Eco-ish Podcast #3 - Earth Warrior: Is a Zero Waste Lifestyle Possible in Canada?

Hello listeners and welcome to the Eco-ish Podcast. I'm Tracy Lydiatt, founder of Sustainable Living School, sustainability expert, and I'll be your host today. The purpose of Eco-ish Podcast is to illuminate the good work towards sustainability the companies are doing, honestly discuss trade-offs they might wrestle with, and share their interesting stories to help listeners like you make informed choices. Eco-ish Podcast honors the imperfect journey towards creating a sustainable and eco-friendly brand in an unsustainable society. On today's episode of Eco-ish Podcast, we are pleased to introduce our listeners to the owner and founder of Earth Warriors, Katrina Hillier. Katrina is an avid nature lover, and her mission with Earth Warrior is to reduce textile waste and remake it into new lifestyle items that can be used daily to reduce single-use plastics and paper products. Earth Warrior diverts textiles from landfills through their textile recycling program. They sort them, sanitize them, and then turn them into new everyday lifestyle items such as towels, like paper towels, produce bags, and so, so much more. They help consumers reduce their single-use household item waste And really, what's more eco-friendly than using what already exists to make everyday conscious living products? Welcome, Katrina. How are you today? And where are you calling in from for our podcast time together?

Hello, Tracy. I'm really good. I'm calling in from Edmonton, Alberta.

Great. It's so wonderful to have you on the podcast. I'm in British Columbia, so we're geographic neighbors today.

Yes, we are. Yeah.

I've been really looking forward to having this conversation as I'm a huge advocate of textile reuse, repurposing, and recycling. As in my normal day job, I currently wear the hat of the Managing Director of the Textile Lab for Circularity. So this is going to be a fun and juicy conversation. And if you're okay to start, I'd love to just jump in.

Yeah, let's do it.

Okay. Um, so to start us off, I always ask guests to share in your own words, can you please share what Earth Earth Warrior does.

So here at Earth Warrior, we believe in being the positive changes we want to see in the world. So we want to help guide people to reduce waste in their lives. So we divert textiles from landfills, we sanitize them, and then we turn them into new everyday lifestyle products like reusable tote bags, produce bags, and paper towels, and so much more.

Incredible. I love it. I cannot wait to dive into this topic. Um, so usually what I like to start out with too is asking founders like yourself, what was the driving factor or this inspirational spark that got you going with Earth Warrior?

Well, I think the seed was planted at a very young age. I grew up planting trees with my dad every spring and cleaning ditches with my mom all the time in the summer months. And then I also always wanted to be a fashion designer. So I started sewing at a really young age and I got my degree in fashion. I worked in the industry for years and then I left the industry because the waste was overwhelming to me. And I just— it didn't feel aligned with my purpose anymore. So I walked away from the industry. I worked on an organic farm and that's where I learned a lot about soil science and the circularity of like how everything was on this farm, everything was circular. And then I— that inspired me to go back into fashion and into textiles. And when I decided to start my line, I was like, how can I make this circular? So I started taking clothes from my closet and repurposing them into new items. And that's where that started. So I had the clothing line for about 6 years, but it's still— there was something missing. So I started making more everyday use items, like reusable items for myself, just to make impact in my personal life. And everyone kept asking me to make them some. So I did. And that's when I started Earth Warrior. Wow.

Okay. So there's a lot to unpack there. I love it.

There is, yeah.

Kudos to your folks, first of all, for getting you involved in tree planting and ditch cleaning. Is that what you said?

Yeah. Yeah. We used to clean the ditches.

What kind of ditches?

Yeah, I grew up in the country, so we had the highway. The Yellowhead Highway was close to our house. So we used to go along our service road right along the Yellowhead Highway and clean the ditches there because there was always so much trash.

Okay. Okay. That makes so much sense. Thank you for clarifying.

Yeah, no worries.

For listeners who might not know what a ditch is. There's many different kinds of ditches in the world. So yeah, patrol and tree planting. So. You were indoctrinated at an early age in caring for Mother Earth. I love that so much. And, um, really fascinating that— thank you for sharing that your inspiration for circularity came from working on a farm, and what a perfect way to learn. And so for listeners' benefits, I would love to just hear your definition of what circularity means. To you?

