Flying like a butterfly, sustainable like a B(Corp) – it’s official. We’re certified.

Maybe it’s the fact that we’ve been obsessed with the Winter Olympics (apart from the fake snow) this year but we’re all about adding to our medal collection (it’s a bit of a reach as a metaphor for our certifications but stick with us here). It’s why it feels flipping great to become a certified B Corp™ business: but what does that really mean and why do we really care?

B Corps™ are businesses that meet the highest verified standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. As of 2018, there are more than 2,500 B Corps™ in 60 countries, working across 130 industries – that’s a lot of great companies motivated to do #BetterBusiness. The underlying purpose of committing to B Corp™ is in using business as a force for good and never putting profit over people or the planet. This ethos sits directly in line with our mission here at Homethings to do more with less and to shake up the messy cleaning industry.

Some great eco pals who already have a seat at the B Corp™ table include Jude’s, Britain’s first carbon negative ice-cream company; Who Gives A Crap, a toilet-paper brand set up by three friends to tackle the issue of over 2 billion people having no access any toilet facilities worldwide; Patagonia, the international outdoor clothing and sports gear brand providing solutions to our environmental crisis; and Brewgooder, an independent UK charity beer brand and social enterprise whose entire profits contribute towards clean water projects within developing countries – and we’re pretty chuffed to have pulled up a chair next to them. That sounds like one heck of a dream dinner party to us. 

Gaining B Corp™ Certification is no easy feat. It involves taking the B Impact Assessment™ that considers the impact of Homethings – looking at everything from our entire team, customers, suppliers, community and the environment at large whilst meeting the legal requirements that enforce us to consider purpose as well as profit – it’s why we like B Corp™: it’s a lengthy and rigorous analysis of the entire business, much like the recent efforts of the Sue Gray report on Downing Street (....joking) to ensure it does what it says on the tin. 0% greenwashing, 0% BS, 100% accountability.

We scored a 95.4 on the B Impact Assessment™ (a vast improvement on our grades from school!), with the median score for ordinary businesses lying at 50.9. You can view the full break-down of our score over at the B Corporation website here.

At Homethings, we’re all about the planet, people and purpose. It’s about being a part of the new era of business and championing a more sustainable future. As a customer, supporting Certified B Corp™ businesses allows you to vote with your values and empower more impact-focussed brands to create real, genuine change – driving forward a greener, cleaner world for everyone.

But hey; just because we’re Certified B Corp™ doesn’t mean that the hard work stops there. We’re committed to carrying on fighting the good fight alongside our B Corp buds by challenging the industry to create a future that really helps rethink what’s under your sink®. Resting on our laurels would be too easy. We’re not here for that. We’ll continue challenging ourselves to do more with less, to keep moving forward and improve our B Corp™ score, as well as to continue making powerful eco cleaning products that make sense.