The story of EcoBeagle

I’m Tracey, the human behind Ecobeagle, the one-stop shop where everything is free from palm oil and single use plastic. Following a trip to Borneo, where I was horrified by flying for hours over endless oil-palm plantations, I used to spend a lot of time checking ingredients lists (with increasing difficulty – either the type is getting smaller or my arms are getting shorter!) trying to exclude the hundreds of different names that palm oil derivatives go by.  There are a number of online eco shops, many specialising in plastic-free products, but none of them exclude palm oil. I eventually solved this problem by buying direct from entrepreneurs who are hand-making their own natural products, but that meant I had to visit a dozen or more different websites and pay multiple delivery charges to buy all my daily essentials.  Some quick and dirty research indicated that I was not the only person frustrated by the extra cost and inconvenience of this, so I decided to solve the problem for all of us and Ecobeagle was born.

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I source toiletries and kitchen products from trusted suppliers, almost all UK-based, who can vouch for the origin of their ingredients and the ethics of their supply chain, and I price-match against the manufacturer’s own website. I ship by Royal Mail, whose regular rounds are more carbon efficient than courier companies, and offer a fair postage guarantee so that if a delivery can go as a large letter instead of by parcel post, I’ll automatically refund the difference. All packaging is plastic-free too, of course. My aim is to make it as easy, convenient and economical as possible for people to find sustainable swaps for all the products they use daily in their kitchens and bathrooms. I’m constantly looking for new products to extend my range, and always happy to offer advice, with no pressure to buy.

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What started as a side-gig is fast taking over my life, and I love it. I get to do business with lovely like-minded people, doing work that makes a difference on issues I am passionate about. When I’m not running Ecobeagle I provide consultancy services on corporate social responsibility for SMEs, and I also volunteer on the board of my local climate change partnership where I led the team that wrote the resources and waste section of our town’s climate emergency strategy and action plan. I’m a strong advocate for the power of optimism, which is why only about 20% of the content shared by Ecobeagle on Facebook is product-related – the rest is good news about projects and initiatives that are contributing to reducing carbon emissions or improving the environment. I want to encourage everyone to believe that together we can create a world where all of us can thrive.

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