Sustainability and Company Ethics

If you have read our mission statement (a.k.a. “What We’re About”) you will know that our passion for creating great soap and bath products does not exist separately from our system of ethics. We strive to be kind to our natural and human environment in addition to keeping it clean. Decreasing our environmental footprint and operating sustainably are intertwined goals of MMSCo. Sustainability can be described as having “three pillars”: environmental, social, and economic, …or planet, people, and profits – walking the fine line between supporting practices that you and us believe in while maintaining the profitability that makes it all possible.

Whenever possible MMSC follows practices such as

• Local sourcing – we source locally or regionally as much as possible, supporting our regional economy and reducing transportation fuel use.
• Natural and Organic Ingredients – whenever possible we use ingredients that are produced with minimizing environmental impact in mind. Often times this means spending more on an ingredient, but we’re okay with that and always try to keep our prices low for you.  For instance, we are careful to use only palm oil that is certified sustainable.

• Green Packaging – the best packaging is little or none and when our products can be sold without packaging or labeling we do. When we use packaging it includes items made of recycled materials and/or are recyclable. For instance, our soap is bagged in a compostable rice-based package and all of the shopping bags in our store are 100% made of recycled material and are recyclable.  One area that we’re working on improving is our use of plastic packaging and we are currently looking at more earth friendly options

• Livable Wages – it is huge for us to provide our employees with the means to sustain themselves and our community. We have not built this company to what it is with the intention of maximizing profits for the owners.  Rather, we strongly believe in paying our employees fairly and giving back to them as we continue to grow
• Volunteering Locally and in Needy Communities – our business culture includes promoting the volunteer ethic in support of local social and artistic causes and also in foreign locations where we can make a difference. Watch for more information from us soon about a project that we’re working on – traveling to Guatemala with a volunteer organization that we’re already connected with and teaching local villagers how to make soap with local ingredients.  This will provide them with a new means of fair trade income as well as assist with bettering hygiene.
• Promotion of Diversity – we feel that one social cause worthy of its own mention is celebration of human diversity: culture, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity. Basically, whatever we humans are that makes us unique and doesn’t harm others.

• Promotion of Green Practices – we communicate the green practices that we follow and are available to everyone in our community.

There is still room for lots of innovation and improvement.