New Zealand Celsias

In 1993 Malcolm Rands, together with his wife Melanie, launched a small mail-order business supplying green every day household products – all with the aim of creating a healthier more sustainable world.

18 years on and ecostore has expanded its range to over 100 products, which now grace supermarket shelves across the country. The sustainable businesses entrepreneur most recently launched the brand in Australia and the USA and has plans to expand to Hong Kong, Japan and Korea.

What's the best part about practicing sustainability at work? 

To actually do something that you can believe in 100 percent is a huge luxury. It keeps your passion going and it means people around you are passionate as well, which is fantastic.

And the worst? 

Not being able to turn off because it’s so much a part of your life and what you believe in. Walking away can be hard.

What's the strongest motivation to invest in sustainability in your workplace?

You’re almost crazy if you don’t. In the future it won’t be ‘eco’ or ‘sustainable’, it will just be ‘the way it is’. So if you’re not doing it, you’re dumb! It’s the future - do the math. We’re on a finite planet.

I don’t believe in sustainability. I believe in the next stage, which is regeneration. The aim of ecostore is to go past sustainable. For example our laundry powder was developed so that after it comes out of your machine you can use it on your organic garden as a fertiliser and as a means of watering.

Dear John Key, can you please...

Become and eco-enthusiast. Make it your number one priority. What else is there for New Zealand? For a small country, what’s our point of difference? We need to be a leader.

If I didn't need to work I’d be...

I would still be working. Because I’m doing something I’m passionate about, why wouldn’t I do it? I can’t see myself retiring, maybe just cutting down on hours.

My dirty eco-sin is that I ...

Even though I have a Prius, I still drive two-and-a-half-hours to get to my eco village.

My pearl of wisdom to pioneers in the sustainability space is ...

If you do something you already know how to do and that you’re passionate about, it will look after itself. You have to follow your passion but at the same time it has to be something you have skills in.