Laura Harnett, founder and CEO of Seep

Julia is joined by Laura Harnett, founder and CEO of Seep, a brand of sustainable, plastic-free household essentials.

Laura started her career as a buyer at Compass Group; she then worked as a consultant for many years as well as at retailers including Selfridges. She decided to launch Seep after getting annoyed with the lack of plastic-free options in the household essentials aisle. Because, as Laura explains, while eco-friendly cleaning products are a growing market, there still aren’t many options if you want to buy essentials like cleaning cloths and sponges or scourers.

Laura is on a mission to change that. She talks to Julia about how we can re-engage consumers on plastic after Covid, how she’s approaching carbon offsetting for her brand, what it’s like to be publicly challenged by consumers on your sustainability claims – and how she feels about Black Friday promotions as a sustainable brand.

Articles discussed by Laura and Julia:

About 26,000 tonnes of plastic Covid waste pollutes world’s oceans | The Guardian

What is carbon offsetting? The new advances explained | The Times

Consumers want Black Friday 2021 to be greener | Boston Consulting Group

Links to the big food and grocery stories of the week:

M&S to provide sandwiches and hot food for Costa Coffee | The Guardian

Amazon’s cashierless tech will power Sainsbury market in London | Bloomberg

Mr Kipling goes in search of a sweet spot across the Pond | The Times

Oatly shares turn sour after it counts cost of supply chain and production problems | Sky News

Greggs suffers vegan sausage roll shortage as bakery becomes latest victim of supply chain crisis | The i

Redefine Meat brings 3D printed vegan cuts to restaurants | FT

Morrisons pays tribute to key workers with ‘Farmer Christmas’ festive ad | The Grocer

Tesco Christmas ad: 1,500 complain over Santa with Covid vaccine passport | The Guardian