Tips to Spot Greenwashing with Milos of Green Eco Dream

The more the “sustainability space” grows, the more we see greenwashing.

Greenwashing is basically, when a company puts forth a false or exaggerated impression or completely misleading impression about how their products or their practices are environmentally friendly.

We know fast fashion brands are notorious for greenwashing. But today’s episode is a broader take on greenwashing that applies to more beyond fashion.

We’re going to chat about some of the red flags signs of greenwashing, the nuances with certifications, and the challenges of growing a values-based small business with today’s guest: Milos, co-founder of Green Eco Dream.

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ELIZABETH

Hey there, and welcome back to the show. As you might know, last week was the season finale on our season four, which was all about slowing down fashion, degrowth, and envisioning a post-growth or post-fast fashion future.

But as promised, there will be plenty of bonus content or like in-between season content through the end of the year before we pick back up with season five, at the beginning of 2023.

And in today’s episode, we’re going to be covering one of, if not the biggest, most talked about topic in sustainability and sustainable fashion, which is greenwashing.

Greenwashing is basically, when a company or a brand puts forth a false impression or exaggerated impression or just flat-out misleading impression about how their products or their practices are environmentally friendly.

So this can either be a company just completely having a facade over being sustainable, or it could be a company doing, you know, a tiny little eco-friendly thing and then marketing and advertising it as if they’re overhauling their whole brand, you know.

As if they are super, super sustainable when actually they just did this tiny little thing like, use 10% recycled materials and then their advertising this dress is recycled or collection is recycled. And then you’re like wait, but it’s like only 10% recycled content, stuff like that.

So we know fast fashion brands are notorious for greenwashing. And we’re going to be diving so much more into greenwashing and fashion in the upcoming bonus episodes, and also in the next season.

But today’s episode is a slightly more broad take at greenwashing that applies to sort of like all companies and products, because we know that we see greenwashing everywhere from food, to home decor, to personal care products, to beauty. You know, we really see it everywhere these days.

And I think it’s really important to this word is so overused, but I think it’s good to empower everyday people to sort of understand greenwashing, how it works, and get a sort of feel of how to differentiate the greenwashing from perhaps more genuine sustainability efforts. And to be clear, this conversation is ever-evolving.

Like if you listen to episode 64, with Jasmin, with sourcing journal, she was talking about how the sustainable fashion conversation has evolved. And for instance, how we thought recycled polyester was like the panacea for circularity. And now we bring more nuance and understanding to that conversation.

So conversations can also shift and our understandings of things might evolve, as we get more information, as we get more data, and as there’s more research. However, this is not saying that we cannot determine greenwashing today we absolutely can.

In fact, I think that everything that we’re kind of determining to be greenwashing now is going to continue to be considered greenwashing. It just there might be additional things that are considered greenwashing, I guess is what I’m trying to say.

And regulators and watchdogs are finally taking action on some of this greenwashing we see in fashion. So in this episode, you’ll hear me reference the UK consumer watchdog taking some action. And specifically what I was referring to was the Competition and Markets Authority currently investigating ASOS, Boohoo, and Georgia Asda for their sustainability claims over potential greenwashing.

And also, since recording this episode, H&M has removed their conscious choice indicator from their online stores worldwide. And they admitted that they were doing so partially because of the Netherlands Authority for Consumer and Markets calling H&M out for employing nebulous unsubstantiated terms that could mislead consumers and basically get them to buy things thinking that they’re better for the environment when they might not actually be. So I mean, I think this is such a clear area for watchdogs in all countries to step in.

Because as consumers, as people become more and more aware of sustainability, people are going to be actively seeking products that they think are sustainable and perhaps giving their money to one brand over another because of marketing and if that marketing is sort of false or exaggerated. You know, that’s where these consumer watchdogs really should be stepping in.

And I do think we will see more and more action from watchdogs as well as more legislation related to greenwashing. We see some of that already in the works.

But in the meantime, and even once we have greenwashing legislation on the books, or there’s a lot of action happening, I think it’s really good to just be aware of some of these common greenwashing traps.

So in this conversation, I’m going to be chatting with Milos, the co-founder of Green Eco Dream. And if that name sounds familiar, Green Eco Dream, it’s probably because they were the sponsor of this past season of the Conscious Style Podcast. So they were basically funding us and making sure that we could get these episodes out to you every week, you know, just out of full transparency.

