"Vaska is a green company with a green product and a mission to make green irresistible to mainstream shoppers," said creative director Gaby Brink. "We started our brainstorming for the retail launch of Vaska's line of botanical laundry detergents, Herbatergents, thinking we might follow European conventions and replace bottles with bags. But consumer research quickly revealed that Americans like their tough bottles. With surfactants posing other material challenges, the best solution turned out to be food-grade plastic (HDPE), which people know from their milk jugs, and are already familiar with recycling. Packaging dematerialization turned out not to be the area of our largest potential impact, when we learned that 90 percent of the carbon footprint of detergent comes from heating the water of washing machines. We discovered that an attractive green product, with a friendly message that inspires changing everyday habits, is a potent combo. A few months later, bottles are flying off the shelf everwhere."