Our Ethics and Values

We believe the choices you make create the world you want to live in. It has always been our passion for the planet and Fair Trade that motivates us to create plastic free, sustainable alternatives for every day products.

Products that are made ethically. That empower the women who make them. Products that respect the planet. Are well designed. Made to last. Products that biodegrade. These are the principles we follow when creating our Eco Max Brushes.

Eco Credentials

Being an eco-friendly business is about more than just the finished product. It’s important we look at the complete life cycle of our products, beginning with the raw materials through to who makes the brushes and how, packaging, transportation, and finally to how customers will dispose of their brush at the end of its life.

Eco Max Brushes look at all these things and more so you can be sure that our products are Eco to the Max! We are always striving to make positive changes that are cleaner and greener and ensure that our supply chain is transparent and ethical.

Plant Based

We use 100% natural plant fibres in our brushes as unlike plastic they are a carbon neutral, renewable resource. Using plant fibres means that at the end of their life our brushes can be placed in the compost to biodegrade naturally.

Our sustainable timbers are a mix of waste material from the local building industry, plantation timbers from FSC certified forests and Rubber wood sourced from trees at the end of their rubber producing life.

Women supporting Women

Our Eco Max Brushes are handmade by women in Sri Lanka. We support our women producers by providing sustainable employment, a living wage, flexibility and support to care for their children and a free in-house crèche, meaning these women have the financial independence to be strong self-reliant directors of their own destiny.

Fair Trade has always been one of the defining principles for us; fair wages for work, fair access to markets and fair environmental standards are simple ideals we believe should be at the heart of all trade and provide a guide for us to follow towards a more sustainable business.

Our History

When I started Import Ants in 2008 I wanted to introduce Fair Trade products to mainstream retailers. My first product was elephant dung paper, the ultimate in recycling. By turning a waste product, elephant poo, into a useful everyday product like paper I was supporting Fair Trade communities in Sri Lanka and encouraging people to think differently about using waste.

As I travelled around Sri Lanka, I noticed the natural fibre scrubbers the village women were using and fell in love with coconut fibre and its amazing longevity and scrubability. I was so excited to have found another waste product that could be used to replace plastics in the kitchen. This led me to look at other plant fibres and their properties and so Eco Max Brushes began.

We were the first company to introduce natural plant fibre kitchen brushes to Australia. I am so proud of our achievements and how we have grown from our small beginnings, working from home, to having a warehouse full of the largest range of natural plant fibre brushes in Australia.

We have chosen to remain as wholesalers only so that we can focus our efforts on working closely with our producers to make the best brushes possible, while supporting our stockists to do what they do best – retail. Head to our stockists page to find a seller near you or sign-up for wholesale access to begin stocking our brushes.

To learn more about our producers, our ethics, our materials and our products head to our Stories page for further information.

With our small but passionate team of change makers in Sydney and our large team of amazing women in Sri Lanka we are proud to provide sustainable alternatives for everyday use in houses across the globe.