OAKLAND, Calif.— Harmless Harvest, a leader in the organic coconut-based food and beverage product market, announces the transition to 100% recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) bottles for its coconut water and smoothie beverage products. This May 2022, all retailers carrying the beloved brand’s coconut-based drinks across the U.S. will stock their shelves with the newly composed bottles. The transition is part of the brand’s commitment to zero waste production, creating a roadmap for progress toward products and practices that have a net-positive impact on both people and the environment.
“Doing minimal harm has always been at the core of our brand and we are wholeheartedly committed to continuing to learn and evolve to ensure we’re delivering on that promise,” said Ben Mand, CEO of Harmless Harvest. “Our plastic packaging was our number one customer complaint, so we addressed it head-on, but we know we still have work to do. That’s why we continue to evaluate and improve our practices and products, ensuring we double down on our mission to promote social, agricultural, and environmental advancement in all we do.” Mand continued, “The rPET bottle transition is a step in our brand’s journey toward helping to create a more sustainable, harmless future.”
In 2020, Harmless Harvest took the first step in the transition toward recycled packaging by unveiling 30% rPET plastic bottles for its beverage products. The transition to 100% rPET plastic is the next phase in the brand’s effort to implement sustainable packaging for all products within its portfolio. Harmless Harvest is aggressively working toward creating 100% post-consumer recycled (PCR), recyclable, reusable, or compostable packaging for its dairy-free cup and drink yogurt alternative products, coconut pudding, and panna cotta products by 2025.
Harmless Harvest continues to track progress toward its ultimate goal of achieving net positive impact in three key areas: farming, packaging, and the company’s carbon footprint. In the heart of the pandemic in 2020, Harmless Harvest partnered with South Pole and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to conduct a review of all angles of its business to evaluate its production from “cradle to gate”, analyzing the company’s sourcing, manufacturing, and distribution. The findings indicated that most of Harmless Harvest’s emissions came from packaging materials and large quantities of coconut waste sent to landfills. The brand immediately doubled down on its product development strategy, introducing products that use more of the whole coconut to reach its goal of zero coconut waste to landfill by 2025.
In December 2020 the brand launched its Regenerative Coconuts Agriculture Project (ReCAP), a first of its kind project in Thailand aimed to create the most sustainable, inclusive, regenerative farming model for the coconut industry. ReCAP provides farmers with training curricula on farm management, soil health, biodiversity, intercropping methods and organic inputs to improve yields and build resiliency when transitioning to regenerative agriculture. Harmless Harvest’s ReCAP is currently underway with the goal of a realizing a 10% increase in income for farmers. Additionally, Harmless Harvest has set a goal of sourcing 50% of all coconuts from regenerative farms by the end of 2023, ultimately supporting regenerative farming in Thailand long-term.
About Harmless Harvest
Harmless Harvest makes delicious organic coconut-based products including coconut water, coconut-based beverages, and coconut-based yogurts. The brand was the first to launch a non-thermally pasteurized coconut water in the US, as well as the first coconut water to be Fair for Life certified. Harmless Harvest is committed to rigorous and independent standards for fair trade and social progress within its supply chain. It operates on an ecosystem-based approach, considering its impact from seed to shelf. True to its name, Harmless Harvest is an ever-evolving brand with the ultimate goal of doing minimal harm while making remarkable products.