We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lindsey Mccoy. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lindsey below.

Lindsey, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

I’m a girl on a mission to have less plastic in my life and to make it easy for others to do the same. Why? Since plastic lasts hundreds of years, I worry about future generations choking on all the plastic that we are thoughtlessly discarding. I’ve already seen it happening the islands of The Bahamas where I used to live.

The Bahamas’ islands are as beautiful as you imagine. Turquoise crystal clear water, long sandy beaches, palm trees swaying in the breeze. But living on an island full-time isn’t all rum drinks by the pool. For ten years we lived on a small island, a few miles from the main island, which means it was a boat ride to the grocery or hardware store. Life in The Bahamas meant finding creative solutions to problems. There was no Amazon Prime. You couldn’t run to the store when you needed a new something, or even if you needed a new part of fix something. There was a lot of reusing and repurposing.

In these islands the difficult logistics of transportation means there is no “away” to throw trash. There’s really no place for it to go. So the consequences of our disposable lifestyle are much more apparent than they are in the U.S. Litter, wind and waves place our discarded shopping bags, water bottles and flip flops on the side of the roads, in the waterways and across beaches. A visit to “Junk Beach” on a nearby island shows the reality that every piece of plastic ever made still exists. The evidence of plastic’s persistence is everywhere.

My work in The Bahamas doing environmental education meant I was more aware of the plastic problems we are creating than most. The fact that there could soon be more plastic than fish in the ocean weighed heavily on my mind. I started taking action: carrying a reusable water bottle, reusable grocery bags, skipping the straw at restaurants and bars. I looked for other ways to use less plastic. But one room in my house remained resistant to my efforts: the bathroom. I searched for plastic-free options, but I couldn’t find any that worked for me and my hair.

As we contemplated a move back to the States I realized that I might be able to solve my own problem. Even better, I might be able to help other people use less plastic in their lives. I recruited my sister, Alison Webster, who has a design background, and a lovely sense of style, to help me create a Netflix of shampoo. You order the bottle and when you’re finished you send it back to be reused. That was the basic idea at the time. Happily, she said yes. Then the real work began.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Offering a line of luxurious, toxin-free personal care products, Plaine Products’ circular model enables the aluminum bottles to be returned and refilled time after time. The first of its kind and founded in 2017, Plaine Products is BCorp and a member of 1% for the Planet. Based in Cincinnati, OH. All of the products are vegan, non-GMO, cruelty-free, biodegradable, color-safe and free of parabens, sulfates and palm oil.

Good for the body and the planet, Plaine Products is proud to be pioneering a convenient reuse system that empowers customers to reduce waste and carbon. Together we are working towards a more sustainable planet. Plaine Products replaces disposability with reuse, placing value on the resources in packaging and empowering consumers to reduce waste.

Here’s how it works: you order your preferred products from our website. When your bottles are low you order a refill, or you can subscribe and we’ll send the bottles automatically. When the refills come you’ll switch the pumps over and send back the empty bottles in the refill box, Plaine Products covers the cost. Then we clean the bottles, refill them and reuse them.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

The early prototype for bottles were stainless steel and within weeks they were showing signs of rust. Our circular concept would never work if the product doesn’t hold up. Luckily, we were able to reuse or recycle our preliminary stock of bottles and went back to square one in sourcing aluminum bottles that would stand up to a lifetime of use in a wet environment. While it was a setback, it reinforced a lesson that I have been shown time and time again as an entrepreneur: remain flexible. Nothing is final. It’s all a journey as the business grows. We have a willingness to test, adjust, and test again. We learn from our failures as much as we do from our successes.

Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?

We mainly sell products through our site, but we do also have some of our products on Amazon. We use it as a discovery tool, but we don’t offer sales and we don’t offer our complete line there. We don’t intentionally drive sales there, but we do recognize a great deal of search happens on that site, so we want to be an option for people looking for sustainable personal care.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.plaineproducts.com/shop/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plaineproducts/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/plaineproducts/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/plaineproducts/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/plaineproducts
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/plaineproducts/pins/