How plastic waste fighter Zero Co raised $5 million in under seven hours

After Mike Smith got an idea on holiday, he came up with an idea aiming to solve one of the world’s biggest problems. And it took off.

When Mike Smith and his partner Alyssa Carter-Smith took off on an 18-month world tour in 2018, visiting some of the world’s most far-flung places, the couple found themselves shocked by one thing – the amount of plastic rubbish they saw.

“We were looking for these unspoilt places and the amount of plastic just blew us away. I just remember thinking, ‘I really hope my kids can see those places and not have them ruined by the amount of plastic that’s there’,” Mike said.

Mike Smith saw piles on plastic waste on his round-the-world trip.

When they returned home to Sawtell, NSW, Mike decided to set out to solve the global plastic problem – a challenge that he describes himself as “woefully, categorically unqualified for”. That’s when Zero Co was born.

Zero Co’s plan: reuse plastic waste pulled from the ocean to create plastic bottles that consumers keep forever. These bottle are refilled with cleaning and personal-care products that are mailed in recycled pouches which are then sent back and refilled and sent out to another customer.

According to Zero Co, the average four-person household in Australia uses a whopping 3740 single-use-plastic bottles for personal-care and home-cleaning products in their lifetime, and Mike’s aim was to reduce this.

One year on from launch, the company offers a range of products from shampoo and conditioner to laundry liquid. And it’s achieved some pretty big milestones – 10,000kg of garbage pulled from the ocean to make the refillable ‘forever bottles’, 45,000 customers, 20 staff.

“We just ticked over $1 million in revenue a month, which is crazy,” Mike said.

Zero Co has pulled 10,000kg of plastic from the ocean.

Raising $5 million in six hours and 47 minutes

To crown it all, last month the company participated in the most successful crowd-funding campaign in Australian history. In just six hours and 47 minutes, it raised $5 million from 3082 enthusiastic Aussies. The fastest and biggest crowdsourced funding campaign prior to Zero Co’s reached $3 million in three weeks.

“It was epic, just amazing. We’re trying to build a community and a people-powered solution and there’s no better way to align our business, community and the planet than to have our customers be our shareholders,” he said.

This cash has been added to a pile of $8 million more from venture capital firm Square Peg and other private investors, taking Zero Co to $13 million in funding.

Now the company is planning to launch an expanded line of products, before launching into the UK and US in the new year.

Mike Smith almost broke the internet with his crowd-funding!

Mike says what he’s most proud of is the level of support Zero Co has from its enthusiastic followers.

“Everyone is with us because they genuinely want to have a positive impact on the planet. That’s what gets me excited; that’s what gets me out of bed every morning,” he said.

His advice for anyone with a sustainable business idea?

“Give it a crack. Whatever your idea is, if it’s good for the planet; it’s worth pursuing. If more people don’t get in the game, we’ll never find the solutions we need.”

Reducing carbon emissions and plastic waste

Another Aussie refill delivery service ReCo (short for ‘Reimagine, Co-Create’) is on a mission to solve the global plastics problem, with a goal of reducing both plastic waste and carbon emissions connected to creating single-use plastic.

According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, some 45 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions come from the way we make and use products and food.

Launched by creator and sustainability influencer Danling Xiao and her partner Anett Petrovics in 2020, Xiao decided to take action after building a following on Instagram for her awareness-raising content, under the name Mundane_Matters.

Danling Xiao and Anett Petrovics from ReCo.

“Back in 2015, I started creating some interesting imagery focused on sustainability. It went viral and got published in magazines all over the world. It got me wondering, ‘With this power, what can you do to help solve this problem?’” Ms Xiao said.

ReCo’s solution is to hand-deliver nature-based household cleaning products in reusable glass jars to customers across Sydney. Customers use the products then return the jars to be refilled when they receive their next delivery – often brought to their door by Xiao and Petrovics themselves.

“Our research showed that people felt like it wasn’t convenient to go to bulk supply stores to get refillable products, so that was one of the main reasons we decided to offer delivery,” she said.

The powders distributed by ReCo are produced by SimplyClean, a Northern Rivers, NSW company producing all-natural household cleaning products. In addition to being plastic-free, ReCo’s products also lack harsh chemicals and have not been tested on animals.

The business aims to keep its products as cost-effective as possible. In addition to rewarding customers with $2 for every glass jar they get refilled, the laundry and dishwasher powder is also more concentrated than what customers can typically buy in the supermarket. A $15.95 jar of laundry powder typically lasts around three months if you do two loads of laundry a week.

“It’s about doing everything you can, rather than waiting for governments or big companies to do their part to meet our climate targets. People need to make change – and ReCo is trying to help them do that,” Ms Petrovics said.

Alison Lowe is a freelance writer.

This content is created in sponsorship with Volvo.