#36 – Building a “Better” (Plastic-Free, Waste-Free, & Toxic-Free) Business 

with Kate Jakubas of Meliora Cleaning Products

Bonus Material: Download the Companion for this Episode

While obtaining her Masters in Environmental Engineering, Kate Jakubas developed a keen curiosity for how the toxic chemicals in our cleaning products and detergents affected our natural environments and personal health. 

Kate then set off on seeing if she could create a laundry detergent herself, without harmful and toxic chemicals, that would actually get her clothes clean. After coming home from playing a flag football game, she put her detergent to the test using it on a load of freshly dirtied clothes and came to find…her detergent worked! All the clean without the harm…

Continuing to use her environmental engineering background to develop additional household cleaning products, she founded Meliora Cleaning Products, a company focused on eliminating the impact that household chemicals have on the environment.

On this episode of The Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation Podcast, Kate dives into the backstory behind the founding of Meliora, how she really honed in on her company’s approach to the triple bottom line—people, planet, and profit—and how they use metrics and certifications to hold themselves accountable to their own expectations they set for themselves. She also discusses her experience teaching this approach to others.

Want more episodes on toxic-free & environmentally friendly consumer goods? Look here: 

• #12 — How to Divert Over 50,000 Plastic Bottles from Landfills, with Lindsey McCoy CEO & Co-Founder of Plaine Products 
• #08 — Going Pound for Pound with Co-Founder & CEO of Grain4Grain, Yoni Medhin — How to Use Farmer’s Markets to Shape a Pitch & Sustainable Pancakes to Feed Families in San Antonio

Bonus Material: Download the Companion for this Episode

All of Meliora Cleaning Products are people and planet friendly with the ingredients list proudly displayed on the front of each label.

Topics Discussed: 

• How Kate developed her passion for the vision behind Meliora
• Her inspirations behind Meliora’s business practices
• How the name of her company (Meliora = “better”) serves as a reminder to constantly be looking for ways to improve
• How teaching served to solidify the mastery of her business approach to both herself and her students

Links from the Episode:

• Meliora Cleaning Products (Website)
• Meliora Cleaning Products (Instagram)
• Patagonia
• Seventh Generation
• Women’s Voices for the Earth
• TerraCycle
• Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough and Michael Braungart 
• Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth