Power of One Award shortlist announced

Entries to the Power of One category of the 2022 Good Retail Awards have showcased many impressive examples of innovation to benefit retailers, customers and the industry as a whole.

We would like to take the time to say thank you to all who entered. The number of inspirational stories shared by so many in the industry made it a privilege (and a real challenge!) to narrow them down to the final shortlist.

The Power of One Award recognises retailers that have successfully made one small change in their business that has made a significant impact.

Modern Retail is delighted to announce the Good Retail Awards’ Power of One Award shortlist.

The shortlist is as follows:

Wrapuccino

Wrappucino has revolutionised the gift-giving industry by introducing a sustainable alternative to single-use gift wrap, as well as informing and educating customers about more sustainable initiatives.

Wrappucino introduced paper-free, reusable, multi-purpose gift wrap made from recycled plastic bottles to eliminate waste, water pollution and promote sustainable living, all in the spirit of reduce, reuse, recycle. As well as making gift wrap from recycled plastic, they have also made it multi-use and encouraged waste reduction. They have done this by launching their own workshops, showcasing the ways that customers can wrap and reuse fabric gift wrap, turning it into napkins, scarves, table decorations and even fashion accessories.

The sustainable approach to everything that Wrappucino does highlights their creativity to raise awareness of an important issue, as well as providing a solution for customers and making a difference around the world.

Inland Sea

Inland Sea has utilised seaweed in the creation of clothing, raising awareness of its potential as a material, while helping to tackle the climate crisis.

In 2021, Inland Sea successfully ran a Kickstarter campaign to create a t-shirt range using seaweed fibre and to invest back into seaweed farms to offset their carbon footprint. They have worked to raise awareness of the benefits of seaweed as an environmentally friendly and sustainable material to use in fashion. They are now in the process of creating one of the most carbon positive clothing ranges ever made, with seaweed being able to absorb up to 20 times more carbon from the atmosphere than the equivalent land-based forest. Their wetsuit upcycling scheme has seen Inland Sea collect more than 500 wetsuits in the past year, creating new useful and functional products from them.

Alongside offering sustainable products, Inland Sea has set up its business model to invest in seaweed farms and help the restoration of lost seagrass habitats in the UK, contributing to solving the climate crisis and raising awareness of the importance of sustainable fashion.

The English Soap Company

Since it began 22 years ago, The English Soap Company’s mission has been to drive towards sustainability and improve their products, packaging and working methods to reduce their carbon footprint and make the planet a better place.

Having eliminated as much plastic as possible from their manufacturing, The English Soap Company has successfully changed products and packaging to not only avoid using single-use plastics and utilise post-consumer plastic where necessary, but they are now using as little cardboard and paper as possible, boosting efficiency. By buying paper and card that is FSC certified, they know they are not having a negative impact on the planet and when coupled with their re-using of as many materials as possible, they minimise wastage and arrange for materials to be recycled when they are no longer suitable for re-use.

The English Soap Company has worked to continuously improve processes and become as sustainable as possible, as well as employing local people, finding local suppliers where possible and offering customers great, ethical products.

Booheads

Booheads set the objective to design a product that had a better material make up in substitution for single-use plastic, as well as driving down plastic waste and supporting a circular consumption economy.

Bringing a bamboo electric toothbrush to market, Booheads has helped consumers to maintain their dental health without compromising their eco ethics. They utilised a bamboo toothbrush shaft as this made the most significant difference, as well as using recycled card to produce their packaging.

Given the significant percentage of the population that uses electric toothbrushes, Booheads has created a solution to s significant issue, supporting sustainability initiatives in the oral care sector.

Whitfords

Whitfords decided to offer customers a sustainable, multi-purpose alternative to packaging, making sure the option would still protect products during shipping, as well as being usable after delivery.

With the goal to create a sustainable solution to packaging, Whitfords created FibrePods. To do this, they utilised loofah as the material as it is unprocessed, natural and can be hand-pressed into moulds before air-drying it into the perfect shape to house products. Once a customer receives their product in one of Whitfords’ FibrePods, they can use it as a body or kitchen scrub for weeks, at which point it can be used to germinate seeds instead of commonly used plastic pots. After this, it can be put in a compost bin or be planted in the garden with a seedling, decomposing in around 30 days.

Whitfords are in the process of rolling out FibrePods to house their entire range of products, replacing their FSC cardboard boxes, which rely heavily on many processes that require intense use of energy for production. Their FibrePods are proving to be a fantastic reusable, sustainable and innovative alternative to traditional packaging.

Congratulations to all in the Power of One Award shortlist

We would like to say a huge thank you to all on the Power of One shortlist, as well as those that entered the award.

For more information on the Good Retail Awards, click here.