This podcast, the first three seasons was actually costing me money, and I wasn’t making a single dollar from it. And so finally, in season four, we basically had a sponsor to cover the costs. So I’m still not making money from this podcast. But I basically can cover the costs. And it’s not like an expense.

And the reason I share that is just because A, I really value transparency around sponsorships and partnerships, and that kind of stuff.

And also B, I’m starting to talk more and more about the business side of things, as you might have noticed with some episodes, and we’re also going to be talking about running a small business in this episode. And I think that just sharing this kind of information is really helpful for other people.

I mean, I know that I was always really curious about like the behind the scenes when I was wanting to start a business. And as I was slowly dipping my toes into growing a content business. So that’s, that’s the reality.

And, yeah, really grateful for Green Eco Dream, and basically making this past season possible. And I’m quite familiar with Green Eco Dream, although they’re a relatively new business, they actually started during the pandemic, which we’ll talk about in this episode. But I’ve purchased things from Green Eco Dream, and I love what they’re doing.

And I love their spirit behind all of this, and I wanted you to get to know them a little bit more, because I really don’t partner with just any brand, but really like to make sure it’s a, it’s a really, really good fit in terms of like the values and intentions and practices of the business.

So in this episode, you’re gonna hear Milos, talk about why they started a Green Eco Dream, the challenges of starting a business in the midst of COVID, how him and his co-founder Snow are balancing growing a business while also encouraging people to buy less. That I think that’s a big struggle and with a lot of conscious and sustainably minded businesses.

And then, of course, we’re talking a lot about greenwashing. For instance, the complications with certifications, how a brand with a certification might still be greenwashing, and how a genuinely sustainably minded, intentional, holistically conscious brand might not have certifications.

We’re talking about some of the common signs of greenwashing. And how we can figure out if a brand really is making progress, or if they’re just sort of over advertising their very miniscule efforts.

And then finally, something that was really important that Milos brought up was that just because a product is made from more eco-conscious lower waste materials, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s sustainable, if it’s not an actually useful or necessary product. And I just really, really appreciated this message.

And it’s also something that a previous guest Selena Ho talked about in episode 57, how you can use the most eco-conscious materials but if it’s a product that nobody’s going to use, then it’s just “sustainable junk”.

And this is a message that I just hope to sort of like drill down on because I think it’s so important. We’re seeing so many “sustainable products” made from these materials. But it’s like, do we even need that product at all, and perhaps the most sustainable thing would be for that product to not exist. So that was a really interesting point. And I just appreciated a lot of the points that Milos brought into this episode, so I hope that you enjoy it.

As always, the transcript can be found in the show notes on consciouslifeandstyle.com. And if you would like to check out Green Eco Dream’s collection of low-waste products, you can head to consciouslifeandstyle.com/dream. That’s where I get my laundry detergent, dish detergent, Swedish dishcloths, and other sort of everyday low-waste essentials. I also get my skincare products from them, all that good stuff, so that link will also be in the episode description. So you can check it out the next time you need something.

But without further ado, let’s get into this interview. Milos is going to start us off sharing why he and his co-founder Snow decided to found Green Eco Dream.

MILOS

So, Green Eco Dream was as any other business was created with the necessity and what we found most eco conscious people struggle with being able to find a place they can actually feel confident about what they shop, where they shop, and finding all those in one place.

As far as the story goes, it’s kind of in three little pieces.

The first part of it would be going back of back to our past and go back to our homes back to Montenegro, in Serbia, where growing up, without actually even knowing, we were living in a very conscious life. From DIYs, from just using the reusables, repurposing, and all that making our stuff.

The second part, coming here to the US and realizing the magnitude of the consumerism here, and just the convenience of it, where we first got used to it just played along with it for, for some time.

And then after that, the main part of the story goes to Sunshine state, goes to Naples, where we actually started to be a lot more environmentally aware. That’s where kind of both of us started to be a lot more environmentally aware, and just started to educate ourselves. And getting transition back to our roots and how we lived before, you know, trying to be more environmentally friendly within our everyday lives.

There wasn’t like any major event or anything to happen that caused us, you know, to move on with Green Eco Dream. It was just the everyday little things.

I remember. Both of us being annoyed, you know, our trash, we would sometimes, like three times a week, we would take out our trash being full of everything. We’re like, we gotta stop this. And then the best part, you know, Green Eco Dream was, curiously enough started amidst COVID. Yeah, right.

