Our Principles

Ecossentials stands for making sustainable living accessible, easy & inclusive 

Ecossentials is a sustainable, inclusive & plastic free webshop, that’s here to help you in finding your way towards a more ecofriendly life.

We really aim to be a total concept where we like to inspire, inform & activate as many people as possible. We’ve spent lots of time doing research on how to be a fully sustainable business, from beginning to end, so customers don’t need to worry about the real ecological impact of their order. That’s our promise to you. 

We’re a one stop shop for sustainable everyday essentials. By offering a wide range of products in various categories, we try to make living more sustainable as convenient & accessible as possible. 

Be carbon neutral

Of course, a webshop is often accompanied by a certain ecological impact. However, with the right attitude a lot can be done to minimize this impact. That is why, at Ecossentials, we opt for the shortest possible supply chain, with different shipping options so that CO2 emissions are reduced as much as possible. Learn more on our How We Ship page! 

Other than that, our products help to reduce waste & emissions on a daily basis and once a year, we offset our leftover impact. 

Be accessible & inclusive

We realize living a certain sustainable lifestyle is still something for the lucky few. We live in a world that’s dominated by all kinds of injustice, from discrimination to poverty and modern slavery. 

In an utopian world, all of our products would be accessible to all. But since that’s not possible, at least not now, we try to focus on creating as much free value as possible. By educating, by offering insights in how to live sustainably without spending money and by giving back as much as possible. 

We believe that access to healthy and sustainable products is a basic human right, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, age, or disability, and that they are not currently largely accessible to all. We are on a mission to change that and to break down barriers of entry to sustainable products.

We are constantly working to lower our price points while maintaining the quality, impact, and effectiveness of our products. 

Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity

We’re still a small business at the moment, but once we’re able to grow our team even further, we’re committed to hiring a diverse team. In doing so we exercise equal-employment principles, and we recognize the value of committed worksite employees who feel they are being treated in an equitable and professional manner. We seek to hire candidates with all educational experiences. We strive to find ways to attract, develop and retain the talent needed to meet business objectives, and to recruit and employ highly qualified individuals representing the diverse communities in which we live.

Employment policies and decisions on employment and promotion are based on merit, qualifications, performance, and business needs. The decisions and criteria governing the employment relationship with all worksite employees are made in a non-discriminatory manner—without regard to age, race, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth or medical condition related to pregnancy or childbirth), gender identity or expression, religion, physical or mental disability, medical condition, legally protected genetic information, marital status, veteran status, military status, sexual orientation, or any other factor determined to be an unlawful basis for such decisions.

No legally protected characteristic will be a factor in decisions regarding any of the following:

• Recruiting
• Hiring
• Termination of employment
• Discipline
• Promotion/demotion
• Training
• Compensation and Benefits
• Scheduling
• Assignments
• Any other terms or conditions or privileges of employment.

We promote a culture of continuous feedback and improvement encouraging an open dialogue and transparency for our team.  

Marketing

We are driven by positive impact and authenticity to our mission. Doing what is right will always come first.

We commit to: 

• Celebrating diversity in our marketing campaigns and social media content.
• Consistently working to ensure that our content, education, and resources are widely accessible across dynamic platforms and channels.
• Listening, learning, and growing with our community to continue to incorporate all perspectives in our communications.

Strive for any kind of justice

Sustainability is undeniably intertwined with any form of justice. There’s no room for any type of discrimination or injustice in a world that’s truly sustainable. 

Racial injustice and the legacy of colonialism are in fact inextricably linked with climate change. The richest countries in the world today are not those endowed with the most valuable natural resources, but those that ruthlessly plundered the resources of others. For generations, inequality has exacerbated the impacts of the climate emergency for racial communities. 

The struggle for the environment and for peace requires racial, environmental, and climate justice, and a fundamental change in our relationship with others and with nature. Environmental destruction cannot be fought without fighting racism and the violence associated with it: they are two sides of the same coin.

