Here at Malibu C, we are committed to researching, developing and manufacturing earth-friendly wellness products. We know packaging plays a large role in ensuring we can get our wellness products safely to consumers around the world. As new packaging technologies arise, we want to be sure we implement everything we can to reduce our water and carbon footprints. That's why we introduced our new EcoBlu® bottles. 

Our founder, Tom Porter, retired in January of 2024. He was, and still is, a big proponent of sustainability in all we do. We wanted to know more about what drove him to create the EcoBlu bottles as his "lasting legacy" before he retired. Here's what he had to say.

1. Many consumers are being more intentional with their environmental footprint and have found that with the beauty industry it can be challenging. Can you share what inspired Malibu C to launch the new EcoBlu® bottles?

Tom Porter: As the trailblazers of wellness in the beauty industry, Malibu C has always been focused on creating wellness products for salon professionals and their clients across the globe. We have also been increasingly concerned about our planet’s well-being. We felt PET bottles were the most environmentally friendly packaging we could use for our liquid products at the time. However, the more we learned about the realities of recycling PET and how long it takes for it to break down in landfills, the more it motivated us to work with partners to discover new approaches. We wanted to ensure our Malibu C bottles did not contribute to the problems associated with plastics in our oceans and landfills. It took years of research and exploration to identify processes to manufacture the new EcoBlu® bottles using almost exclusively (98%) post-consumer recycled and ocean-bound plastics.  

We also knew the reality was that many consumers either didn’t have access to the proper recycling facilities or didn’t take the time to recycle which resulted in our bottles being tossed and buried in landfills. Most experts estimate it takes at least 400+ years (16 generations of humans) for plastic bottles to breakdown in landfills. (Learn more about biodegradation rates here.) That statistic caused sleepless nights for me as one of the founders of Malibu C, especially since we have always made the wellness of people, water, air and land a priority. Research revealed new technologies with ingredients that, when added to the bottle during manufacturing, attract microbes in landfills that collectively feast on the bottles to break them down in just years, not centuries. The Malibu C team, and hopefully salons who sell Malibu C, can sleep better at night knowing we are doing all we can, and will continue to do so, to ensure our EcoBlu bottles set an example for other brands to follow to minimize the negative impact to our planet.

2. How much value does Malibu C place on sustainability?

Tom Porter: We recognize the importance of environmental stewardship and the impact our industry can have on the planet. We are working diligently to prioritize sustainability initiatives throughout our supply chain, from sourcing ingredients ethically and responsibly to reducing waste in packaging and manufacturing processes.

Our commitment to sustainability extends beyond mere compliance with regulations; it's ingrained in our company culture and drives our innovation. We continuously strive to develop eco-friendly formulas and packaging solutions. We have dedicated investments into working with partners whose research has resulted in innovative sustainable bottles. It has taken decades of research to finally introduce bottles that are leaders in sustainable packaging. Moreover, we actively engage with our customers to promote sustainable practices, encouraging them to make informed choices that benefit both their hair and the environment.

Ultimately, sustainability isn't just a checkbox for us; it's a core value that shapes every aspect of our business, reflecting our dedication to preserving the beauty of both hair and the planet for generations to come.

 3. To what extent does Malibu C strive to be a leader within the hair care industry when it comes to sustainability?

Tom Porter: Malibu C has been recognized by the industry media as leaders of wellness in beauty as seen in Beauty Store Business back in May 2014.  As a leader of wellness technologies, Malibu C has prioritized environmental initiatives as a core value. An example is the dry technology in our wellness hair remedies. The majority of beauty products are made up of mostly water, but our wellness remedies ship around the world without the need to be mixed with water, reducing the weight of our overall shipments to salons and customers. Malibu C even registered the trademark “Water Footprint” in the early 2000’s to bring attention to this initiative.

Now, Malibu C is continuing to push what has been done in the industry by working with REPREVE® and REPREVE® Our Ocean® for materials for the Malibu C EcoBlu® bottles.

