Patrick Jurriaans, Founder of Ascent Refills, has a love for the ocean, which inspired him to create Ascent, a brand whose ethos is built around hand and body washes that reflect this natural resource while simultaneously protecting it.
"Ascent's mission is to provide a sustainable alternative to commonly used personal care products and reduce the impact on the environment through natural ingredients, fragrances and packaging," said Jurriaans.
As a newly established and small operator in the industry, the critical challenge for Ascent is building a dialogue with consumers to help them understand the damaging impact most standard hand and body wash ingredients and packaging have and to highlight the benefits of the refill and reuse model, with better-for-you natural ingredients.
While these refill and better-for-you reuse products come at a higher initial purchase price with the bottle and concentrate, there are numerous long-term benefits, such as reducing plastic production, recycling, and lowering the cost to the consumer and environment over time.
Jurriaans said it was essential to continually raise awareness of products such as Ascent Refills, as these products and the practices they promote are not only widely beneficial over the longer term but crucial. Ascent is designed as an example to the industry rather than a model.
"Every company is different in size, market, business model and product; however, we believe all companies should strive to maximise the positive impact they have on the environment, society and people's health."
Striving for continual improvement rather than perfection is the most crucial aspect for businesses to adopt.
Read more from Ascent Refills below, starting on page 60.
