone, right?

Lisa Beres 32:54

Don't get greenwashed. Guys, I'm wearing green today for this. Show get greenwashed Okay, we have a whole bundle that we sell on that to helping people understand how to shop safer, what terms mean, how not to get bamboozled by marketing terms at the gross.

Anita Spiller 33:10

I'm gonna have to watch that one. Amazing. Yeah,

Lisa Beres 33:12

it's a bundle. It's in our store. So it's like a download that we sell.

Anita Spiller 33:15

Amazing.

Lisa Beres 33:16

Well, this was amazing. Anita, thank you so much for being with us.

Anita Spiller 33:21

Can I say one more thing?

Lisa Beres 33:22

Yes, please leave it.

Anita Spiller 33:23

I just want to say we also have a huge donation program. And so for every $25 that one of your listeners would buy anywhere, retail, online or in store, we will donate a month's worth of laundry to someone in need. Or community near them.

Lisa Beres 33:38

And oh, wow. Yeah. Do they pick the person I am guessing not that would get?

Anita Spiller 33:43

No they do not. We'd love to get to that point to do a drop down to say, you know, this is the organization meant for me. But Feeding America is our national partner. So we rely on them to decide where the greatest is, and then get that product out. Because what we know to be true is that many environmental products are way out of reach for folks that are living at or below the poverty line. So we want to do our share. And that means our consumers are doing our share. So when you buy Tru Earth someone else is getting along.

Lisa Beres 34:10

You're greening it. Okay, and you guys, how many donations have you given? So if I know the number, but I'm quizzing you, Anita, how much have you donated?

Anita Spiller 34:21

So we're just over 38 million worth strips. Wow, For four years since the program began.

Lisa Beres 34:29

38 million for 4 years.

Isn't crazy.

That's amazing.

Anita Spiller 34:33

It's like $20 million worth of retail value. So ask Amazon which they've given away recently and then ask her teeny tiny little Canadian company what they done.

Lisa Beres 34:43

Support the small guys. Support the small comm not that you guys are teeny but I'm fact I looked up my zip code to see where you're sold. And it's like every store near me, you know, whether it's a regular grocery store like Ralph's or a more boutique, not boutique but like health food oriented Yeah. Elsens are Bristol Farms are that mothers? I think mothers you're at? Well, yeah, Mother's market. So yeah, you guys, there's no excuse. This is very readily available, whether like she said, whether you're an Amazon person, but you know, it really is important to shop local and support those retailers and support those small companies that are doing the right job, and that we're doing the right job from the beginning, right.

Anita Spiller 35:22

And if you have a retailer that isn't carrying it, then talk to your store manager and say, I want a different choice. And I don't want that choice to be way buried in the like health food section or the high section. Yes, there's what we know to be true is if we want Americans to pick this up, it has to be a part of the choice. So it needs to be in the same aisle with everyone else. So we can do that comparison. And we can reach it out. And I'm all for let's put earth friendly products at eyesight instead of at the top or at the bottom.

Lisa Beres 35:51

Yeah. That's a good point.

Anita Spiller 35:57

Yes. So sometimes you have to, like bend down or look up to get our product but know.

Lisa Beres 36:03

A little yoga in the aisle. Grab your strips, do a flip while you're at it. Well, that is awesome. And Anita, thank you so much for being with us today. And you can learn more about Tru Earth's products and mission at true and that's Tru.Earth. How easy is that?

Ron Beres 36:22

As always, thanks for being with us, guys. We'll have all the links in the show notes at Ronandlisa.com/podcast. Join us in two weeks for another episode and get ready to uplevel your health. Bye Anita.

Lisa Beres 36:37

Thanks, everybody. Hey.

Narrarator 36:45

This episode of the Healthy Home hacks podcast has ended. But be sure to subscribe for more healthy living strategies and tactics to help you create the healthy home you always dreamed of. And don't forget to rate and review so we can continue to bring you the best content. See you on the next episode.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai