Whether in the Sahara, the Himalayas or the salt flats of Bolivia, Joshua van den Hurk (26) encountered one thing again and again: plastic waste. That’s why he founded Bamboovement in 2019. To inspire people to live more sustainably daily. Ainu van den Hurk (28) soon joined his brother’s adventure, and together they seized the challenge of developing the world’s most natural razor blade. The result is a natural solution to disposable razor pollution: five billion plastic disposable razors that end up in landfill yearly.

The amount of plastic Joshua encountered during his trips was the spark that lit the fire that got Bamboovement going.

At Bamboovement, we work hard to reduce the amount of plastic used daily by offering natural alternatives to outdated plastic (disposable) products, which is a necessary step towards a greener future. Whenever it turns out too early to avoid plastic for the entire one hundred per cent, we look for the most natural, state-of-the-art solution. Sometimes this can be in the form of plant-based bioplastic (at this moment, only the toothbrush bristles). This way, we can at least say no to fossil fuel-based plastics.

Next, we decided to plant a tree for every customer and subscriber because there’s a mutual and shared benefit in the relationship between Bamboovement and Bamboover. As a result, we planted more than 34.000 trees in 2021. We do this together with Eden Reforestation Projects (ERP). They educate locals, who suffer most from local deforestation, by teaching them what seeds they need to collect to restore a healthy forest with native trees. Before that, however, the seeds need to become seedlings strong enough to survive ‘repotting’ in the remaining forests. ERP hires male and female local workers and pays them a decent salary. This fruitful partnership leads to happy locals and a seedling survival rate of over 80%.  

In addition, we are working on the calculation of our product’s carbon footprint. That way, we can guarantee that all emissions caused by the entire product life (from extracting material to shipping to customer) are compensated. Climate Partner carries out the analyses and provides us with certified offset projects. We also consider specific certifications such as FSC and BSCI in our search for suitable suppliers and producers.

With natural and sustainable alternatives to (disposable) plastic personal care products, we offer a solution for an everyday plastic problem: our bathroom ritual. By putting part of the sales right back into tree planting, we improve the quality of our future. 

We also strongly believe we’re positively changing the world with our razor pollution solution. Unfortunately, the prominent market players have neglected to seize this opportunity for decades, and it didn’t look like they wanted the same kind of solution as we did. Now, it’s time for a razor revolution.

To start with, in our webshop: www.bamboovement.com/shop. Next, Dille & Kamille is the first (ESG) store that included our razors in their product range, primarily based in the Netherlands but also stores in Belgium and Germany. Lastly, a list of smaller retailers put (a few of) our products in their stores, mainly in the Netherlands and Europe. On our Instagram, we re-share posts of retailers that announce new products in store, which is where people/followers can get updates.