Love Stock Hate Waste interview: Suri

Over 100 brilliant retailers have now taken our pledge never to destroy their usable stock. And to celebrate, we’re now interviewing some of those brands about why.

Did you know that the pointless destruction of new, unsold products is common practice for many retailers? Our Love Stock Hate Waste campaign aims to penalise waste and distribute these goods to those who need them most. Learn more about our campaign here.

For our next Love Stock Hate Waste interview, we spoke to Mark Rushmore of Suri: makers of the sustainable electric toothbrush. Read on to find out how Suri are minimising waste - and what gives Mark hope for the future.

What are your thoughts on wasted stock in retail in general?

My first thought is 'how has it come to this?!' The idea of purposefully wasting or damaging stock is mindblowing. Shocking, actually – particularly in light of the cost of living crisis.

What are the main challenges for you as a business owner?

Our main challenge is ensuring our customers truly buy into our repair and recycle ethos so our products have as little impact on the planet as possible. We've tried to make the recycling process super simple. Customers can return their used brush heads to us in a pre-paid compostable mail bag, and we offer a free lifetime warranty on our toothbrush when customers subscribe to a heads renewal scheme.

Why did you sign the Love Stock Hate Waste Pledge?

We started SURI because we discovered over four billion toothbrushes are thrown away each year, ending up in landfill or polluting our oceans. Reducing waste is a cause close to our heart, so we want to play our part in ending this ridiculous practice.

What does your company do to avoid wasted stock?

From the outset, we intentionally designed our electric toothbrush to be smaller so it used less material overall, and repairable so we could maximise its lifespan without generating waste. A tiny screw in the base of our brush allows our factory to access the insides to repurpose, repair or recycle the components and we make it effortless for our customers to recycle their used heads. We want our electric toothbrush to be the last one you ever own.

What's your one tip for other retailers?

Try to build sustainability and renewability into your business model from the very beginning.

Is there anything you'd like to see from the government on this?

There needs to be clear rules and timelines in place to prevent the practice of damaging stock. There also has to be more pressure on bigger companies to adopt genuinely sustainable business practises – then the issue of stock waste would become a far smaller problem.

What gives you hope for the future?

Seeing a new wave of genuine innovation in the sustainability space. Everything from apps for rehoming surplus food, to clothing rental services and renewable design practises. The movement is growing with such great momentum that the larger companies are going to be left behind. 

Want a cleaner, greener oral hygiene routine? Buy Suri’s sustainable electric toothbrush here.

Have you signed our Change.org petition yet? If you think retailers should donate their stock instead of destroying it, we urge you to take a stand by sharing our petition with friends and family.

Are you a business owner or CEO who wants to make the pledge? You can do so here instantly.