Caye Life: Holiday moment that inspired Sarah Rudd’s fight against single-use plastic

While visiting a supposedly idyllic holiday island, Sarah Rudd was shocked by the amount of rubbish littered on the shores. So she decided to take action.

The Caribbean islands of Belize are promoted as being one of the most beautiful holiday destinations in the world but that’s not what Australian woman Sarah Rudd found when she visited in 2016.

Visiting the popular Caye Caulker and Ambergris Caye islands, the 38-year-old was confronted with huge amounts of rubbish and litter caused by a lack of waste management systems.

“We were travelling around and just noticing an incredible amount of rubbish washed up onto the shores on these beautiful islands,” she said. “It was just a lot of rubbish, and very sad.”

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Sarah Rudd was motivated to start Caye Life in order to decrease single-use plastic usage. Picture: Supplied.

She initially planned to take a year off her role in marketing to help clean up the rubbish and petition the government for better waste disposal programs, but instead decided tackle the issue of single-use plastics.

Two years later, she began Caye Life – a range of reusable water bottles and coffee cups made from stainless steel. The extra insulation means cold drinks stay chilled for 24 hours and hot drinks are insulated for 12.

Now in its third year of operation, the mum-of-one says she’s saved more than a million coffee cups and water bottles from landfill.

“We estimate Caye Life has helped save over 800,000 disposable coffee cups from going to landfill each year. Along with an estimated 500,000 water bottles,” she says.

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A lack of a solid waste treatment or a disposal system has made illegal dumping a sad but common sight in the islands off Belize. Picture: iStock.

With no prior knowledge in running a business, Ms Rudd admits the 12 months between having the idea to launching Caye Life was “a process”.

“I had no experience whatsoever in manufacturing and sourcing good manufacturers and that was quite a lengthy process,” she says.

“Getting samples, going into manufacturing, learning the lingo and pricing the product was also such a learning curve at the time.”

Although Ms Rudd capitalised on social media for marketing and brand awareness, a surprise endorsement from 2017 The Block winner Elyse Knowles was also a “fantastic win” for Caye Life.

“We were at the South Melbourne market and they came and purchased from us, so it wasn’t a gifted product,” she says.

“She just liked what she saw, wanted to pay for it and then did a lot of quotes about the product too.”

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The bottles signature matte-finish also gives the bottle a unique look and soft-touch feel. Picture: Instagram @caye.life.

Although Ms Rudd still juggles Caye Life with family and a marketing role for a technology company, she admits wearing a lot of hats is part of starting a small business. However now that Caye Life is more established, she sees the value of employing people “different people with different skill sets”.

“(At the beginning) I was doing the photography, the social media management and sending the orders from my house,” she says. “It was very much starting from the ground up, just giving it a go and trying everything myself to see whether there was a viable business.”

“Now, I still do the marketing and I run the business but I have some fantastic people that help me.

“I think outsourcing certain tasks is more valuable to a business than doing everything.”

Having kept Caye Life afloat during COVID-19, and even achieving 100 per cent growth in 2020, Ms Rudd says the most rewarding aspect of her small business is tackling her original mission of reducing single use plastic.

“When I see someone with my water bottles and reusable cups, it’s like hearing your song being played on the radio,” she said.

“It’s just so rewarding seeing people want to use your products and knowing that everyone is doing it for a good cause.”