CO.STARTERS for Causes: Kristy Lorson – EarthSavvy

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Hi, my name is Kristy Lorson and I’m the founder of EarthSavvy.

Most of us have heard about the global plastic crisis.

8 million tonnes of plastic ends up in our oceans each year (that’s like a rubbish truck every minute). And then, of course, there’s the pollution from the manufacture and transportation of that plastic, which is fuelling climate change.

Disillusioned by the lack of political leadership in NZ on environmental issues, I attended a few protests over the years, but never felt like I was achieving very much. It wasn’t until I stumbled upon Bea Johnson’s book, ‘Zero Waste Home’, in early 2015, that the lens of my understanding was pulled into firm focus.

Our family has been reducing our waste since that moment and it’s been completely life-changing. I used to feel helpless about environmental issues. Now I just feel empowered and I want other people to feel that way too, by connecting them to the zero waste movement which is growing exponentially in NZ and around the world.

One of the challenges I experienced when starting with zero waste living was that it was quite time-consuming and expensive to gather the reusable products that make this lifestyle possible. So, I’m creating a business called EarthSavvy (named after my four year old daughter, Savana). It’s an online one-stop zero waste shop providing affordable products to help people reduce their household waste and supporting them to have a positive impact on the planet.

Before I started CO.STARTERS for Causes at EcoMatters, I’d been mulling over the idea for over a year. CO.STARTERS was just the kick up the bum I needed.

The structure of CO.STARTERS is very practical and takes you from learning about yourself and how you work best, through to understanding the problem/solution, getting your message out there, as well as the nuts and bolts of budgeting and legalities. It was particularly inspiring to hear the stories of our guest speakers, to learn about their challenges and how they overcame them and I loved that the focus of the course was on social enterprise, which set it apart from standard business courses.

One of the best things about CO.STARTERS is the camaraderie of the group. It was fantastic to be connected to like-minded people on a similar journey and being accountable to that group each week was great motivation.

As well as learning valuable business skills, by the end of the CO.STARTERS programme I had my logo designed and had started receiving samples for my first products.

I launched EarthSavvy on Earth Day in April 2018. My aim is to raise awareness of waste issues and to help bring zero waste living to mainstream New Zealand!

Check out EarthSavvy’s zero waste starter kits and other zero waste products or follow EarthSavvy on Facebook
Join Kristy and 15,000+ other New Zealanders supporting each other to reduce our waste in the Zero Waste in NZ! Facebook group

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT CO.STARTERS FOR CAUSES AT ECOMATTERS