CARLSBAD, CA - Globally, as many as 160,000 plastic bags are used every second—and currently, only 1–3 percent of them are recycled. Farzan Dehmoubed, Chief Executive Officer of Lotus Sustainables, shares this stat with me as we talk over morning coffee. We are discussing the detrimental effects of plastic waste and the solutions that Lotus is bringing to the retail space, and by that logic, the consumer.
Founded in 2017, Farzan and his wife, Jennifer Dehmoubed, saw an opportunity to respond to the consumer who wanted to mitigate their own personal environmental impacts and who was determined to shop at stores that felt the same.
“We asked ourselves: How can we eliminate single-use plastic bags from our life and the planet we love?” Farzan shares with me. “The best way to get rid of something is to eliminate the need for it, if you ask me. With that vision, we launched Lotus Sustainables with the goal of enhancing everyday shopping experiences and making the need for plastic bags obsolete.”
The launch of the company’s Lotus Trolley Bag—heavy-duty reusable bags, including an insulated bag, designed to help make grocery shopping faster and easier than ever—is what catapulted the company into the orbit of retailers like Ralphs and Albertsons on the West Coast followed closely by an East Coast expansion.
“Now, we’re in over 18,000 stores,” Farzan reflects, taking a deep breath to let the reality sink in. “And then, from the Lotus Trolley Bag, we said, we’re creating huge impact here—where else can we help reduce plastic waste? And that was where the produce section came into focus and our reusable Lotus Produce Bag solution. Typical stores use 8-12 cases of poly produce bags per week! At 4,400 plastic produce bags per case, that’s 2.2 million bags given away per store!”
Now, retailers like Meijer are leaning into sustainability by offering consumers smart, sustainable options for plastic bags and Lotus’ partners—including the likes of The GIANT Company and NGVC—have committed to the cause by expanding with the Lotus Produce Bag racks into all stores. GIANT, as an example, is launching 2–4 racks in each store.
With so much popularity and demand driving Lotus’ growth, the company is making even more huge strides this year. And, this May, the company celebrated being in five of the six largest grocery chains in the U.S. Together, they have helped eliminate 3 billion plastic bags thus far.
“What’s unique about our Lotus Produce Bags is our lifetime guarantee. One set of bags you can literally wash and reuse hundreds of times,” Farzan expresses. “Our products are not just good for the environment. The consumers keep asking for them and demanding a solution, which means they are great for business.”
And what is great for business is great for our pages. Keep checking back with AndNowUKnow as we follow Lotus Sustainables’ incredible vision and initiatives.
