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“Be kind” has been one of Dr. Bonnie Henry’s mantas during the pandemic. Why not extend this sentiment to our treatment of the planet as well as each other? Here are a few small businesses in B.C. that can help you to protect our environment by choosing organic, vegan, or low-waste products over the less kind alternatives.
Tega Organic Tea is an award-winning fair-trade tea company. They source healthy, high-quality, organic ingredients and blend them into delicious black, green, white, herbal, and other artisan teas. Tega also supports fair-trade farming communities that maintain adequate employment practices. Better get the kettle on.
Okanagan Soaps take some all-natural ingredients, mix in their years of experience, and add a lot of concern for the planet’s wellbeing to make their natural bath and body products. Their eco-friendly “Cold Process” holds in the natural goodness for as long as possible.
How’s your gut? This female-founded local business brews high-quality, low-sugar organic kombucha that’s great for your digestion. Bring summer back with some craft kombucha, available in raspberry, grapefruit, lime, ginger, mint, and an array of other flavours. Available in cans and growlers.
What more could you need than some love and lemons? This small Kootenay producer works with local farmers and other companies to bring you their 100% natural, pure essential oils. Their oils’ organic ingredients reduce the body’s toxic load to help you live a greener and healthier life.
Kids always need new threads. LittleMod Clothing handcrafts organic, eco-conscious clothing for your little ones. They use premium quality fabrics from Canada and Europe to produce “sustainable fashion” that is kind to your child’s skin and the environment.
Fashion that feels great. White Rhino Bags, founded by Canadian musician and vegan designer Claire Carreras, offers stylish designer bags exclusively made from cruelty-free vegan leather fabrics. White Rhino also donates proceeds from their sales to a range of non-profit organizations that protect and care for animals in need.
A deodorant that actually works? Sign us up. Glowing Orchid offer handcrafted personal care products, including their award-winning natural deodorant. The company uses all the good stuff—AAA grade organic essential oils and other ethically sourced, natural vegan ingredients—and none of the bad. That means no toxicants, parabens or chemicals. Everything comes in zero-waste, biodegradable, or reusable packaging.
This quaint, family-owned winery has been producing smooth, fruity vegan wines since 1993. Their name comes from the hundreds of rose bushes around the picnic area in their winery in South East Kelowna. They grow Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Verdelet, and Riesling on-site, and offer tastings and tours of their winery, plus live music in summer.
Chef Pola (aka Pola Schacter Ley) is a chef with a focus on good nutrition and a balanced lifestyle for better health. Her flagship locally-made product is Chef Pola’s Granola—handmade, 100% vegan, gluten-free, organic granola that’s not just for breakfast.
In winter, there are few things better than some candles to add a cosy glow to your home. Milk & Honey is a woman-founded and run company that makes 100% soy wax candles. These flickering delights are cruelty-free, vegan, clean-burning, and phthalate-free. All packaging is either recyclable, reusable, biodegradable, or made from recycled material.
This sustainable fashion company lives by the motto “dress well, be kind.” Designer Bianca Bellantoni creates elegant business-casual clothing, handmade in Vancouver from certified sustainable or recycled textiles. The company’s Zero Waste Initiative, the Re·Nu Project, reuses fabric scraps and deadstock to produce limited edition pieces.
Justo’s offers unique flavours of hummus, vegan dips, and locally-made snacks, and will deliver them to your door if you’re in the area. The company operates a closed loop packaging system. All products are packaged in zero-waste, reusable glass jars, and they encourage customers to return or reuse their jars. They also donate 10% of all hummus sales to local charities.
This social enterprise is a refill hub in Kelowna for foods, goods, cleaning, and skincare products. Using a zero waste refillery like this helps you to reduce your household’s packaging waste by refilling your essential bulk consumables. Founder Allisha Heidt is a huge supporter of the local business community. She tries to support as many Canadian-made brands and products as possible.
Fulfill Shoppe is your go-to place in the Tri-Cities, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge, and New Westminster for refillable, zero-waste grocery, household, and beauty products. You can order all your cleaning supplies, beauty products, and dried goods, such as coffee, flours, nuts, and grains, online and have them delivered in zero-waste reusable packaging to your door.
Victoria’s only zero waste grocery store lets you refill all your personal care, cleaning, dried goods, and even milk in bulk. You can bring any of your clean and dry containers from home, or borrow one from their “take a jar, leave a jar” baskets. Then just fill ’em up with what you need!
Shopping locally for sustainable products is the best way to give back to both your local and global community. Search the BC Marketplace for sustainable businesses like these near you.
Kari Morgan is one of the foremost young Indigenous artists working in BC. She has displayed artwork across the Northwest, Vancouver, and Seattle, showcasing her distinctive minimalist style that blends traditional First Nations art with contemporary influences.
Read the Full StorySummit Tiny Homes are a Vernon-based designer and manufacturer of custom-built tiny homes.
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We respectfully acknowledge our place of work is within the ancestral, traditional and unceded territories of the Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ilwətaʔɬ/sel̓ílwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and that we serve the Peoples of the many Nations throughout British Columbia.