Esse becomes first carbon neutral personal care co. in SA

Image source: esse.co.za

Founded in 2001, Esse Organic Skincare marked this major milestone earlier this year through its long-standing commitment to reduce its business impact on the environment. Esse partnered the Credible Carbon programme, operating a number of African projects that all focus on saving carbon and alleviate poverty.

Trevor Steyn, founder and CEO of The Esse Trust, said that they are very proud to have received this certification; however this is just one step along the way to reduce their carbon footprint of their operations. He added that they are also focused on educating their sales channel, partners and suppliers by providing them with tools so that they can reduce their individual footprints and work to offset their own emissions.

Credible Carbon programme

Esse Trust has offset 40tCO2-eq under the Credible Carbon programme to the Reliance Composting Project in Cape Town. Reliance is a composting project that diverts the City of Cape Town's green garden refuse. It uses a unique composting method that turns garden refuse into 100% certified organic compost. Reliance has kept out 15 million cubes of garden refuse from already overflowing landfills in the Western Cape, preventing 950,000 tons of carbon dioxide gas escaping into the atmosphere - a substantial contribution to reducing the impact caused by climate change.

Steyn touted: "We felt that we identified with Reliance Compost the most because of its simplicity. There is no reason why green waste should be going to landfills. Composting is one of the easiest ways we can reduce environmental impact."

Reliance Compost was awarded the Cleaner Cape Town Award for its efforts in assisting the City of Cape Town in managing its own green waste.

For more information on Reliance Compost and the various other projects under the Credible Carbon programme, go to www.carbon.org.za or www.reliance.co.za.