When COVID shutdown started, we always had both me and Snow, my co founder, for the listeners. We always had an entrepreneurial mindset, and we wanted to do something about it. And when we were doing our research, you know, why not do something we love? We just live in it.

And as I mentioned earlier, our transition had its challenges, you know, at first we didn’t know where to look what to look for all the alternatives that we needed. It was so hard to find them, all the research, you know, at first you want to do everything perfect, and sometimes we would spend hours before we make a purchase.

And that’s why we kind of decided to fill the gap with Green Eco Dream, both for us and lot more people like us.

ELIZABETH

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely, it can be very challenging to navigate, how to make a more thoughtful purchase, when you need something. And you go and do that research, it can be genuinely very difficult to figure out if a product or brand is greenwashing or genuinely, more green.

So we’ll get to that later in this conversation. But first, I would love to hear a little bit more about what it was like starting a business in the midst of COVID. Because that had to be a challenge.

MILOS

Absolutely. So two descriptive words, very exciting and very challenging. Exciting on the part that we’re starting this adventure, we’re just doing something for ourselves and potentially, for a lot of people to make an impact.

I remember during the shutdown, we would take these long, long, like couple hours walks, and just talk about it. Talk about ideas, how can we put the business plan and where do we source our products? How do we start anything? That was so exciting.

And then the challenging part, especially during COVID was that you can get out, you can’t do this, a lot of people, a lot of businesses are shut, so communication is challenging. People are scared, but with, right, of course, a lot of insecurity, what’s going to happen next. And that was a challenging part of it.

But we had a lot of fun. And we were so excited that we just didn’t care, we just worked our way through, take the time that we had. Because prior to that, we worked a lot, and we didn’t have the luxury of that much time to do the research, you know, and set up the business for a successful start.

ELIZABETH

Yeah, something I hear a lot of entrepreneurs say, and I myself resonate with this is that if they knew how much work was ahead of them, and how difficult it would be, they might not have started, but they were glad that they didn’t know and that they’re maybe we’re a little, I don’t know, naive about how challenging it would be, because then they wouldn’t have taken the plunge.

And I don’t know, that’s something that I really resonate with. Like starting a business I knew it would not be easy, of course, but there’s all these unexpected challenges that come up.

MILOS

I couldn’t agree more with you. It’s so true, what you just said. Even from this perspective, if I had to do it again, I probably would, but I would have a very different perspective.

ELIZABETH

Yeah absolutely. So what has been the biggest challenge so far in starting and running Green Eco Dream?

MILOS

So really it comes down to the two parts. The first part is obviously me and Snow not having the experience on the business side of it, having to learn everything on the way you know becoming an email marketing experts, search engine optimizing, you know all the background stuff.

And then of course, more importantly, the consumer side of it. So the consumer side of it is how do you explain to our consumers why certain eco-friendly products cost more compared to the conventional one?

ELIZABETH

mmm..

MILOS

Where all the, you know how to explain that to somebody that wants to do better, but it’s maybe not able to, in terms of financially and that’s kind of the challenge that we’re struggling with. Along with how do we persuade people to shop and that we’re advising on the other side not to consume as much.

So that’s kind of the big challenge for us. Just those two points where sharing in a good way how, how an eco-friendly product can benefit you, and how sustainable shopping can help you with your sustainable lifestyle.

ELIZABETH

Yeah, definitely. I think that the second point is something that a lot of small conscious businesses face. This tension between trying to sustain yourself as a business while also advocating for sustainability to your audience, or your customers.

And just as a business balancing trying to grow as a small business, but also understanding that we have to be consuming less as a whole.

So how have you been balancing that so far? I know this is a journey. And there’s not just one simple answer, but what has your experience been like with that so far?

MILOS

So my personal opinion on that is very simple. The very idea of sustainable shopping is actually to consume less, when you look at it, when you buy an eco friendly product, let’s just say, on paper towel, or Swedish dishcloth, that thing is designed to last.

It’s gonna last you a very long time, versus something that’s disposable paper towels and stuff like that, I’m just giving an example. Those things are designed to last, and with that, you’re going to consume less. That’s how I see it with every product.

You know using a shampoo bar, using anything from the eco-friendly product offer is going to make you buy less. With that, we always encourage our community to first think about what they really need, before making any decision.

If you need it — and there are always things that we really need — so when you find things like that, we encourage you to shop and only shop then.It’s more of a mindset than anything else, really.

