Thank you to our friends at The Rounds for sponsoring The Hill is Home!
Finding sustainable ways to get your everyday items is often difficult. From hand soap and toilet paper to cereal and pretzels, everything seems to be wrapped in plastic, delivered in boxes, or shipped across the country. The Rounds, a new zero-waste refill and delivery service that launched in the District in late August, is on a mission to create a solution to this problem. This new sustainability startup is building the future of sustainable city living by delivering your everyday essentials, like household, personal care and pantry products with no packaging waste.
Designed as a local, sustainable alternative to Amazon, The Rounds is a new take on the traditional “milkman” model.
“We drop off everything in reusable containers, we pick up your empties to put those back into the system with zero waste and in a much more sustainable way,” says Co-Founder and CEO Alex Torrey.
In addition to their product selection of all the household basics, they also partner with local favorites like Compass Coffee and Seylou Bakery. Creating a new model of local and closed loop delivery, the startup has “neighborhood refillment centers” in the city. The Rounds sources sustainable products in bulk to a central location in the neighborhood and delivers on their fleet of e-bikes. With scheduled drop off days, this model allows for extremely efficient deliveries. The consumer no longer has to choose between sustainability, convenience and price. Because of the economies of scale gained from neighborhood bulk buying, The Rounds can offer prices that average 30% less than major brick and mortar retailers.
Since launching in D.C. in August, The Rounds has seen explosive growth in neighborhoods across the District. Coupled with this growth, neighborhoods can also see a massive reduction in trash. It’s estimated that members of The Rounds save 50 pounds of trash on average from their homes every year.
“We’re super excited by the initial response we’re seeing in D.C.,” Torrey says. “Sustainable convenience really matters for people here. Our mission is to make everyday sustainable choices effortless, and at this rate things are looking really good.”
The Hill is Home readers who sign up by December 1 get 6 months of FREE deliveries with code HOME at therounds.co