Cleaning products maker Defunkify did its part to reduce plastic waste in 2021, removing more than 41,000 pounds of that material from oceans and waterways.
(Defunkify is a great name. It sounds like the name of an act that would have opened for the Gap Band in 1982. They might have come back onstage for an encore of "You Dropped A Bomb On Me.")
Eugene, Ore.-based Defunkify worked with rePurpose Global on the reduction effort. In a news release, Defunkify officials said that the firm "is addressing the pressing issue of plastic pollution … by funding the recovery of as much nature-bound plastic waste as it uses across its packaging and distribution." They added that this commitment "is part of a wider packaging strategy that includes innovative solutions to reduce plastic waste across their supply chain."
Defunkify contributes a percentage of every product purchase to plastic reduction efforts. Through its partnership with rePurpose Global, the firm also is adding an income stream for waste workers and their families in West Java, Indonesia.
"We are proud to have funded the recovery of over 41,000 pounds of plastic from nature, accounting for everything that directly touches the products we sell — every bottle, every cap, every spray nozzle, every bag and even the tape — and we plan to take this one step further in 2022," CEO Richard Geiger said in the release.
Since 2019, Defunkify has been offsetting its total carbon footprint using verified carbon credits and donating 1 percent of sales to environmental causes. In 2020 and 2021, the firm won the EPA Safer Choice Partner of the Year Award.
Officials said that Defunkify's laundry detergents, stain removers and surface cleaners are safer than conventional products and have 100 percent non-toxic ingredients.
