I was able to get into two new retailers this past week with the Harvestcare line. However, my brain keeps asking the question, “Am I really making a difference in reducing plastic waste with this brand?”

When I started working on a body care line, it was to replace the single-use plastic in hotels. Of course, most hotels are still in hibernation. And so the Harvestcare brand is a consumer pivot during Covid. While I know that it’s good for the consumer and the environment, I don’t really feel like I’m making that big of a difference on the plastic side.

In the meantime, while I was doing sales calls this week, I actually found a retailer that preferred my recycled plastic jewellery products over the body care line. It was just my words in passing as I could see that her interest was not there. So, I showed her some pictures of some things I did with recycled plastic. She said that she wanted the products right away in prep for Father’s Day.

So, on top of selling and fulfilling Harvestcare orders, I’ve been melting plastic again. I quit doing this a few months ago because I was so frustrated with the results, but now I realise that I need to push through the learning curve to really demonstrate recycled plastic’s value – that it can be used for far more than just outside furniture and bollards.

Plus, if I can pull this off, I can sell products that cost me little more than time to make – unlike my Harvestcare like where I have a lot of cash in inventory.

So far, I’ve made a lot of mistakes – again! But things are looking better as I experiment with a retailer customer and deadline in mind. I hope to have access to a friend’s shed while they are away on school holidays so that I can try out some of my bigger project ideas. I just need a place where I can make a mess first.

So, back to melting plastic. If I only use these to show people that used plastic is a great resource, then maybe I can make a small difference in reducing plastic waste now that leads to bigger things later.