Okay, so circularity to me means that just like a circle, everything is being used and it's not linear. So right now we live in a very linear society, so we grab, we buy something, we use it, it goes in the garbage, and it just sits there and does nothing. Whereas in a circular economy, everything is utilized and gets reused over and over, and it feeds itself. So you're constantly feeding a system that's really alive. So I'm using soil terms because that's what I really know. So in the soil, everything is so alive when it's circular, like you have so many different organisms. So when I think of that and bringing that into the textiles or in everyday living, it's I want to live in a society that feels so alive and so vibrant and just embraces everything and feeds off of everything, and it's been— everyone is benefiting from it. So that's how I see circularity.

Thank you for sharing that. It's, um, you know, I used, I used to teach, uh, engineers about sustainability in one of my first jobs after I graduated out of my master's program. And just to— I always like to try and bring humor to this, and so I used to say you never see a kangaroo or a snake or, you know, a, even a dog like dig a hole and bury their trash in it. And it would, it's such a great contrast when you think about nature that way and how everything that has waste has a purpose. And we haven't created our society that way yet. And especially you'll know this with textiles, We're in a very linear take-make-waste, um, linear pathway. And I think the latest statistic that I read about fashion cycles is that there's something like one a week or maybe two a week with the fast fashion brands that are just pushing these looks. And it makes, it makes me feel like I'm on a constant hamster wheel of like potentially trying to keep up with trends, which I actually released a long time ago. But it's a great analogy as well of how we create all this textile trash that there's— it doesn't have a use at the end of its life. And so it's very not circular.

No, it's very not circular.

Yeah. And then the other thing about it that I'm sure is super familiar to you is that many, as you shared in your answer about just throwing away generally waste, there's no, um, there's no ready mechanisms for many of the textiles that we do create to break down. They just sit in landfill and they create greenhouse gas emissions. I also wanted to ask you, I did some research on your company before, and I noticed that you're selling in some brick and mortar stores. So you went from fashion, creating your own fashion line, and then I heard you say that a lot of people were asking you, hey, can you make that for me? And so can you tell us a little bit about that journey, how that started for you and maybe what stores people can connect with your products?

Yeah, so I start, I've always been conscious of, for a long time I did a lot of recycling because I thought that was the way to go. I wasn't really aware that so little was actually being recycled. And when I started learning more and more about that, quite a few years ago, I started transitioning into, okay, let's start bringing my own, let's start doing all of this. And yeah, I just, because I was doing it, I had other friends ask me, can you make us this? Or can you make us that? Because they were inspired and they wanted to try it out as well. They also were hearing some of these, these facts coming out and they wanted to make changes in their own lives. So we started doing that. We made up some, oh, some really quick packaging. It was like hand-drawn packaging, handwriting, everything. And we went and we approached a few stores and got in. And once we noticed that it was doing well in a few of the stores, we went and made nicer packaging. And yeah, so you can find us, we're mostly located in Alberta. So we've got a store in Calgary. We're in 9 locations in the Edmonton and surrounding area and 1 in Northern Alberta right now.

Okay.

Wow. And then we also have sold to a few wholesale stores in California and Florida.

Holy smokes. Good for you. And also you have an online store, is that correct? Where people can order directly from you?

Yeah. Yeah, we do a lot of online, and then we also do trade shows and craft shows. So we were actually recently in Vancouver for Circle Craft, and we usually do the vegan festivals in Vancouver as well.

Okay, thank you for sharing that. I'm so sorry I missed Circle Craft this year, but I know it's a, it's a hugely popular craft fair in Vancouver. And so how was the How was the response this year?

Oh, it was great. I, I always have a great response in Vancouver. I love going to Vancouver for craft shows and trade shows. I meet so many amazing people who all align with similar beliefs. So I love going there.

Yeah. Wonderful. I'm glad to hear it was successful for you and just on the beliefs. I, and I'm curious about your contrast between making fashion and then switching your skills into making household cons— basically consumables, um, even though they're long-lasting consumables at this point, you know, it's probably not quite as glamorous to say that you make face wipes or paper towel replacements. And so I'm curious about if you can kind of double-click on that for us and let us know how that feels and why you made that shift.

