A mother with no previous business experience has used her growing frustration at the lack of reliable eco-friendly nappies available on the market and the realisation that almost 800 million disposable nappies were ending up in Australian landfill each year to design and launch her own solution to those issues through her start-up, OK&CO.
Zo Blatch-Klapas struggled with eco nappies that leaked fell, despite trying every eco disposable nappy brand available. So, Zo did her research and found a manufacturer in New Zealand, and a brand and marketing team in Sydney, who helped bring her vision to life.
“The world needs an eco-friendlier, toxic-free disposable nappy with the performance and reliability of a Huggies nappy”, Zo, the Founder and Managing Director of OK&CO., says.
“According to statistics published by The Sector one disposable nappy takes 500 years to decompose, and every child will use, on average, 6500 nappies before they are toilet trained,” Zo adds. “Those 6500 nappies will generate one tonne of plastic waste.”
OK&CO.’s 70 per cent plant-based, and 70 per cent biodegradable, disposable nappies are designed to combat this issue, and to significantly reduce the 100,000 tonnes of solid waste that disposable nappies create each year.
“While there has been a small shift towards reusable nappies for environmental reasons, most parents are of the opinion that reusable nappies are an extra step in their already busy lives that they don’t need, and they could take steps to be environmentally conscious in other ways,” Zo bemoans. “So, our mission is to offer parents and carers a one-stop-shop for reliable, toxic-free, cruelty-free and vegan-friendly plant-based products for their families.”
In just 10 weeks since its launch OK&CO. has already attracted plenty of attention. The start-up has been shortlisted for the Amazon Launchpad Innovation Grant and contacted by investors interested in being a part of Zo’s business journey.
The story is originally published on Inside Small Business.
