Tracing Your Ritual Order—From Our Suppliers to Your Doorstep

Traceability is core to who we are as a company. It’s pretty simple, actually: We think our customers deserve to know what they’re putting into their bodies and why, along with the environmental impact of their order.

There are so many details, after all, that go into the two capsules you take every day. We always aim to make those decisions with you and the planet in mind—and lift the curtain along the way. That starts with our traceable supply chain and the suppliers we partner with across the globe, and ends with the packaging that ends up on your doorstep every month.

It’s being able to see, for example, that the omega-3 DHA in your multivitamin hails from Saskatoon, Canada, and that the vitamin B12 is from the UK. Or that your capsule is made from tree bark harvested on sustainable plots, and assembled in the United States. You should know the exact percentage of recycled materials your Ritual packaging is made from (85.5%, as of April 2020), and that the ink on your mailer is plant-based. These are specifics that matter, and there’s always progress to be made.

But let’s get a better visual of the journey your order takes from our suppliers to your doorstep:

1. Our Ingredients. We aim to use ideal forms of nutrients for your body—even if it means crossing the globe to do so. But those sky-high standards also apply to how those ingredients are sourced.

Let’s talk about our omega-3 DHA as an example. We could have gone the popular route by using fish oil, but we decided to do vegans and the planet a solid by sourcing ours from fermented microalgae. As a result, we save roughly 750 anchovies and herrings per bottle—in turn, doing our part to ensure that we’re not disrupting the delicate ecosystem of our oceans. Another wrinkle to consider is that fish oil production requires the removal of environmental contaminants—which is good for you, but not necessarily great for the planet, since those contaminants then need to be discarded again. But the microalgae we use isn’t exposed to that kind of contamination, which means extracting our oil is a much gentler process.

Our omega-3 algal oil is a great example of sourcing an ingredient found in nature in a sustainable way, but that’s also not always an option. While it’s easy to assume that “natural is always better,” that’s not always true when we’re talking about our planet’s precious resources. That’s why some of our nutrients are synthesized in a lab, when it makes more sense for the environment in some cases.

2. Our Packaging. We’re on a mission to transition our entire mailing experience to 100% recycled materials over the next several months—and while there’s still progress to be made, as of April 2020, we’re at about 85.5%. That includes our bottles and bottle caps, which are made with 100% post-consumer resin, and our cushion mailers, which are made with plant fibers and recycled newsprint. (Seriously—try tearing your mailer open when your next order arrives.)

Our boxes, which house all of our first-time orders, are not 100% recycled (a work in progress), but are Sustainable Forest Initiative Certified, which means the paper used to make them is grown in sustainable plots.

3. Our Carbon Offsetting Program. Every month, your Ritual order travels from our fulfillment center to your doorstep—and we wanted to work to erase the carbon footprint of that journey. That’s why we’re proud to announce our new Carbon Offsetting Program: As a Carbonfree® Shipping Partner with Carbonfund.org, we’re able to offset the environmental cost of shipping with donations towards sustainability initiatives like renewable energy, reforestation, and more. We’ve already offset all order deliveries for 2019, and we’ll be tackling future orders on an ongoing, quarterly basis.

Together, let’s take steps towards a more transparent, sustainable future.