Today we’d like to introduce you to Will Bravante
Hi Will, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I started my career in management consulting, where I struggled to connect my passion for sustainability to my work. Our Supply Chain and Operations practice pitched Fortune 500 companies on projects to decarbonize their logistics, reduce their packaging waste, and lower the emissions of their manufacturing facilities. Sadly, many of these large corporations were uninterested in projects like these that would not have an immediate positive impact on their bottom line.
So I decided to leave my corporate job for a company with a direct and positive sustainability impact. I took a role at TerraCycle, where I led innovative operational projects across North America. This work in the recycling industry was certainly more fulfilling, but I came to the conclusion that, while recycling is an important and valuable facet of waste reduction, reuse would be the driving force behind a truly circular economy.
TerraCycle does have a reuse division called Loop, and for a brief time I considered trying to transfer into this organization. Unfortunately, Loop US struggled to move past the pilot stage with many of its clients and had to put US operations on hiatus.
That’s when I decided that, if I couldn’t break into the reuse space through TerraCycle, I could try entering the circular economy as an entrepreneur. I started Tiptoe to provide a similar suite of products and services as Loop, but on a different scale and for a different market. Rather than selling a wide variety of popular CPG products in broad array of packaging SKUs through multinational retailers, I sell a smaller range of products produced by small businesses through refill stores and boutiques. This helps me to simplify operations, manage costs, and target a consumer demographic that is already interested in high-quality, non-toxic, zero-waste products. I also offer more general bottle and tableware washing services to schools, corporate offices, and entertainment venues with the same goal in mind: creating a customer experience where reusable options are just as convenient as throwing away single-use bottles, cups, and packaging.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Starting you own business always presents a steep learning curve, and I’ve definitely had to stay light on my feet as I’ve worked to establish Tiptoe. One of the biggest challenges has been getting my products out in front of a large audience of interested consumers. As a small business, I don’t have the marketing budget large corporations have to optimize and scall large ad campaigns, and other sales channels like farmers markets and social media present steady but slower organic growth. I’m hope that stories like this one, in tandem with continued word-of-mouth sales, help us integrate more consumers into the circular economy.
It’s also been challenging to strike new B2B deals with universities and other large buyers worried about heightened uncertainty surrounding federal funding. I’m hoping that the State of California is able to step with stopgap funds should schools and others need it to continue pursuing their sustainability goals.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Tiptoe is on a mission to reduce the amount of single-use waste sent to landfill. We do this by enabling reuse in the personal care, hospitality, and other industries, providing the industrial washing and logistics services our customers need to replace single-use packaging and tableware with reusables.
Our primary offering is a suite of plant-derived, non-toxic, vegan, and hypo-allergenic personal care products that we sell in reusable aluminum and glass bottles. Customers can purchase these off-the-shelf at refill stores, boutiques, or our online shop. When they’re done with their products, they return the empty bottles to the store they bought them from or request a pickup of empty containers with their next order from our online store. This saves them the hassle of cleaning, toting, and filling their own containers while providing them a zero-waste option for buying shampoo, body wash, lotion, and other bathroom staples.
We also offer tableware washing services to schools, offices, and other venues to help these clients replace single-use cups, plates and silverware with reusables. This not only reduces their waste footprint, but also translates to significant savings from reduction in waste hauling fees and other cost centers.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
Individual consumers can purchase our products from our online shop or through our retail partners like BYO Long Beach. If they shop at refill shops in the LA metro that do not offer our products, they can ask store owners to partner with us so that convenient zero-waste shopping is available to them at their local retail store.
Owners of refill shops and other retail establishments interested in selling our products in their stores can contact me to discuss wholesale purchasing. They can contact me at [email protected].
Parents or students concerned about waste on their students’ campus or the negative health impacts of plastic food ware can petition their local representatives and school boards to consider working with us to implement a tableware washing program in their districts.
Pricing:
- I don’t know that I need to highlight specific pricing, but one thing to highlight is that there is a rebate for each container returned – if a customer returns an empty bottle for us to reuse, they will receive a $1-3 credit toward their next purchase depending on the type and size of the container.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.trytiptoe.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tiptoe_sustainability/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61561069276451
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tiptoe-sustainability
