BIKU LOVES: ECO HACHI LIVING

14/8/2020

https://www.instagram.com/elodbelle/

Living and travelling widely in Australia and Asia over the past 18 years I noticed our beloved beaches and oceans becoming polluted with plastic and harming sea life. As a family we watched a disturbing documentary called 'A Plastic Ocean’. My then 10 year old asked me if people knew much about this plastic problem, I didn’t have an answer for him. The movie had such an impact on us that we took on the challenge of eliminating as much single use plastic from our lives as possible.

https://www.instagram.com/elodbelle/

It all started with a plastic audit, we kept all our single use plastic rubbish for a few weeks to determine what our biggest polluter was. As we imagined there was a lot of plastic from packaged vegetables etc… but more surprisingly there was a lot of cling film.

Around that same time a friend introduced me to beeswax food wraps and I was surprised at just how incredible they were. The only thing that I didn’t love was the fact that the fabrics were so plain. After living in Japan for over 15 years, I had a sizable collection of beautiful Japanese fabric. That gave me the idea that I could start to create my own wraps. I began to experiment with different formulas and after many attempts and much mess, I finally found the perfect balance providing durability, effective sealing properties and functionality.

At that stage I wasn’t thinking about turning this into a business. I started to have conversations with people about plastic pollution issues and I was surprised that many people weren’t really aware and if they were they didn’t know how to make changes in their lives.

That is when I had a chat with Victoria Close from Bikudesigns. She encouraged me to turn this into something more. Take your passion and use it to show people there are alternatives. It was just the push I needed. I created the business name “Ecohachi” (combination of “eco” and the Japanese word for bee “hachi”) and logo just in time for my fist market sale. The best part about selling at markets is that it allows me the opportunity to interact with people at all different stages of their journey to reduce single use plastic in their lives.

https://www.instagram.com/elodbelle/

Using beeswax wraps is one way we can reduce our impact on the environment and embrace sustainable living. Beeswax wraps are the perfect alternative to plastic wrap for keeping food fresh. They are natural, reusable and versatile. Beeswax food wraps are perfect for storing cheese and prolonging the life of vegetables and fruit (avocados and apples do especially well). They are also good for covering any leftover food in bowls or for carrying sandwiches/onigiri and snacks on the go.

I absolutely love sharing my story with others and listening to other people’s stories. I am consistently inspired to continue what I am doing. Working together, we can reduce our plastic waste and care for our world for future generations.