Case Study

OIL GARDEN IS GREEN ON THE INSIDE & OUT

Oil Garden identified sustainability as a clear meaningful differentiator in a proliferated category; the Personal Care Range has opened the Brand up to new consumers, retailers, and conversations by creating meaningful value for consumers outside of price.

Purpose goes mainstream

As sustainability becomes a growing worldwide trend these days, consumer brands like Oil Garden are pushed to look for greener solutions to achieve a circular economy. There has been a profound shift in the way individuals consume wellness. Individuals are increasingly thinking holistically about their well-being; both what they ingest but also their overall impact on the environment. Environmentally-friendly packaging claims represented almost ~15% of beauty and personal care product launches globally and has continued to increase YOY.

Consumers, particularly millennials, support and belief in products and services that come from companies that are committed to positive social and environmental impact. For a long time, companies have focused on economic value when designing and developing their business practices. This led to the adoption of a linear method of consumption, which, unfortunately, has caused increasing damage to the environment. Plastic pollution is a global problem. While stockpiles of plastic packaging waste keep growing, valuable resources continue to find their way into our precious environment. Attitudes are changing. With sustainability continuously being a ‘buzz’ word in terms of packaging, businesses need to add ecological value to their overall packaging designs in order to retain customers and win over new ones.

That is why it is worth discussing Oil Garden, because it remains environmentally-friendly, both on the inside and the outside. While brands struggle to understand how they can positively and effectively contribute to sustainability, given the challenges that come with it, Oil Garden does its part allowing its consumers to participate in guilt-free purchasing.

Oil Garden Brand Overview

Oil Garden is a high quality pure essential oil brand, made and owned in Australia. As one of the leading pure essential oil brands in the country; Oil Garden offers an extensive selection of 100% pure essential oils, organic skincare, diffusers, and accessories. All sustainably sourced delivering genuine value without ever compromising on quality.

Oil Garden ensures sustainability in its processing

From the growing of seeds to distillation and packaging, Oil Garden ensures sustainable practices throughout its process. The essential oils are grown in healthy soil from quality seeds from their natural habitat. A strict Quality Assurance procedure also takes place in their laboratories in Australia to guarantee exact standards of purity are achieved and maintained from farm to bottle.

The company takes pride in ensuring that their oils are 100% pure, natural, and sustainable. It uses steam distillation with a precise temperature, time, and pressure to extract the highest oil quality. Oil Garden also has a network of reliable suppliers and trusted growers in Australia.

Category Extension - Challenge

Oil Garden was to develop a natural body care range. Its key USP involved the company being Australian and the product range made from 100% pure essential oils. The Personal care category was at maturity, with very little differentiation, price competitive, over saturation, and significant proliferation which suggested ‘being 100% natural’ was not enough to make an impact on the shelf or to the shopper.

The Outside of Oil Garden Products

In the past, when buying a product, the material that the container is made of is often given less thought than the packaging’s availability, price, or shape. It’s no wonder that the ocean and landfills are now filled with too much rubbish, causing a significant impact on the environment. However, as consumers become more eco-conscious these days, an organisation’s environmental responsibility is critical to their purchasing decisions, besides its quality and price.

For these reasons, companies like Oil Garden are looking for ways to improve their operations’ sustainability. This led to a successful collaboration with other businesses, including Australian manufacturing facilities that allow them to use recycled PET (rPET) or containers with high levels of recycled plastic content.

It is a critical initiative as more and more individuals have realised the impact of their purchasing behavior on climate change, global warming, and other ecology issues. This could also be related to the number of people becoming more conscious about sustainable consumption and its impact on society and the environment.

Therefore, sustainable packaging could improve customer experience since many consumers often have a positive attitude towards eco-friendly brands and products. In an effort to make Oil Garden’s packaging truly sustainable through the use of recycled content, it promoted a circular economy and achieved the 2025 APCO National Packaging Targets.

What’s more with Oil Garden?

Oil Garden is an Australian-owned aromatherapy company located in Melbourne. It was established in Byron Bay, New South Wales, in 1985 and has been one of the country’s leading aromatherapy brands. It offers a comprehensive selection of essential oil blends, cold-pressed carrier oils, and a range of high-quality infused oils. Oil Garden essential oils are 100% natural and pure. The products are also sourced from reliable suppliers and practice sustainable processes in their overall operations.

Consumers want environmentally responsible packaging and Martogg Groups locally produced brand of Food Grade rPET, marPET® is helping make PET become a truly circular packaging material. One ton of recycled plastic saves 5,774 Kwh of energy, 16.3 barrels of oil, 98 million BTU's of energy, and 30 cubic yards of landfill space (EPA WARM) rPET results in 79% lower carbon dioxide emissions over the material's entire life cycle when compared to virgin PET. (ALPLA)

Conclusion

While the government plays a vital role in achieving a circular economy, businesses like consumers also need to practice sustainability for it to happen sooner than later. Through successful collaboration with other industry brands, Oil Garden can reduce the environmental impact of the excessive consumption on the earth’s natural resources.

Hold yourself accountable for your own actions and buy products that are better!