But, knowing statistics indicated that less than 5% of plastic bottles globally are recycled, we were also driven to identify a partner with a technology to accelerate the biodegradation of our bottles. Our research identified EcoLogic's Eco-One® Technology, a clear game-changer in the world of plastic packaging accelerated biodegradation, providing new hope for a cleaner world with less residual waste being passed on to future generations. 

Check out our EcoBlu® video to learn more!

4. As the first U.S. hair care brand to include REPREVE® and Eco-One® technology together in bottles, what were some non-negotiables when developing EcoBlu®?

Tom Porter: We believe it is the responsibility of each generation of humans to ensure their waste is not passed on to their children and future generations. This belief pushed us to find technologies that enable us to reduce our environmental impact as well as the time our bottles spend in landfills. We believe that once a new technology is available, it is our responsibility to employ it and make it available to our customers. We challenge every manufacturer in the beauty industry, and all other industries, to move quickly to follow Malibu C’s lead to start using technologies like REPREVE® and Eco-One®!

5. It’s amazing how fast the EcoBlu® bottles biodegrade: 60.6% in just 388 days! How did you find Eco-One® and how did you know it was going to work so well?!

Tom Porter: As a founder of the Malibu C brand, I consider research and execution to be the key to our past and future success. Once we identified REPREVE® and EcoLogic's Eco-One® Technology as potential partners, we challenged them to provide us verification of their findings that allowed them to make the claims they were making to us and our current and future customers.

REPREVE® is the only eco-fiber embedded with FiberPrint®, a proprietary tracer technology, enabling product origins to be verified with U TRUST™ verification to certify transparency and traceability. Furthermore, EcoLogic and Malibu C conducted independent ASTM D5511 tests that represent biologically active landfills on representative packages have shown 60.6% biodegradation in 388 days.

6. What else is Malibu C doing to help offset its environmental footprint? 

Tom Porter: We are currently working with packaging experts to migrate to even more environmentally friendly materials for our Malibu C wellness hair remedies. Because there is an oxygen barrier layer in the material, it makes our current packaging more difficult to recycle. We know our current wellness hair remedy packaging takes up very little room in landfills, compressing to minimum occupation of space, but we also know we can do more. We are working with experts to identify materials that will be even more environmentally friendly while continuing to reduce the water and carbon footprint of shipping emissions produced during transport around the world.

A few other initiatives that we have been working on recently are listed below.

• We recently installed LED lights throughout our manufacturing facilities, minimizing the energy needed every day. LED lights are far more energy efficient than traditional lighting options. Retrofitting to LED, industrial buildings such as ours can reduce their energy consumption by up to 50-70%. Since LED lights consume less energy, they also produce fewer carbon emissions during operation. By switching to LED lighting, industrial buildings can contribute to mitigating climate change by reducing their carbon footprint.
• We now utilize Shred-It boxes around the facilities. We want to reduce the number of things we print, but if we do need printed materials, once they are ready to be tossed, Shred-It takes them and recycles them instead. Shred-It estimates that this project at Malibu C saves about 1,500 trees each year.

7. What kinds of sustainability goals does Malibu C have for the future?

Tom Porter: Malibu C continues to work with our suppliers to identify new opportunities to reduce our overall environmental footprint and waste. We are optimistic new technologies will continue to present themselves and help push our current initiatives to new heights. We encourage communities to align with companies like Waste Management and other similar trash and recycling companies who are making it a priority to pick up and separate potentially recyclable materials from waste that cannot be recycled. Knowing less than 5% of current PET water bottles, beauty products and other PET bottles are being recycled is not acceptable. Malibu C will continue challenge other companies to follow our lead. This will only have a major impact when salons, distributors and retail stores mandate the products they sell are made with the most recycled materials they can be and include ingredients in their plastic that accelerate biodegradation through microbe-loving compounds, just like our EcoBlu® bottles.

Read more about EcoBlu® HERE.