Chelsey Dequaine-Jerabek
Founder Sasha Stone: “I wanted to find things that people can actually use.”
Ready for a beeswax wrap? Nope, it’s not the latest in wrinkle-eliminating facials. It’s a substitute for common kitchen plastic wrap. But it’s not plastic.
There are a host of alternative kitchen and bathroom supplies that people can re-use instead of toss, or that come in sustainable (or no) packaging. Sasha Stone launched Green Life Trading Company in October 2018 to sell those types of products in one place: “I wanted to find things that people can actually use and get behind.”
Green Life has been growing over the last year, and Stone is now making the leap from the store’s initial online-only presence to a storefront at 1334 Williamson St.
Daily life in America is rife with single-use items and wasteful plastic packaging, from shampoo bottles and dishwashing liquid to plastic toothbrushes and dishwashing scrubbies. Green Life sells shampoo bars (yes, they really do lather up like bottled shampoo) and dishwashing pucks that eliminate the plastic bottle. A pot brush is made from beechwood and agave and palm tree fibers. Beeswax wrap is made from a hemp and cotton cloth that’s coated with a combination of beeswax, tree resin and jojoba oil. Instead of tossing plastic in the garbage, the wrap can be washed and reused.
The most popular products in the online store are the dishwashing puck and pot brush. The puck is made by Chicago-based Meliora Cleaning Products, a company dedicated to sustainability and which sources Wisconsin ingredients. The puck is also vegan and cruelty-free. One percent of all Meliora product sales goes toward environmental causes. The brush is made by Germany-based Redecker, a family-owned company known for using sustainable wood and fibers.
Other big sellers are the beeswax wraps, deodorant cream, bamboo toothbrushes, and cotton facial rounds.
Stone sources her products as locally as possible, but “finding products I loved got to be a challenge,” she says. Her standards are strict. Shipping has to be plastic-free; products primarily plastic-free (or that can be reused for a lifetime). “I look for companies that are sustainable and ethical in their manufacturing, and who provide the life cycle of their product,” she says, referring to how the product is made, its useful life expectancy and how sustainably it can be disposed of. “If a company tells you their product is sustainable but doesn’t tell you the entire life cycle, that’s greenwashing,” she says.
The only thing Green Life buys new to ship its online orders is packing tape, which is also plant-based and compostable. Otherwise, Stone reuses boxes from other companies, stamping a Green Life logo on the side.
(left to right) Beeswax wrap, sustainable scrubby thing, and bamboo toothbrush.
Stone didn’t set out to be a business owner. Originally from Milwaukee, she attended UW-Milwaukee, majoring in sociology and minoring in conservation and environmental science. She worked for several environmental nonprofits before her husband’s career dictated a relocation to Madison two years ago.
“I wanted to take my time to figure out what I wanted to do,” Stone says, sitting beneath a jungle of greenery inside Grace Coffee on East Washington Avenue. For the first month, she started down the path of a zero-waste lifestyle to see how sustainable she could make her own home. She bought items in bulk and sewed her own produce bags.
“It hit me one day –– zero waste,” Stone says. “I can have fun with it, be creative and use my background.”
Last April, Stone met Lance Lattimer, a Marquette Neighborhood Association board member, who, after hearing about her online business, wanted to show her some vacancies. “I wasn’t even thinking about a storefront,” says Stone, “but I figured it couldn’t hurt to look.”
The storefront previously was home to Lakeside Press and has been vacant since 2018. The building’s current owner, Great Plains Paleontology, has been rehabbing the space for about a year.
The new store will sell the household basics she also sells online, and will also be a refill shop. In March, Stone will be asking for jar donations. Customers who come in for refills of products like shampoo, conditioner or beard oil can bring in a jar of their own, or take a donated jar.
Stone hopes for a grand opening on April 18, just before Earth Day.
[Editor's note: This article has been corrected to note that Lance Lattimer is a Marquette Neighborhood Association board member.]