ELIZABETH

Hmm, yeah, absolutely. And I do feel like it helps that a Green Eco Dream, you are selling sort of necessities you know, I just ordered some dishwasher detergent from you all and you know, Swedish dishcloths and these sort of things that they’re everyday needs for your home, or your personal care or things like that.

And I feel like that definitely helps with balancing this dilemma between consumption, and overconsumption and sustainability, because you are creating, or you are offering sort of more conscious options to everyday essentials that people are using.

And like you gave the example of paper towels. And that’s something that we stopped buying a while ago. And we just use like towels and Swedish dishcloths and we just put the Swedish dishcloth in the washing machine, and you know, it lasts so long.

And now when I go to the store, and I see paper towels, I’m like those are so expensive, like to buy a huge package of paper towels. It’s quite expensive. And we just don’t buy those at all anymore.

MILOS

That’s awesome. Well, we focus on when we’re choosing the products to bring into our store. It’s really that we don’t want to have trivial things in our store that don’t necessarily improve your sustainable life, even though a certain product might be eco-friendly and has all the eco-friendly features.

But if it’s not something that’s essential to your everyday life, then we might not get it because it’s something that’s not as important.

ELIZABETH

Right, totally. And do you have any advice for other business owners or aspiring entrepreneurs that might be facing this sort of broader question of how to sustain a business or grow their small business while keeping to their values?

MILOS

Well, the answer to that is also, in my opinion, very simple. Do pretty much anything and everything for the community you’re trying to serve, in a way. Do everything for them first, and then you should be good.

If you are guided by the right values, you should be good. So anything you do first customers and environment, of course, but that’s where I put in those values.

If you have those set up for you, where you want to make a better, greener future or however you want to put it. When you put your community first and the way you support it. It’s gonna be the key for any aspiring entrepreneur.

ELIZABETH

Yeah, definitely. Thinking of your audience and your community first and putting their needs and their wants at the center of your business.

Yeah. So greenwashing. This is something we talked about a little bit at the beginning, but it is a huge topic of worth in sustainability, of course. So how do you at Green Eco Dream vet brands and determine which brands and products you’ll include on your marketplace?

And what could listeners sort of take away from that in discerning greenwashing?

MILOS

Oh, yeah, definitely the greenwashing has been growing.

ELIZABETH

Yeah.

MILOS

The more our sustainable market is growing, the more the greenwashing is growing. And that’s why we got to pay close attention to that.

Well, what we at Green Eco Dream do is we have a standardized process where we vet our brands to try to see if they fit our values and what we’re trying to do.

There are a couple of things that we look at. We start by looking at materials and ingredients that are being used to make a certain product. With that, there’s obviously a list of products and ingredients that are a red flag for us and they are a no go for us. If they are in any of the products, we are not gonna take it in our shop.

Then it goes to packaging of those, you know. Plastic is a very, very serious issue for the environment, and it’s a growing issue from day to day basis with our waste culture. So we look at the packaging, we try to stay away from the virgin plastic — it’s almost always a no go.

We would consider recycled plastic from time to time. Most of our products are plastic free and zero waste where it is an endlessly reusable product or is biodegradable, compostable, and stuff like that.

Then we really look deep into the brand’s sustainability, transparency, and claims. What are they doing in terms of sustainability? Are their claims easy to find? Are their claims easy to back up? What are they backing those claims with? And if we have a challenge to find those answers for us, then we’re definitely not going to work with a brand.

What I found is any brand that we work with, we decided to work with you really has it all out there for you to consume all the information you need. It’s out there and went on their website. Maybe it’s a part of their About Us Story or of their Impact or if they have a special page dedicated to sustainability and what they’re doing.

So it’s usually very available to the consumer to verify those. With that, we also look into, are they supporting the community they’re serving? Are they giving back? Because, in a way, this is what it’s all about: giving back, supporting communities that need it more than others may be and stuff like that, you know. Are you doing some volunteering? Are you a member of, of any nonprofit or stuff like that.

And then finally, something that’s very important to us, but not a deciding factor is the third-party certificates. The reason why it’s not a determining factor, if the brand doesn’t have it, is because some of those certificates are hard to get, and maybe a young brand, we know from personal experience, might be challenging in acquiring it, especially from a financial standpoint, because they can be expensive.

So that’s why when a brand doesn’t have any of the certificates, we look at all the things above that I mentioned. And then based on those, we decide if we’re gonna go and partner with a brand or not. So that kind of sums it up when we’re vetting the brands that we want to work with.

