Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is: Grove Collaborative Commits To Be Plastic-Free By 2025

There’s a whole lot of greenwashing going on in the business world right now. For example, there have been numerous headlines lately about companies promising to be carbon-positive by 2050 or thereabouts. But Stu Landesberg, co-founder and CEO of online retailer Grove Collaborative, says that might sound like a lofty commitment, but it’s really no pledge at all. “The people making those kinds of promises won’t be around when that date comes,” he said. “Nobody on their teams will be around. That’s not commitment.”

In contrast, today Grove announced they will be 100% plastic-free by 2025. “That’s going to be on my watch, on my team’s watch,” Landesberg said. “I don’t claim to even know exactly how it’s all going to work, but I’m committed to making it happen. The short time frame creates a sense of urgency.”

Landesberg, a veteran of Lehman Brothers and TPG Growth, has made things happen before. He first founded his company in 2012 as ePantry, going through rough early times and lots of up-close and personal consumer research at various Starbucks locations, where he used $5 gift cards to solicit product and customer experience feedback. Re-launched as Grove Collaborative in 2016, today the e-commerce startup has raised over $212 million in funding over six rounds, the latest a Series D round that brought in $150 million last September. Grove boasted triple-digit growth last year, achieving revenues of over $200 million. The company now has over 1,000 employees and carries over 100 brands, including five of their own.

“I’ve long seen the opportunity for positive change in the non-food CPG world,” Landesberg explained. “There’s pent-up consumer demand for it.” In fact, that’s part of what drives his business model. His consumer interactions convinced him people wanted more responsible products, but that existing offerings were too high-priced and didn’t work as well as what they replaced. Grove’s mix of products, along with education offered by his customer service team, are intended to dispel those notions.

Grove has also already established a record of sustainability. “We’re already doing carbon offsets, and we’ll be planting millions of trees over the next several years,” said Landesberg. “Our vision statement is, ‘Be a positive force for consumer and environmental health.’ We’re the first plastic-neutral online retailer, in partnership with Plastic Bank. For every ounce of plastic we use, we pull the same amount from the world’s oceans. We fund plastic capture with a ‘tax’ on ourselves and our products.” That “tax” is currently used to compensate Plastic Bank to collect that equivalent amount of plastic from the environment. Grove has also already begun eliminating plastics, with an example being their concentrated spray cleaner that comes in a reusable glass bottle, eliminating the more typical single-use plastic containers.

Grove is challenging their competitors to become partners for this particular effort. “The CPG industry is giant – and it’s a giant source of the [plastics] problem,” Landesberg offered. “We can all help with this change. It doesn’t matter who you are, or what political party you’re in – this is good for consumers, and it’s good for the world.”

The company has begun outlining a multi-prong approach to tackle the commitment. “First, we’ll focus on reducing – with things like our walnut sponge and cellulose cleaning cloth,” said Landesberg. “Next, we’ll re-use, in things like our laundry soaps, glass cleaners, and room sprays, where we can offer refills. Finally, we’ll recycle – but that takes a real focus on what’s truly recycled and not landfilled, and on things that can be recycled multiple times.”

Grove is also looking at alternative container materials, such as aluminum and paper. “We want to move into materials where recycling works well,” Landesberg said. “We’ll work with scientists to find alternatives where right now plastic is the only answer, like with our dishwasher tabs where humidity is a big concern.” New technologies will also play a part. “What we know about today is the tip of the spear to get where we want to go,” he added. “We’re certainly not afraid of new alternatives.

Landesberg hopes the company’s success will help enlist others. “We’re not that small anymore,” he said. “We’ve got a couple of million customers. Our current partners are excited too. We don’t want to rule with an iron fist here – we want to build a coalition of the willing. We’re working on doing this in a way that creates positive incentives to change. This is a revolution in our category, and we want everyone to know it applies to all of us.”

All that doesn’t mean he’s not a little nervous. “Sure, it’s scary announcing that we’ll be there by 2025, when we don’t know right now exactly how we’re going to solve it all,” he admitted. “But that differentiates us from the rest of our industry. And it makes it something we think about day in, day out. I’m really excited that we’ll be influencing other business leaders.”