Sustainability at LOHN

 🌎  Happy Earth Day to our Wonderful Community 🌎

On this day, we thought it would be a suitable time to be as transparent as possible about our environmental impact as a business. We sent out a consumer feedback survey a few months back (thank you to all that filled it out!) and after hearing from you, we’ve realized that improving our brand transparency should be a top priority for 2022.  

At LOHN, we are committed to implementing sustainable methods from our handcrafted, responsibly sourced ingredients all the way through to our shipping and distribution processes. 

So what does sustainability mean to LOHN? 

Sustainability at LOHN has three pillars.  Community, Responsibility, and Proactivity. We promise to constantly work towards hearing and supporting our community, ensuring responsible production and combating climate change.

We believe in supporting our community with our generosity of spirit and commitment to helping others. We do so by:

• Working with local suppliers where possible. As an example, we have shifted from working with a box supplier overseas to working with a Toronto-based company. Localizing our supply chain means reducing shipping and storage, which in turn reduces emissions and energy usage. Check out our TikTok to see Victoria, our co-founder attend a press approval at this facility! 
• Sharing our mutual aid initiative, LOHN Cares. Mutual aid refers to the voluntary exchange of resources and services between community members to provide support for those who need it. #LOHNCares launched in the summer of 2021, and since then we’ve supported our community through donating food to community fridges, making care packages for delivery folks, cleaning up our neighbourhoods, and so on. You can read more about this initiative here. 
• Employing co-op students in STEM. Since 2020, we have hired over 12 students from five different Ontario-based universities/colleges who have worked with us on our production, quality, sustainability and marketing initiatives. Victoria and Kat studied chemical engineering and found it extremely difficult to gain industry experience throughout their university programs, so they are giving back to the community by hiring for different roles within LOHN to provide valuable training and industry experience. 

We believe in ensuring responsible consumption and production in every aspect of our business. We do so by:

• Ensuring our products are PETA animal-test free and vegan certified. 
• Reusing and recycling incoming waste and reducing outgoing waste. As an example,  if we receive bubble wrap or plastic bags, we reuse them in outgoing shipments. If we receive glasses in a cardboard shipper, when it’s not repurposed in our warehouse storage and organization, it is recycled according to Peel Region guidelines.
• Neutralizing plastic waste through CleanHub. CleanHub is dedicated to protecting the oceans by recovering plastic waste before it reaches the natural environment through a global network of plastic collection projects. We’ve partnered with CleanHub to collect plastic waste before it can enter the most precious ecosystem on earth. We’ve calculated our plastic usage from 2021 (this includes items such as laminated warning stickers,  essential oil caps and orifice reducers), and we have made a commitment to offset our usage through a yearly monetary donation to Tridi Oasis, an all-female led recycling company from Indonesia. Check out our progress here. 
• Using sustainable materials throughout our candle and essential oil production. Our organic coconut wax is a sustainable alternative because it is made from renewable resources that can replenish at a faster rate than many other alternatives and coconuts are not genetically modified, our cotton core wicks are lead-free and non-toxic, our candle vessels are both reusable and recyclable, and our cartons are made with FSC-certified paper. 

We believe in taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. We do so by:

• Encouraging our community to join the Carbon Neutral Club. This Earth Day, they have organized an In-Your-Neighbourhood Spring Clean Up, and hundreds are taking part. It’s super easy to participate! All you have to do is pick up at least 10 pieces of garbage, track your walk on Strava, properly dispose of your haul and share your route and clean up pics on Instagram. You can nominate your friends to take part as well! Follow the Carbon Neutral Club’s journey on Instagram and TikTok.
• Educating our customers on how to reuse and recycle our products. This month, we have been showing our community a few different ways you can reuse your LOHN candle vessel with the help of some of our favourite local artists and businesses. We have been showcasing different ways to upcycle our food-grade vessels on both Instagram and Tiktok. The opportunities are truly endless! 
• Monitoring our carbon footprint. We are very excited to announce that we have a Sustainability & Production Intern starting with us in May 2022 who will be helping us measure our carbon footprint and work on other sustainability-related projects this spring/summer. Stay tuned! 

We know there is a long way to go - but we believe every bit counts.

Let us know if you have any other sustainability-related questions or suggestions in the comments!