You know what, it might not sound glamorous, but I actually prefer talking about it.

Great.

It's like, it was a shift that is, even though I loved fashion, like I love fashion, making this switch, like the transition was so seamless for me. I, it didn't feel like I was not glamorous anymore because I was making this. If anything, I felt like I was doing more and I felt more empowered by making these products instead of just clothing.

That's a super amazing statement to make. And I'm kind of playing a little bit of the devil's advocate, of course. Yeah. I don't, I already can imagine that you didn't get into fashion for the glamour. So, and the prestige, it's like a values-based decision. And so what makes you feel like you're even more on track and more on purpose in this path with Earth Warrior?

Well, because of my connection with nature growing up and all that, I just feel it's more aligned with, with myself, like with my inner child and with with me. I, I was never the girl in school. When I told people I wanted to be a fashion designer, they looked at what I was wearing and they'd be like, yeah, you're never gonna make it. Because I, I don't wear makeup. I don't really care about my hair or like doing my hair. And when it comes to clothes, I love designing clothes. I love making fancy clothes for other people, but for myself, I am happy in like a nice dress, like just like a summer dress or something like that, or just jeans and a t-shirt. Yeah, that— I don't, I don't need the glam for myself. I like doing it for others.

That makes sense.

This feels more aligned because I get to do this for myself because I love making all the bags and I use them, and I also get to make them for others.

So yeah, that makes so much sense. Thank you. And it— I think it highlights a conundrum with the fashion industry and fashion itself. Even if you are eco-friendly or a sustainable fashion brand, I can imagine that you're still struggling with some of the same things that affect fast fashion, like keeping up with different trends and having to appeal to consumers' needs on a seasonal basis, for example. So that you can sell things and you can be successful. And kind of what I'm hearing is that switching to the consumables side of a household really is removing that layer of being subjective. I think as a consumer, I think it would be much easier as a consumer to say, well, I don't really like that dress, or I don't like the cut or the color. And it really removes the decision-making, whereas you just get to decide like what color bag you like. I love the The un-paper towel rolls, for example. Would you agree that that's probably an easier and, um, a more generative space for you?

Oh, definitely. It's, I feel like even though fashion has a lot, you can be creative in so many ways. For me, I have found that making this transition, I've been able to step into a whole new world of design and because we make everything from repurposed textiles, I don't feel like I've sewn 100 bags in a day or 200 bags. It's like, because we have— make such small batches, we might only get 10 of one color bag max. So it's— we get to sew so many different colors and varieties. And because of the patterns we come— that come in, we don't get a choice. Like, we don't really have a choice of what's going out. It's like, this is what we got in, so this is what we're making.

Yeah, and it looks good, brings some creativity to the— could be monotonous work. So yeah, I'd love to actually chat a little bit about that further and, um, double-click on that about— I feel like the next natural question underneath that is, of the products that you make, are there certain ones that are more popular than others? And I'm also really curious to hear about the whole process that you go through in receiving textile waste so that you can then turn around and make your products?

Okay. We'll start with the product. So with the products we make, our most popular are our Unpaper Towel, our tote bags, and our produce bags.

Okay.

Those are our top 3. And then after that, we also have our cutlery kits and our makeup wipes, handkerchiefs, and we also do a launch in Easter for Easter Bunny sets. So they're reusable Easter candy bags and it's a bunny and a carrot. Oh my gosh, we'll be launching in February.

That is so adorable.

I love it. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, we only keep those open from February until Easter and then they're— they go in hibernation until next Easter.

Yeah, great answer.

Fun. Yeah, we know the Unpaper Towels are very, very popular for us. They reduce so much waste and they save people money because the average person or the— sorry, the average household, depending if you have a family, you can use up to 2 to 3 rolls of paper towel in a week. Wow. You have a larger family. So with the Unpaper Towel, you get to use those, reuse them over and over, and it can save a family hundreds of dollars throughout the year. You might need 2 rolls, which would cost about $100. For 2 rolls, but that $100 will save you $200 to $300 throughout the year.