ELIZABETH

Yeah, that was great. And I appreciate you bringing up that point about certifications, how they can be useful, maybe like an extra, sort of an extra stamp of approval that might help but you don’t make it a requirement. Because I did notice that on Green Eco Dream you mostly, if not exclusively, sell products from smaller brands.

And these brands might not have the budget or the resources like the time and the staff to have all these certifications. And there have been also so many concerns about the validity of some certifications and so it can be really hard to invest that money in a certification and then something comes out six months later that you know, there’s some fraud happening with this certification.

All of a sudden, people don’t trust that certification anymore and it can just be really a big challenge. There’s a lot of complexities with certifications and so that’s sort of how I go about it personally when I’m looking for a brand that I feel good about supporting the certification is sort of like an extra bonus but I don’t make that like the determining factor, like the sole factor.

I feel like sometimes there are brands that aren’t holistically sustainable, that somehow get the certifications. And there are also brands that are really doing their best making very strong commitments to sustainability, but just haven’t prioritized financially the certifications, and maybe have chosen to invest that money and research of more sustainable materials, on paying their workers more, or whatever. There’s such challenging decisions to make as a small business. And yeah, I think the certifications, it’s a very challenging topic.

MILOS

I couldn’t agree with you more. I mean, we wear the same shoes as most of the brands that we carry. We are a small business as well. And we have our financial challenges as well. So we really understand that perspective.

And like I said earlier in the conversation, it’s really what you do about how to help your community and your consumer, your customers. Are you doing the best for them and for the environment? Or are those values really what you stand for? And back it up with actual actions, and not necessarily certificates?

I found that some of the certificates are not that hard to get. There are ways even though you’re not an entirely sustainable brand, that you can get some of those certificates. So that’s why we don’t make it a priority when we decide to go with a brand or not.

ELIZABETH

Yeah, that’s a great point. Some of the certifications might be quite narrow, and just very specific to potentially just one part of sustainability. And it doesn’t mean that the brand is sustainable in other ways.

Like, it might be you know, PETA-approved vegan, or they might use one organic material, but like the rest of their operations, and all that stuff are not sustainably minded.

It kind of reminds me of food when you go to the store, and there’ll be a package that’s like, free from 50 artificial ingredients. And then you look at the ingredients list, and they still use high fructose corn syrup, and palm oil, and all these things that are still, you know, not necessarily sustainable or healthy. And yeah, it’s interesting.

MILOS

Absolutely the sugar coating of it. That’s one of the traps of greenwashing, definitely, you know, try trying to make it look nicer than it is.

ELIZABETH

Right, right, they will just advertise the one benefit or the toxic, maybe ingredients that they don’t have. And they, of course, won’t mention the bad things that it does have or whatever. So it’s very, very, very challenging for someone who’s trying to be a more conscious consumer.

And I have a lot of empathy for people who are trying to make smarter purchases for their health, their families, and the planet and people, and they’re just doing their best and it can be really difficult to navigate.

Which brings me to my next question for you, which is, this idea that it’s really awesome to value progress over perfection when it comes to sustainability. Because there’s so much to consider sustainability is a journey, all that.

But it can be difficult to differentiate between positive progress and brands just simply not doing enough. And as we were talking about maybe advertising the couple of things that they’re doing when they aren’t doing so many other elements. And they could be doing more, but they’re choosing not to if that makes sense.

So what are some red flags that you watch out for and that you would recommend shoppers watch out for too, when it comes to: is this brand really trying and doing their best and making progress? Or are they just doing the bare minimum and over-advertising that?

MILOS

Absolutely. So I definitely, in my experience saw, you know, some of the major brands notice this trend, let me call it just for the purpose of it a trend where the sustainable market is growing. And they’re like, okay, let’s put, like a sustainable collection and just be okay with it.

And you know, it doesn’t work like that. Your whole business is based on something that’s totally opposite to sustainability. And just making a collection doesn’t really do much for you.

So I definitely encourage the consumers to take a look at that as one of the signs. As well as, I’m gonna go back to what I previously said is just how is the brand backing up their sustainability claims is really comes down to that. And ease of access of the information or anything they say, related to sustainability. What’s backing it up? That’s really the main point of it. And the main red flag.

A lot of brands, I noticed just overuse a few of the frequent terms like all-natural, eco-friendly this, eco-friendly that, and then you go into their website, their mission, their About page, there’s really nothing. Or there is these pretty pictures of the environment or something like that, but nothing really to, to show that they’re actually doing the things they are saying.

