How Do We End Up With Lip Balm Waste?

Yes, sometimes, there is waste.

I think it’s like that in any manufacturing setting, and even in our own homes and kitchens. While we do what we can to minimize waste, sometimes stuff happens, and rather than throw out that lip balm, we try to find useful, or at least, amusing things to do with it, like that time we answered this follower’s sarcastic comment about pouring without tubes!

One way waste happens is when we’re testing new equipment. We need to make sure it’s working properly before we use it in production, and sometimes, there are problems. And the way we test new equipment is - you guessed it - by making lip balm with it. We have special bins with “waste” lip balm that we use for testing. And while it sucked to have to sacrifice it the first time, it’s a necessary part of the process that keeps us from unexpected waste that could happen if we didn’t make sure our equipment was working properly. 

There is another type of waste that is more preventable, though, and that is unused ingredients that expire. All the ingredients we use in our formula have an expiry date, so I have to be mindful about not buying more than I think we can go through before it expires. And although I’m pretty good at estimating it, sometimes, I get it wrong and we end up with ingredients we can’t use to make products we’ll be selling anymore. 

Stay tuned to find out how we use the lip balm waste!