Sustainability in New Zealand

At Weleda, our goal is to reduce the impact of our product packaging on the planet as much as possible.

We've advanced by adopting packaging that's more reusable, recyclable, and incorporates more Post Consumer Recycled (PCR) or Post Industrial Recycled (PIR) content, like our new Skin Food Face Nourishing Cleansing Balm in recycled aluminium.

Based on our 2023 Weleda sales, 72% of our product packaging is kerbside recyclable, featuring glass, aluminium, and plastics #1, #2 and #5 (excluding lids, which aren't kerbside recyclable).

Only a small percentage of our product packaging is not kerbside recyclable, such as mixed plastic tubes or plastic closures with any metal components (such as a spring in a pump or nozzle). To help reduce this entering landfill, we now offer a FREE packaging returns scheme with TerraCycle® NZ, via their Beauty Zero Waste Box™.

Find out more information HERE, including how you can send hard-to-recycle packaging and closures back to Weleda FREE of charge and we’ll recycle it for you!

We're enthusiastic about the upcoming years as we strive to replace any remaining hard-to-recycle plastics with recycled aluminum or recyclable plastic, further increasing our recyclability rates.

As a business based in natural solutions, we strongly believe in doing good for our planet, as well as for your body, and we have certifications to back this up.

To understand what each of our product certifications and labels mean, click HERE to learn more.

We consistently monitor our progress for improvement. To achieve this, we conduct bi-annual carbon measurement through external auditors EKOS. These measure emissions from our operations in New Zealand. Additionally, we contribute to our global business annual carbon measurement.

Following each EKOS measurement, we develop a priority action list for the next two years to further decrease our carbon emissions and enhance our packaging reuse, recyclability, and innovations.

While fluctuations are inevitable, influenced by factors like the economy and weather patterns, we anticipate a continuous overall reduction in emissions.

The following actions are expected to contribute to this goal:

• Introduced a Work-from-Home Policy in mid-2022, thereby lowering carbon emissions resulting from less staff commuting.
• Upgraded 90% of the air-conditioning units at our production site, which are necessary to maintain a constant temperature for our pharmaceuticals, to newer units that use environmentally friendlier refrigerants instead of the older R22. Additionally, these units undergo regular servicing, and any removed refrigerants are disposed of in accordance with the government-approved disposal scheme.
• Recycling commercial soft plastic from inbound packaging, aiming to eventually eliminate it where possible.
• Transitioned to Ecotricity, a renewable energy supplier, for our Head Office, gardens, and production facility in Havelock North. Ecotricity offers 100% renewable, Toitū Climate Positive electricity sourced exclusively from certified wind, hydro, and solar production.
• Commencing the rollout of a Supplier Code of Conduct to our extensive network of product and service suppliers, which comprises over 400 partners. This initiative aims to guarantee that our supply chain adheres to sustainable and ethical business practices that deliver a positive social and environmental impact.

*Our measurement and reporting is based off all scopes 1 & 2, and most of Scope 3’s.

We are serious about minimising our business waste or making it more circular. We carry out an annual waste audit to identify additional materials that could be recycled and to inform staff of any updates.

Waste-to-landfill reduction initiatives we have launched since 2020:

• Full recycling offered for all staff and Head Office waste (paper / glass / cans / #1, #2, #5’s plastics, soft plastics, food waste for local chickens, and lastly general waste).
• Regularly educating staff on recycling updates and offerings.
• We cover the recycling costs for any product packaging returned by customers that isn't accepted by New Zealand's new nationwide kerbside recycling program, via TerraCycle® Beauty Zero Waste Boxes™.
• Recycling our inbound commercial soft plastics packaging (241kgs in 2023) and constantly working on reducing the volume of any inbound soft plastic.
• Inbound carboard boxes are shredded and reused as outbound parcel infill (rather than using plastic) to protect our products sent to customers. We also recycle waste cardboard from our surrounding commercial neighbours for this purpose!
• Inbound pallets are recycled or given away to upcycle into other products.
• We source our milk in swap-a-crate glass bottles from Hohepa, a local centre for those with disabilities, thereby eliminating plastic milk bottles and supporting our community in the process.
• We pay to recycle the plastic backing from all the labels we use for our products, couriers and marketing, through one of our label suppliers, Label & Litho.
• We offer a soft plastic recycling scheme, for our Head Office staff to bring in their soft plastics from home. This initiative makes it easier for them to recycle their personal soft plastics from home, thereby widening our recycling efforts and extending the education beyond our business.

Upcoming projects include recycling the hair nets & gloves at our manufacturing site, which are required to help us meet the strict health requirements.

Before launching a new recycling program, we do due diligence to ascertain the end point of the recycling once it leaves our premises, ensuring it undergoes genuine recycling in a beneficial manner. If we cannot obtain a clear answer, we won’t proceed. We don’t want any greenwashing here!

Our people and their wellbeing are core to our business, and we do what we can to make working at Weleda a great part of their day. Our outstanding staff retention rates of 8.5 years demonstrates this.

Some ways we bring good balance to working at Weleda:

• Flexible working hours.
• We appreciate the need for work / life flexibility, with 92% of our staff working part-time.
• Working From Home Policy, for staff not working in roles based purely onsite
• Staff annual Weleda product allowances (so staff can nourish their bodies too!)
• Stunning location to work
• We offer Southern Cross Health Insurance to staff working 20hrs + a week, plus Southern Cross’s Being Well Program is offered to all staff for their health & wellbeing
• We boast strong staff diversity rates;
  • Our Senior Management are a 50/50 split male & female
  • We boast beautiful cultural diversity, with 14 ethnicities represented
  • NZ staff: 25% are male, 68% are female, 7% non-binary / prefer not to say

We take pride in involving our staff in the sustainability journey through consistent communication and training sessions, ensuring continuous improvement.

We have a biodynamic production garden at our Havelock North site, which grows the plants which go into our NZ made remedies.

According to biodynamic principles, no synthetic chemicals are used in our garden and all outputs are recycled through our composting system and put straight back into the gardens. A fully cyclical process, just as nature intended it!

Find out more about our gardens, gardeners and tincture production HERE.

The biodiversity here is vast, with many varieties of trees, shrubs, birds, insects, a pond and our show garden, which you are welcome to wander around and see which plants go into which of your products. Discover all about our Visitor Garden HERE.

We’ve been involved in a number of national community initiatives, that are close to our purpose and values. Discover them HERE.