Of course. And that makes so much sense and great point on the economics of investing in reusable things. I feel like sometimes, look, sometimes folks look at them and go, oh wow, that's like 8 times more expensive or 5 times more expensive. But the durability and the long use of them in the long— you have to think a bit longer term, obviously, that it's going to save you a bunch of money. So thank you for sharing those facts. Let's talk about the towels, for example. What kind of textiles? I mean, I imagine you must be getting just flooded with all kinds of different types of textiles. So where do they come from? And then how do you go through the process of selecting the best ones?

Okay, so for our, our Unpaper Towel, we do buy new fabric for the bottom of it because toweling cloth Um, when usually with the towels we get in, they have a weird smell to them and they're so worn out that they're not really good for resale. So we actually use a bamboo terry towel because it's extremely absorbent and it doesn't scratch any stainless steel surfaces. It's nice on windows, mirrors, and things like that. And it's just so extremely absorbent. So we use that. And then on the outside for, to make it look nice and pretty or fun. To make people want to use them, we use cottons. So whether it's cotton from bed sheets or from dresses, or we use a lot of men's shirts. There's an abundance of men's button-up shirts out there, and we sometimes will get them and they'll have oil stains on the sleeves, but the rest of it is perfectly fine. So we give them a good clean and then we, we use all the good parts. To do that. And then with the other prop, like, so when we do the textile recycling, we have a few drop-off locations. People drop off any of their used clothes, um, lightly used or like really damaged. And then we also take the duvet covers, bed sheets, we take upholstery fabrics. Oh, what else? Oh, and scrap it, uh, fabric scraps from other makers as well. So we'll take those. So because sometimes we'll get small enough pieces that we can cut a cutlery kit out of it, right? So we try to use whatever we can. And then so we, after we get everything, we sort it into piles for what products each item can be made into.

Okay.

And then it goes into the washing cycle, and then we, we make it into the product.

That's amazing. And is this all done by, obviously by hand and by, by yourself and your team?

Yes. Yeah, there's me and one other girl.

Okay.

So yeah, you are really running the whole gamut of doing the business, and kudos to you for doing that. And I wanted to just also share for listeners. You, um, touched on a really important point where there is different types of textile waste. So it sounds like for the most part, a lot of your textile waste is coming from post-consumer, which means it's coming from someone's home, for example. And then the other area that you just mentioned is called pre-consumer or post-production, which is when a manufacturer, for example, maybe they're making shirts or pants or jackets they would have scraps left over, which is, I think, a, a voluminous place that is untapped yet.

Very much so. Yeah.

They don't charge you for that. They're probably happy for you to come in and take the scraps. Is that—

Yeah, no one has ever charged me for picking up their garbage. So yeah, good. Yeah. Some of them are actually thrilled that I will come and pick up any other roll ends that they don't want, because it means they get more space.

Okay, right. So that's a huge benefit for companies that you're providing a service to them too. I'm very glad they don't charge you. Yeah, yeah. Um, that's wonderful. So thank you for sharing about the towels, and that makes sense. Um, and it kind of is a good segue into one of the questions I had, which is what are some of the biggest hurdles or trade-offs that you might have encountered related to sustainability and basically just running your business. And I think the terry towel example, like the need to buy new, is really an important trade-off to highlight because if you didn't do that, I would imagine customers wouldn't be very happy with the quality of your product.

Oh, 100%. Yeah, that is one trade-off that we had to make, but it's a trade-off that I'm glad we made because I've been using our Unpaper Towel for 4 and a half years now, and there's still so absorbent. They're still great. I have no complaints.

So that's wonderful. And it's important, like, I think we in business, we kind of shy, especially talking about sustainable business and eco-friendly businesses, we kind of shy away or have this, um, timidness around talking about making money. And as a business, it's so important that you do make money because you are doing good for the world. You're putting out a product that has a lot of values that are important to the health and creation of sustainability. And it's really important that you make those decisions that are going to be like help your company be profitable. So I'm also curious, do you have any other trade-off examples that you've encountered?

