Insights / Sustainability

Unpacking Sustainability Impact: Branch Basics

About Branch Basics

The founders of Branch Basics are passionate about helping people live life clean. They turned this passion into a high-quality brand of eco and family-friendly cleaners for the kitchen, bathroom, laundry, and everywhere in between. The brand’s plant and mineral-based products harness the power of pure, with no harmful chemicals or preservatives. The safe and effective concentrates aren’t just creating healthier homes but a healthier planet as well.

Our Partnership

To further their environmentally conscious mission, Branch Basics sought sustainable packaging options suitable for their high-quality cleaners. Having worked with Berlin Packaging for years, the brand leveraged Berlin Packaging’s expertise to optimize their packaging portfolio with eco-friendly solutions that reduce plastic use and improve their carbon footprint.

“Berlin Packaging has been an asset to our team since the beginning,” said Allison Conway, Creative Director at Branch Basics. “They are a valued packaging partner to our business and excel in innovation, responsiveness, and service. They have offered astounding expertise throughout the process from design to implementation.”

Berlin’s Global Sustainability Team, the Studio One Eleven design and innovation division, and packaging consultants synergized to source stock solutions and develop unique custom designs to best address the brand’s varied needs.

“We embrace a holistic approach, deeply understanding the brand’s core ethos to design packaging that truly embodies their values,” said Balaji Jayaseelan, Vice President of Sustainability at Berlin Packaging. “For Branch Basics, we assessed all facets of their packaging, from circular materials to sustainable branding, transitioning them to solutions that resonate with their environmentally-conscious consumers.”

We also led a collaborative workshop with Branch Basics to continue enhancing their sustainable packaging portfolio, meeting increased consumer demand and creating a framework for the future.

“Berlin Packaging’s Sustainability and Design teams guided our discussion with market research, product data, and expert recommendations,” said Conway. “This educated our team, generating invaluable high-level strategy discussion and brainstorming for a refreshed, more sustainable packaging solution fitting our brand model and values.”

Berlin Packaging + Branch Basics Sustainability Workshop

Our Impact

Our design and innovation division, Studio One Eleven, created award-winning, custom, and refillable glass spray bottles and laundry detergent dispensers with a sleek, premium design. Our teams prioritized a superior user experience, optimized functionality, and an elegant aesthetic.

“Our primary focus was to strengthen and reinforce Branch Basics' reuse & refill model by creating durable, high-quality, and aesthetically pleasing packaging solutions that would be seamless in the consumer's interaction of the product,” said Bradley Wong, Design Director at Studio One Eleven. “In the design process, we created prototypes to ensure that the packaging was not only durable and long-lasting but also would function as intended without any issues. By prioritizing the user experience, we aimed to encourage and facilitate the adoption of sustainable refill practices.”

Both refill packages were recognized by leading design organizations, including a 2020 Ameristar Award (spray bottle), 2022 Pentawards Bronze Medal (spray bottle), and 2023 National Association of Container Distributors Gold Award (laundry bottle).

Consumers praised the refill bottles as “beautiful and functional,” “classy, sleek and clean looking,” and “good enough to display all the time.” Branch Basics CEO Tim Murphy said of the spray bottles: “Glass packaging is something our consumers wanted, and we always strive to give customers what they want and more. We wanted to make something that is beautiful, that people would be proud to keep on their counter, and that is functional. The package accomplishes all of this, and we’re hearing from customers that they love it. It is our most successful product launch to date.”  

Branch Basics Laundry Detergent Bottle - 2023 NACD Packaging Award Winner - Gold

We also helped Branch Basics transition from a canister to a lightweight pouch for their Oxygen Boost powder. The pouch weighs 71% less than the canister and holds twice the amount of product. According to our in-house lifecycle assessment, 8x more pouches can fit on each truckload, resulting in 14.6 tons fewer CO₂ emissions in shipping annually.

“Branch Basics focuses on creating efficient, multi-use products for their consumers,” said Alejandro Medina Aristizábal, Global Sustainability Senior Associate at Berlin Packaging. “We aimed to empower both the brand and their consumers by communicating sustainability impact through simple, high-impact metrics, fostering deeper connections between brand values and conscious consumer choices.”

As the World’s Largest Hybrid Packaging Supplier, we offer industry-leading, value-added services beyond packaging, from sustainability and custom design to manufacturing and quality—services that Branch Basics has fully embraced.

“Since partnering with us in 2020, Branch Basics has experienced phenomenal growth,” said John Jones, Packaging Consultant at Berlin Packaging. “They’ve been an exceptional partner in driving sustainable solutions, and together, we’ve cultivated remarkable growth.”

By: Moira Stein
& Celine Yang

Date: June 7, 2024