Fair trade, equal pay, zero slavery, fair pay for any type of workers, inclusivity, zero discrimination... all things we have to strive for, each and every day. By raising our voices, speaking up, not accepting injustice, by educating and informing others.  Our fight for a better & sustainable world doesn’t only lie in reducing fossil fuels or pollution. It lies in equality & freedom for every living being on this planet we all call home. And at ecossentials, that’s something we’ve put in our core mission. We won’t stop or back down, not now, not in the future, until we reach the true sustainable world we all deserve & need. 

Give back 

As a company striving to make a positive change & impact in everything we do, we try to give back as much as possible. For example, we never participate in Black Friday or mass promotions. Instead, we try to convince our customers to buy sustainably in other ways: for example, we donate a portion of our sales during Black Friday to charities, instead of offering big discounts.

Other than that, we planted one tree for every order the first year of ecossentials. Now, we work with Shop For Good, a verified automated donation platform, where customers can round up their purchase amount or donate a chosen amount to a good cause of their choice. This way, we can encourage others to give back too, if they’re able to. 

We also focus on giving educational & diy workshops to those who benefit the most from it. For example, we work together with Binnenste Buiten Antwerpen, where we give diy workshops to mothers from a migration background with a struggling financial situation. We focus on super simple recipes, with ingredients most people already have lying around at home. 

It's our mission to be able to grow our business into a healthy financial enterprise, so that we can reinvest a part of our profits in organizations that need it the most. This way, we can generate a much needed sustainable impact, on a much larger scale. That's why we're also a proud member of '1% for the Planet', where we directly donate 1% of our total annual sales to environmental causes. The intent of 1% for the Planet is to help fund these diverse environmental organizations so that collectively they can be a more powerful source in solving the world’s problems.

Past support and donations include: De Warmste Week, Bruzelle vzw, Natuurpunt, One Tree Planted, Binnenste Buiten

Eliminate plastic & packaging

We only source products that help eliminate & reduce (plastic) waste on a daily basis. We don’t allow any of our suppliers to ship or deliver their products with any form of plastic & we don’t use any plastic or extra filling for our own orders. 

Inform, educate, inspire & activate 

Information & education are key to change. It's only then that you provide yourself with the right tools to change your habits. But don't be fooled - a change of lifestyle isn’t something that happens overnight. You have to allow the process & yourself some time. Take it step by step, at your own pace & do what feels good for you.

Nonetheless, the existence of climate change denial, institutional racism, homophobia and so on, is not a topic of discussion but a cold, hard fact, and no one should have to pretend that refusing to acknowledge this is okay for the sake of a debate. Those who tell people to go educate themselves do so because it isn’t their job, and shouldn’t be, to explain things that all decent people should already understand.

But in trying to fix the systemic and institutional problems in society, we will always encounter people who disagree. This can only be solved if everyone understands, and that means that one of the most important things that must be done is simply explaining them to people. That’s what we’re trying to do, every day.  We try to inform, educate, inspire & activate as many people as possible through our social media, blogs & newsletters in the hopes of making a positive change for the better. ⠀⠀⠀⠀

These are some of the things we try to do through education:

• Educate our environment on anti-racism, privilege, bias, diversity, equity, and inclusion. 
• Being an educational resource for all members of our community, to lead by example and to provide information on how people of all backgrounds can reduce waste easily and efficiently in their own lives in the form of: events, campaigns, programs, panels, speaking engagements, and content.
• Share information and resources on how waste reduction can be cost effective, including recipes and DIY instructions on how to make many of our own products.  ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Spread a positive message

Living a sustainable lifestyle still isn't mainstream. It's not a path chosen by many, but still one with an amazing outcome. That’s a message we want to spread, while focusing on positivity. 

If we all changed our habits, even a tiny bit, for the better, our impact on this planet would be unforeseeable. We can’t turn back time. But we can grow trees, green our cities, rewild our gardens, change our diets and clean up rivers and coasts. We can make noise, make ourselves heard & seen, we can vote with our money, hold companies & governments accountable. We. Have. Impact.