So I don't know if you read on the website, we also, we are a completely zero waste business. So we have, we generate zero garbage in our business. And that has been a huge learning curve for us.

We—

I started the Zero Waste Studio 11 years ago when I started my clothing line. So I've had 11 years to get it down to where we are today. And we have no garbage now. We have found avenues for every little thing that we have. So that has been— but being on that journey, there were a lot of hurdles. Like we'd be At first I didn't realize that the plastic tape I was using, like, that was a hurdle. So we had to change that over to paper tape. And then we started using, reuse, like, reusing other businesses' boxes to ship orders.

Okay.

Instead of going out and buying boxes or plastic packaging. And then with our thread spools, because we have a lot of thread spools, we started using those for planting are seedling starters in the spring. And so I've given some to so many friends who now use them instead of going out and buying because it's a sturdier plastic. And when you buy the seed starter trays from any garden center, they're so thin, they don't— they'll only last you one year. Yeah, we didn't want that. So—

wow, that's incredible. And what about the— I'm curious about the textile scraps. Like, obviously you're going from textile waste and scraps down into usable products. But do you also have textile waste that— and scraps that are resultant from your own process?

Yeah, so we do have scraps from our process, but we hand shred those and we put them into yoga blocks, meditation cushions. We've done dog beds with some of them, so we turn them into more product. Yeah.

You're awesome. I love this. And so when you create those other products, do you— where's the outlet for them? Do you sell them? Do you give them away? Are they like limited edition things that show up on your website for sale?

Yeah, so I have the yoga blocks in a few stores right now. They have all of my stock, right, for those. Um, we'll be making some more and putting them online. Yeah, they're more of a limited edition. They're only around for so long until we have more more.

Okay. I really love your creativity. And one more question on this before we move on. I'm curious. I did see on your website that you get these big bags of textiles. And so I'm imagining as you're going through some of the, these donations, what do you do if you come across things that you, you realize, oh, I can't use that at all?

Like that's too damaged or too nice to use?

Well, yeah, maybe either or, or maybe, you know, getting down into more granular details. You said you use a lot of cotton. So what happens if you come across something that's like made out of a polyester or a different type of material that isn't appropriate for Earth Warrior products currently?

Okay, so when it comes to certain— like if it's a poly cotton blend, we'll use those for cutlery kits. And some of the polyesters we've been getting in, we've been turning it into furoshiki wrap because we've been getting a lot of really shiny fabrics lately. We're like, oh, and I didn't know what to do with it. It sat for years, and then my Eva, my staff member, she suggested furoshiki wrap.

Okay.

And so that's what we started using it for.

I love it. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you. So for listeners, um, that don't know what that means, can you explain really quickly what furoshiki wrap is?

Yeah, so furoshiki wrap is reusable gift wrap, so it's like your paper wrap but instead it's fabric and you just reuse it over and over again.

There's quite an art to it, I've come to understand, and you can be really creative with it.

So yeah, I have a book with 40 different ways to wrap with furoshiki.

Okay, I didn't realize there was that many, so I'm gonna have to do some more research.

There's many, many ways. I didn't realize there were that many either, and then I saw it, I'm like Oh, I guess I better get this and learn them, right?

So really what I'm hearing is no matter what you receive in your donations, obviously they sound quite curated, and you still have the occasional, um, what should I do with this, uh, situation. It sounds like with your fashion background and your creativity, you're just finding unique ways to continue to meet your zero waste goal for your studio.

Yeah, you bet. Yeah. And there are some fabrics that when we get in, I know right away, I know what a lot of the other makers in the city use and what they're making. So if I find something that matches any of them, I will reach out to them.

Okay.

And see if they want it.

Which I love. It's the social fabric. No pun intended. Is also an important place to invest our time and energy. And I love that you do that. I'm curious, I'd love to hear in your words what you feel like your biggest win to date is for your business related to sustainability and eco-friendly.

So at the end of 2022, we reached 10,593 pounds of textiles diverted from the landfill. Congrats. So that's my biggest win. And we only started calculating, so we started calculating in 2019.

Okay.

Yeah. So, and when we went into the year, when we went into the year 2022, we were only at 4,000 pounds and we got it up to just over 10,000 pounds in one year.