So that’s kind of a red flag, I see. Just being vague, as vague as possible or very superficial. Most of the sustainable brands we work with, they really go in-depth, and they’re proud of what they’re doing in terms of sustainability.

So they don’t have anything to hide, and they just put it out there. And then if a brand is not doing it, not doing enough, they can put it there. So that’s definitely a flag to look at.

ELIZABETH

Yeah, absolutely. Looking for the specifics. Sort of comparing to the food example, you know. I don’t even bother looking at what they advertised in the package, but just go straight to the ingredient list. And, you know, tell me what’s actually in this.

And I feel like, it’s similar with fashion. A lot of fast fashion brands will say, now that slow fashion and sustainable fashion, of course, is growing in awareness and interest with shoppers are becoming more and more interested in it.

They’ll say things like timeless collection for your capsule wardrobe. Slow fashion… and they might have the aesthetic of what people think is slow fashion. But then it’s such cheap quality, and it’s made from polyester. And it just, it just totally misses the point.

So yeah, going beyond the buzzwords and looking at whatever information you can find. Whether that’s the fiber content label, the list of ingredients, list of materials, the sustainability or About page of a company, or sometimes there will be independent rating companies, like Environmental Working Group I know is a really common one with personal care products. So, it’s tough, but I feel like you just the more you get into it, the more you learn.

MILOS

Absolutely. And more you dedicate yourself as a consumer to educating yourself, the easier it’s going to be for you to spot the signs. And to vet the brands that you want to consume.

So definitely education is the way to do it. And we really try to focus through our blog, and through our content overall to kinda try to educate especially the newer ones on the journey. Just to try to educate them about everything to kind of help them cope with greenwashing, among the other challenges in the sustainable living journey.

ELIZABETH

Yeah, absolutely. And I have been excited to see that there are consumer watchdog groups or consumer watchdog agencies that have been really addressing greenwashing. Especially in the UK, they’ve been making more progress on identifying greenwashing and notifying the brands, and potentially finding them in the future.

So that they are watching out for us a little bit more. And I hope that we will see more of that in the US, too.

But in the meantime, I think it’s really great to have, as you said, education. And definitely always useful to have curated, vetted, sustainable marketplaces that do the heavy lifting for us.

MILOS

Absolutely. That’s why we’re here for Green Eco Dream. We do the hard work, so our community doesn’t have to. You know, everybody has their lives. A lot of important things, everything going on. Especially these days with COVID, after COVID, a lot more challenges.

So I understand when somebody doesn’t want to do to spend all the time doing the research when they have, a family to feed and stuff like that.

Maybe putting a big example out there, but it’s just, I have empathy for anybody on the journey. And just that’s why we do what we do. To you know, make any impact any way we can on the community we’re serving.

ELIZABETH

Yeah, absolutely. So in addition to vetting brands for sustainability, transparency and responsibility, Green Eco Dream also tries to operate in a conscious way. So could you tell us what some of the ways are that you integrate sustainability into your operations.

MILOS

Of course. Just vetting the brands is not enough. We are a business ourselves, and we have to do our part in all of it. So we have to be very conscious about what we do. So there were a few things that we focus on in reducing our impact obviously.

Shipping is a very important part of it. We will always had 100%, plastic-free shipping, and always will. Our boxes are recycled, post-consumer recycled content, reusable. Most of the times, a lot of times actually, our boxes might not be pretty, but that’s the reason we repurpose those. So we would always do that before the aesthetic part.

We tried to repurpose as much of it that we get from the brands that we work with. With that, we use water-activated tapes always to secure the boxes. You know our shipping labels are ink-less. Our stickers are FSC-certified, acid-free, stuff like that.

We are a Carbon Neutral Certified company, which means that we offset the carbon that we use through shipping, and we offset all of it through our partners. We’re also a member of the 1% For The Planet, through which for now we mostly support a Clean Miami Beach. Shout out to Sophia Ringo and their team they’re doing such an amazing job just keeping the beaches of Miami clean and just doing the right stuff for Miami.

Miami is a little far for us from Naples but from time to time me and Snow would go and just do the beach cleanups with them. We do a lot of other stuff with Clean Miami Beach’s different promotional stuff to educate our consumers.

With that, recently we did support an elementary school with some of our donations for Earth Day. That was one of the latest things we kind of did for the community and the younger ones that want to live more sustainably.

