Retulp Thermos

Retulp: sustainable drinking bottle donates millions of gallons of water (interview)

Retulp Thermos

"Inspired by Boyan Slat's The Ocean Cleanup, Richard Gabriel takes up the fight against plastic: Retulp's reusable drinking and thermos flasks prevent the overproduction of PET bottles. "Put up more trash cans? By doing so, you only make the problem worse."

With new clients like Ekoplaza and Bever, 2017 was a good year for Richard Gabriel. His three-year-old brand Retulp, also known as Tulper, is an environmentally conscious alternative to disposable bottles, cans and cups. "We manufacture our water bottles in an environmentally friendly way in the Netherlands. The water bottles are completely food safe, bio-based and printed with vegetable ink. The thermos and water bottles are made of durable stainless steel which is easy to recycle and they are partially made of recycled stainless steel.

Right now, our new Tumbler thermos cups are selling the best. We print these Tumblers a lot for companies as business gifts and they are also sold without additional printing at BOL.com, among others. And nice to mention: through our partner MadeBlue, we donated 12 million liters of clean drinking water to third world countries last year. But it doesn't stop there: our goal is to double each year in terms of sales and impact."

Retulp Thermos

from left to right the ReTulp Mocca Brown drinking bottle, the Bamboo Thermos Cup and the tumbler Thermos Cup in the color Coffee Brown

Impact
"In the beginning, we mainly developed bio-based products, such as water bottles made of cane sugar. We now focus less on that, simply because we find that such material has too little added value. Our goal is to prevent plastic waste and make sure the product lasts. That is how we make an impact. One product we are currently working on is a larger or wider version of the tumbler thermos cup. That way the bottle can be better used for lunch products, such as keeping salads cold or keeping a meal hot." That will save a lot of disposable packaging!

Save
Although Retulp has experienced meteoric growth, starting a business is no easy task. "Some entrepreneurs immediately start looking for funding, a time-consuming and uncertain activity. I prefer to start on a smaller scale and learn by doing. The start-up phase cost me 10,000 euros, which is still somewhat doable. I would advise future entrepreneurs to start with a well-filled savings, for example by working for a boss for a few years first."

Retulp bamboo thermos bottle

Many of the Retulp bottles include a convenient tea filter

Competition
"I'm often asked if Dopper is our biggest competitor, but I don't see it that way. We have roughly the same mission, and thanks to Dopper, the bottle has been transformed from a goat's wool product to a hip fashionable item. It's not a competitor as far as I'm concerned, but a good competitor. I did notice that charities and social enterprises really see each other as competitors. I also hear it a lot in the corridors: charities don't always talk nicely about each other. It's like church: you all believe in God, but each faith thinks something of other faiths."

Waste
"I get irritated by how waste is handled in organizations. Many times the only answer they have to questions about waste reduction is that they are 'getting busy recycling.' That is all they can think of, there is so little initiative for waste reduction. For example, one school gave the solution of putting up more bins. That would only make the problem worse; fewer bins would work better. Other bad examples? The amount of vending machines selling soft drinks or the sale of spa blue - just put up a tap."

Retulp Thermos

Downcycling
"In the Netherlands there is lobbying from the packaging industry to tout recycling, however: only 7 percent of plastic is actually recycled and of that seven percent it is not re- but downcycling. This is partly because there are so many different types of plastic. The plastic doesn't become a new bottle, it becomes, say, a hectometer pole. It is difficult to convince people that recycling is hardly the solution, if at all. Prevention is better than cure. Ergo: prevention is better than recycling."

"It's a matter of time. At some point the resources will run out or the problem will be much bigger and then it will have to be done. I just hope that doesn't come too late..."

Retulp
"Retulp is now just over three years old and thus entering a growth phase. With that, my role is changing: where I now mostly manage all kinds of zzp'ers and suppliers, I want to focus more on the impact of Retulp. Another person will be able to take over the role of "manager," allowing me to focus on the continued development of our refill to fulfill initiatives. Consumers need to be rewarded more for bringing their own thermos cup, e.g. through a discount or a double portion of coffee/tea. That's what I want to get fully involved in!"

Help
"From the first year, Retulp has actively worked with colleges to get students to contribute ideas and explore opportunities. It actually wasn't hard to get in at all, schools look for a lot of examples of startups, especially within circular sustainability. They like to have good assignments. But, I have to say: you shouldn't expect too much. Much of the time goes into formulating the assignment and, as a result, the research itself is fairly limited. So don't depend on such a college, but see it as a good extra.

What I could use help with now? I would love to meet people with experience in running a wholesale or corporate gift business: those kinds of contacts could help Retulp flourish, especially if they live in the Apeldoorn area."

Verdict
We from Goedvoordewereld have tested several bottles and are very pleased with the choice of materials, the design of the bottles and of course the sustainability factor. There are several Retulp bottles available. In the picture below you see from left to right the ReTulp Mocca Brown drinking bottle - sold separately for € 14.99, the Bamboo Thermos Cup (incl. tea filter on top), on sale separately for €29,95 and the new tumbler Thermos Cup in the color Coffee Brown, which is on sale separately for €14,95. Or see all Tulper products here on bol.com >

Our favorite - the bamboo variety, of course!

Retulp bamboo thermos bottle

ReTulp's slogan: refill to fulfill

 



Note: All photos in this article were taken by GoedvoordeWereld.nl and may in no way be copied without permission. For this article, we received the bottles from Retulp for free, but otherwise this article is not sponsored.

Source (original article): goedvoordewereld.nl