Okay. So you've had really happy— 6,000 pounds you accomplished last year diverting waste. That's incredible. Congratulations.

Thank you. Thank you.

That's something to be really proud of, and I hope that you are tooting that from the rooftops of social media.

Yeah, I've shared it a few times. Yeah, I'm very proud of that. And then I'm also just really proud of my team, like Eva, and just myself for everything that we're doing. It takes a lot of dedication and a lot of hard work, and I'm really proud of everything we've accomplished.

I'm proud of you and I've just met you and I'm so grateful for coming across folks like you that are so dedicated and creative and using, using your skills and creativity for, for good. And that's like the whole part of this podcast is highlighting the good work that brands like yourselves are doing. So building off your previous wins with textile waste diversion, I'd love to ask you if you have any goals for the future or cool places that you feel Eco— or sorry, Earth Warriors going in 2023.

So in 2023, we're hoping to double our textile recycling amounts again to 20,000. We want to see if we can reach that this year. And then we're also working on some potential partnerships with some other businesses to help reduce waste in their businesses. And so we kind of want to help other businesses try to achieve some of their sustainable goals through the knowledge that we've gathered over the years. And we're just hoping to help everyone transition with all the new, like, all the new single waistbands coming into Canada. We're hoping that we can be a tool and a guide to help them reduce that waste and to make the switch over easy.

Yeah, no kidding. That's been a hot topic for us. Um, many listeners might not be in Canada, and so, um, Canada is implementing and has already in certain places implemented bans on single-use plastic, which plays right into your hand of creating, uh, kits and carriers for reusable products that would people would then be required to carry with them because you wouldn't, for example, be getting a fork with your takeaway food or chopsticks or things like that, which I think is just so fabulous. Also, plastic bag bans are, you know, they may be blasé at this point in time, but they're still very real and the impacts are important. And I love your goal. Thank you for sharing that. Yes, thank you. So how, um, Yeah, I would love to hear about your developments as you go along. Maybe there's an opportunity for a podcast round 2 later as your partnerships develop. Okay, so in closing, I love to ask my guests, if you could pick up a magic wand or a paintbrush and paint your ideal picture, what does that look like for Earth Warrior?

Oh, if I could pick up a magic wand for Earth Warrior, I would make it so there was no garbage on the beaches or in our oceans. And I would paint the picture of the fashion industry and change it from linear to circular.

Oh, those are amazing. I think you are an important part of creating that picture, and I'm really grateful for the work that you're doing. And one of the things that provides a lot of hope and inspiration for me is finding out about people like yourself that are so committed to this work. And I know for a fact that there's many others in other areas that you just mentioned, um, picking up ghost gear, turning it into usable products out of the ocean waste. And, um, there's just so many people that are working on this problem, and I'm really glad to have had you on the podcast and have you have the chance to share what you're up to and With the final note, um, please help us understand as listeners, how do we connect with you and support Earth Warrior?

So to support us, you can follow us on any of the social media platforms. We're under Earth Warrior Lifestyle, and you can find us on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Pinterest, and YouTube.

Okay.

And then we also have our website, and it's www.earthwarriorlifestyle.com.

Okay, and people can purchase directly from you as needed. And of course, liking, sharing, and subscribing to social media is a great way of sharing with your friends and expanding the reach, um, of what you're up to.

Exactly.

All right, I'm so grateful for your time today, and I look forward to talking to you again in the future. Let's book an update, round 2.

I would love that. Thank you. Take care.

Hey listener, thank you so much for tuning in to this latest episode of Eco-ish Podcast. We're very excited to bring you new content every other Wednesday throughout the year. You can follow along at Instagram @eco.ish.podcast. If you'd like to find out more about the Sustainable Living School, which produces this podcast, you can look at the website sustainableliving.school. You'll find information about courses and a free guide that you can download to learn more about sustainable living and how to get started. The Sustainable Living School is also partnered with Your Healthiest Self on a 5-day free Sustainable Living Made Easy Challenge. You can register at any time by going to the website sustainablelivingmadeeasychallenge.com.

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