On top of that, we are members of Plastic Pollution Coalition and Sierra Club, two of the major nonprofits that are fighting for the right environmental causes.

And then we are a certified Green America Business, which kind of validates all that we do on a daily basis just confirms that we are where we say we are in a way. I like to put it that way.

ELIZABETH

Yeah, I so appreciate that as a shopper or customer with Green Eco Dream that you have taken such efforts to make sure that the packaging and the shipping is as eco-friendly as possible. And it just feels good to receive a package like that, because I hate when I receive a package, and then there’s all this excess plastic packaging.

Even though it was like the company that produced it, I like feel this guilt, even though I shouldn’t but I still feel this guilt personally. And it’s just so nice that I can trust that when I order something from Green Eco Dream. I know, I’m not gonna have all this excess packaging and stuff.

MILOS

That is really something that we emphasize. You know, if we’re saying what we are, we got to do what we say we are in every aspect of our business.

ELIZABETH

Yeah, totally. And I think that’s so important when the founders of a business are just fully committed to sustainability themselves, you know. It’s not an afterthought, right? It’s just like, ingrained in everything that you do.

To me is sort of the best way to like, try to combat greenwashing. And of course, we’re not going to like get perfection. Just we’re up against a lot of challenges as I was mentioning before, but I just always try to look for brands and retailers that have sustainability embedded at their very core, like founded with the mission of sustainability, I think it’s just so so important

MILOS

Great way of putting it. Thank you for that.

ELIZABETH

Of course. So as we wrap up here, can you tell listeners a bit more about what they can expect to find on Green Eco Dream?

MILOS

Absolutely. We touched it a little bit. What we offer is everyday essentials our consumers kind of need to get them through everyday living. From home goods, sustainable home goods where we include some laundry products, some kitchen products, cleaning products, then switch into to health and beauty part where anything from personal care, oral care, body washes, creams, skincare, suncare, all of it is included in our offer. Along with some Adventures On The Go, plastic-free items like water bottles, backpacks, and stuff like that. All that you can find on Green Eco Dream.

ELIZABETH

Amazing. And my last question for you is, do you have any final advice for listeners on their conscious lifestyle journey?

MILOS

Absolutely. And I’ll use the quote I’ve been reading this book recently by Jordan Peterson. It says compare yourself to who you were yesterday.

So really is just try to improve yourself every day little by little. Little things are what really makes the impact in the long run. Don’t feel guilt. I know I did when I was first starting. When I was overwhelmed with all of the things that I found out there.

All the information, misinformation, and everything. Basically, just focus on one thing, improve it and move on to the next one. And that’s the best way of succeeding. And actually the best way of inspiring somebody next to you to do the same.

ELIZABETH

Yeah, I love that. Well, thank you Milos so much for your time today, I will make sure to leave all the links for Green Eco Dream in the episode description and the show notes on our website so that everybody can check out what you all are doing and hopefully support your small business as well.

MILOS

Thank you so much for having me for having me as a guest, your awesome podcast. And thanks to all the listeners who took the time of their day to listen to what the two of us have to share.

ELIZABETH

Thank you so much for tuning in today, I hope that you learned something and got something out of this conversation with Milos. Again, you can head to consciouslifeandstyle.com/dream to check out Green Eco Dream’s collections, including their clothing care and laundry products.

Next week, we’ll be launching a mini-series that I’m super stoked about called Conscious Questions.

So in this series, Stella, who is a contributing writer at Conscious Life and Style, and also has been a guest host on this podcast, and I will be diving into some of the most asked questions in conscious fashion. There are going to be some really juicy questions and topics, so you’re gonna want to hit subscribe or follow on the Conscious Style Podcast, so you do not miss those.

And the first one is coming next Tuesday, and we’re going to be talking about if we think fast fashion brands can ever be sustainable. And we talked about so much within that to like so many of the layers and just deeper questions that that sort of brings up about sustainability in the fashion industry. So you definitely will not want to miss that. I hope to catch you then.

And I also hope to connect with you via our newsletter, The Conscious Edit, which goes out every Saturday, and you can subscribe to that at consciouslifeandstyle.com/edit. This is like the best way to stay in touch with Conscious Life & Style. I share a bunch of articles, podcasts, videos, resources, all that kind of good stuff in these newsletters. It’s like my favorite thing to do every week, my favorite piece of content to put together, and resources to put together for you all.