Stay true to our values

Even if Ecossentials grows into a large company, we won’t ever forsake our values, that’s a hard, solid promise. If you feel we’re getting of course or you want more information regarding certain decisions, just tell us, so we can keep growing better, together. 

Be transparent

We’d like to communicate as transparently as possible with you, meaning we won’t hide anything. Missing some information somewhere? Just ask us, we’ll reply happily! 

To be able to fully communicate transparently to you, we’ve added the supply chain (where’s the product made, how’s it shipped, which packaging is used...) of every product on every product page. This way, you can always decide for yourself if something is sustainable enough for you. 

Besides that, we still test every product before we sell it online, to make sure the quality & use is guaranteed. That’s our promise to you. 

Form sustainable partnerships

We love forming partnerships with other sustainable brands, to raise more awareness and show you the various alternatives out there. Want to know with whom we already collabed & why? Check out our ‘Partners’ page! 

As you might see, sometimes we do partner up with bigger, less green fish. Why? Well, we try to support almost all initiatives that try to be more sustainable in their field of work. Our support doesn't mean that everything is picture perfect or that you shouldn't educate yourself on the matter. Please do so! Information is so important, and everyone has the right to make their own decisions. But please make them based on legit information. Ask questions , be critical!

Some of these bigger fish sure have made mistakes in the past when it comes to sustainability, but in our opinion, every existing, big company that wants to make a real greener change, must be supported. Their impact is immense and their message to other big players too. Does this solve everything? Hell no! We must always be critical and ask for more, better initiatives! But if we don't allow big players to make a change, how can this economy become more sustainable?

Either way, people will probably always be consumers of the big companies. Even if 50% of us chose only 100% green companies, then the other 50% still would buy from others. And if those others are becoming greener, even step by step, that's a win.

Don't get us wrong, we sure as hell don't support every big company that tries to become more sustainable. Some things aren't forgivable. But one of the goals we had with Ecossentials from the beginning, was showing those companies that if we can start a sustainable business, they sure can too. If supporting this greener cause makes us naive, then so be it. But we want to believe in the good & positive in this world, rather than constantly focusing on the bad.

Change never happens overnight. And we’ll keep on supporting all local, small businesses. But the big guys can't be ignored, 'cause we need everyone in this fight for a better, greener future. 

Become B-Corp Certified

Certified B Corporations are businesses that balance purpose and profit and are legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on their workers, customers, suppliers, community, and the environment. We're very committed to becoming a B Corp as soon as possible. 

Be ecowarriors first

Before we make any decision, we consider our impact on our planet first. We’re a business, but ecowarriors on a mission first. We’ll put the health of our planet first, always.

Promote only buying what you need

Whether we only sell sustainable products, we still find it very important to not promote any type of overconsumption. Therefore, we try to spread the message to all our followers & clients to always only buy what they need & will actually use. 

Focus on circularity

We strongly believe that our future is (& should be) circular. Therefore, we always try to source as many circular products as possible. Furthermore, we have a circular approach on How We Pack and we try to not waste anything that can be reused or repurposed. 

Focus on individual impact

We’re not here to judge anyone. There's no such thing as perfection and that also applies to more sustainable living. We want to encourage all of you to be proud of the small steps you're already taking. Be proud if you're vegan, but drink out of plastic bottles. Be proud if you're living plastic free, but travel by plane. Be proud if you're doing what you can and what feels good to YOU -  that's what matters the most.

All or nothing doesn’t work in our society. It shouldn’t be something we strive for. Focusing on positive, individual impact & stimulation, will take us way further in our mission to form a sustainable world. 

Be activists 

Our founder Moenia has made it her personal mission to speak up as much as possible, to join climate strikes, to fight injustice, to ask difficult questions and to hold companies & others accountable for their actions. 

We’re not a neutral company. We’re progressive, with a voice that won’t be silenced. 

Improve

We know we can always do & be better. And we love that. That’s why we constantly try to strive for a bigger impact & why we love hearing from all of you, regarding any issue. Have any idea of how we can improve or be better? Let us know via here!