Behind the sustainability

Several small businesses are founded with a mission statement of being ethical and sustainable and following through. Many people are astonished by how much waste that factories produce. Anna Kholodna, the owner of NINIco, an eco-friendly jewelry brand, was one of these shocked individuals.

“I went to work for a corporation, and I really liked it, but it made me crazy how many pieces were made every day when there’s a sustainable alternative in the world,” Kholodna said.

With this, Kholodna founded her own jewelry brand. Kholodna’s products are made from cellulose acetate, a highly biodegradable material. Cellulose acetate is a natural plastic made from tree pulp and cotton. It’s a much better alternative for regular plastic, which is made from petroleum resin, a material that isn’t biodegradable, meaning that it stays in the environment longer and takes centuries to break down into nature. In doing this, petroleum resin can leak chemicals and carbon dioxide into the air for numerous years.

Kholodna admits that not all of her business practices are entirely eco-friendly, but she continues to try her best to be as environmentally cautious as possible.

“I do store my jewelry in plastic bags, but [even still] I use them over and over again,” Kholodna said. “I also made sure that they are the recyclable ones.”

Kholodna is one of a handful of business owners that can say her products are made from 100% eco-friendly materials, thus, she preaches caring for the environment and sustainable practices.

“I would tell [businesses that aren’t sustainable] to look at themselves from the side and see the impact on the world they are living in,” Kholodna said. “We really have to take care of the environment because the better we do now, the better we’ll be leaving our kids and grandkids.”