Zero plastic, fantastic — Chatting with Seed & Sprout

Seed & Sprout provides a range of eco-products that make the switch to plastic-free seamless. Sophie Kovic, the brand’s founder, shares the many ways Seed & Sprout gives back to the planet.

Talk us through the moment you decided to create Seed & Sprout.

Seed & Sprout came about organically. My son Archie was starting school and one of the requirements was to pack plastic-free lunches — which is amazing, of course, but I was struggling to find a plastic-free lunchbox to pack his lunch into! I tried a lot of products, but found that none of them ticked all the boxes. So I decided to create a new lunchbox that did.

That’s how our first product, The Stacker, was born — and Seed & Sprout has grown from my personal journey to reduce single-use plastic in my own life. We now have a number of products across a range of categories to support our customers in going plastic-free.

Tell us about one of the key Seed & Sprout products.

It’s hard to pick just one but our Bars are key for me! Finding quality products to replace things like liquid cleansers, body wash, shampoos and conditioners that come in plastic bottles is really difficult.

I am so proud of our Bar range — not only because they are plastic-free and 100 per cent palm oil-free, but because they’re made right here in Australia and, in my humble opinion, they are better than other products on the market! One Bar equals 3.5 300ml plastic bottles, and we’ve been able to save more than 442,372 bottles since launching the range.

What are you doing to be kind to the Earth and minimise the environmental impact of your brand?

Our mission at Seed & Sprout is not only to do less harm, but to do more good. It’s great to work with a team that are so passionate about this! Aside from all of our products being plastic-free, we do a lot of things at HQ to reduce our impact on the environment. We’re proud to ship all of our orders plastic-free — from our boxes to the paper tape and tissue paper to mailer stickers. They’re all plastic-free!

At our HQ, we’re 100 per cent emissions-free and use renewable energy in the form of solar panels. Last year, we generated three times the amount of solar energy than we needed, so we actually sent some energy back to the grid for someone else to use.

We also reuse all of our cardboard boxes (and sometimes our neighbours’) by shredding them to use as a protective filler in our orders.

This year, we’ve put a lot of time into our garden for us to enjoy, but also to support the ecosystems around us. We’ve started growing produce for us to eat and have installed two compost bins so we can compost the waste we generate and put it back into the soil.

We also added a Flow Hive to our garden, which provides a home for bees which are of course crucial to our environment. It allows them to pollinate local plants and positively impact the environment around us — and we also get to enjoy fresh honey!

How can we best look after our health during the summertime?

There are a few things I like to do in summer to look after my health, but top of the list is getting plenty of water! It’s super humid up in Byron Bay so staying hydrated is extra crucial. Our water bottles are insulated so keep the contents cold for 24 hours — I love adding an ice block to it to keep it extra cold.

I also like to eat lots of local and seasonal produce. We’re extremely fortunate to have a number of farmers’ markets in the Northern Rivers area, so I try to make a weekly trip and stock up on fresh produce to enjoy throughout the week. I find when I eat well, I feel my best.

Do you have a favourite product from the range? What would you recommend to a new customer?

Our Organic Farmers Market Set is definitely one of my favourites. This set includes 14 different reusable shopping bags and is something that I use day in and day out in so many ways. Giving up plastic bags is a no-brainer, and this set includes everything you need to do just that.

What’s next for Seed & Sprout in 2022?

We’re welcoming 2022 with open arms and are looking forward to introducing new, exciting and practical products to help our customers continue making sustainable choices that are good for them, and good for the planet.

For more information, visit seedandsprout.com or @seedandsproutco on Instagram.