IMPACT & SUSTAINABILITY

Being a certified One Percent For the Planet member means committing to donate 1% of our revenue to vetted, sustainability-focused non-profits. This 1% is made up of the contributions from the donation widget you see at checkout (when GRID Alternatives or The Surfrider Foundation are selected) and by purchasing credits from our Climate Neutral partners (the Zhangjiakou Landfill Gas Power Generation Project and Clinton Landfill Gas Collection and Combustion Project).

Click here to learn more about how your 1% contribution at checkout makes an impact, and keep reading to learn more about our Climate Neutral partners.

To become a Climate Label Certified brand, we worked with Climate Label to calculate and offset our carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions, from production to delivery. By partnering with Climate Label, we actively join their global goal to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

August acknowledges the limitations of the current US landfill infrastructure. Most of our trash ends up in anaerobic landfills (void of oxygen), and since degradation requires exposure to oxygen, not even a carrot can fully break down.

We are proud to support two highly vetted offset initiatives focused on capturing harmful methane gas from landfills and turning it into renewable natural gas, which is used to generate electricity.

To date, we have purchased 1,936 offsets between the following two projects:

1. Clinton Landfill Gas Collection and Combustion Project (1661 offsets)
2. Zhangjiakou Landfill Gas Power Generation Project (275 offsets)

The offsets are weighted more towards the US project since our operations and the majority of our community are based here. The remainder of our offsets are making an impact in China, the country where our pads and liners are manufactured.

Carbon offsetting is just the first step of many while we wait for more municipalities and jurisdictions to continue investing in the research and development of aerobic landfills as well as contribute to a more sustainable future. In addition, we are committed to two realistic action plans to reduce our footprint.

By the end of 2024, we will:

1. Reduce zone 7+ shipments (shipments over 1400+ miles) by 80% within our US distribution, which will minimize downstream shipping emissions
2. Reduce the manufacturing of our 4-count products (our smallest count size) by 95% to reduce raw materials and packaging waste

Please view here for more details.

Since we know that purchasing carbon offsets doesn’t give us the license to be careless with our carbon footprint, we will continue to make deliberate efforts at each level of production to ensure we are limiting carbon emissions wherever possible. Here are ways we reduce our carbon footprint:

• Use organic cotton to abate carbon emissions associated with chemical production and application
• Provide reduced shipping options for subscribers to receive two or three months of product at one time
• Offer bigger packaging sizes to reduce packaging waste
• Only ship full containers of product by boat instead of by plane when possible
• Ship from a local fulfillment center instead of directly from manufacturers

As of January 1st, 2023, August is certified 100% Net Plastic Recycled through our partnership with Plastic Collective. This means that for every purchase you make, we invest in credits that equate to the collection and recycling of the same amount of plastic.

Plastic credits help address plastic waste by allowing companies to invest in projects that collect and recycle an equivalent amount of plastic, offsetting the plastic footprint they generate. They work similarly to carbon credits, which you might have heard of in the context of greenhouse gas emissions.

We worked with Plastic Collective to estimate our plastic footprint and identify an organization to support the removal of an equivalent quantity of plastic from the environment.
Here's how it works:

1. We project how much plastic we will use in our products and packaging to establish our plastic footprint and estimated plastic leakage.

2. Plastic Collective connects us with a certified recovery and recycling project that collects and recycles an equivalent quantity of plastic to that contained in the products we sell and their packaging, in exchange for funding we provide them.

3. The funds generated from these transactions expand recycling activities, build recycling infrastructure, and support other initiatives that address plastic waste.

From 2023 to 2025, we partnered with SEArcular by Greencore, a community-driven plastic waste collection and recycling project in Gresik, Surabaya, Indonesia. Over three years, we funded the collection and recycling of 22 tonnes of plastic annually, totalling 66 tonnes (66,000 kg).

For 2026–2028, we've renewed our commitment with a new project partner: the ASASE Foundation in Ghana.
The ASASE Foundation Project is a Plastic Collective-certified recovery and recycling project operating in a plastic pollution hotspot in Ghana, with a women-led governance model focused on community-based waste management.

August is excited to be partnering with ASASE for the following reasons:

1. Community-focused values: ASASE prioritizes fair wages, safe working conditions, and empowerment opportunities — particularly for women.
2. Certified under multiple standards: The project is certified under the Verra Plastic Waste Reduction Standard, ZPO Ocean Bound Plastic Standard, and ZPO Social Plus Standard.
3. Women-led governance: The project's strong female empowerment focus aligns closely with August's broader impact mission.

We've also made significant progress on reducing plastic across our products and packaging:

1. Eliminating PE tampon wrappers
2. Transitioning plant-based compostable pad wrappers to paper
3. Removing plastic film from online retail packaging
4. Transparently accounting for remaining plastic components

Our longer-term goal is to continue reducing our overall plastic footprint and to make our plastic use more circular. We will continue to explore strategies to reduce our plastic waste.
See our impact for yourself:

Our full public disclosure
Our real-time impact dashboard

Learn more about our partnership with Plastic Collective here