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sustainable money

What in the world is sustainable money and where do we get some?
Well it’s a made-up phrase I made up. There is no such thing as sustainable money as far as I know, while there is a whole bunch of sustainable other things as can be seen here or read this article or here.

Confession time: I am not the most-green-person out there. I know that plastic has been branded as evil some time ago due to what it does to our environment. There is climate change and a whole bunch of things going on that I don’t know much about to be totally honest. And I’m not making excuses for my un-involvement either: it’s like everything else in life, a choice one makes. Now why then, write about it?

Because contrary to what I have written above, I care a tiny bit on what I am contributing to the world. As you might remember me pointing this out, I own Pop of Flavor. I sell flavored popcorn, of which the Rainbow, Chocolate and the Jalapeño pop are the top sellers. Yay, you might think. Great! But what does that to do with sustainability, and what does it have to do with money?

Well that’s where the coined-up phrase came from. Because in order to keep the popcorn fresh, they have to be packaged. Now what does preserve popcorn to last up to 3 to 5 days, one would ask? Yes, plastic! Now I want you to remember this tiny detail as it will come back later in the conclusion okay? Plastic is relatively cheap.

There is one thing you need to know about the company: the philosophy behind what we serve is that we try to make everything as healthy as possible. Coconut oil for making the popcorn, organic kernels and whenever possible using locally grown ingredients (like peppers for example). Next detail I want you to remember is this: coconut oil is not cheap at all (1) and living on an island means importing a 50 pound bag of kernel is brutal on pricing (2).

Okay, so I went to the packaging stores here on the island to look for alternatives for plastic packages. I am told that tins might be the best next thing. So, I went searching for tins online. I got an instant heart failure, of which I have not yet recuperated and thus Pop of Flavor has since stood still. We are not actively promoting it because we have not found a solution yet to this problem.

So to tie in the sustainability money. If asked, I would agree that the change starts with us in making sure our environment at the minimum stays where it is for the future generations. I would also agree that we should reduce our personal waste and one-use-plastic is one of those possible reductions. But as can be seen with what this company did, single plastic use is difficult to ban – as yet… As I’ve seen when trying to do so for my own little company. Plastic is the only cheap ingredient in what I sell.

So, looking at this challenge with a fresh perspective, what would you do? Let me know in the comments below!