Why Sustainability Is Important to Us, Personally

We don’t take sustainability seriously at IMPAC+ just to say we were committed to it, or to fill a box on a checklist. Rather, sustainability shaped how we viewed the world well before we developed IMPAC+. In this article, we’ll focus our lenses on why sustainable packaging is important to us personally. For a broader look at how sustainable packaging and electrolytes fit into hydration overall, check out our complete guide which brings everything together.

Growing Up Where Climate Change Is Impossible to Ignore

Co-founder Chancen Law had his views formed early in life growing up in Hawai’i, where he learned how much waste and overconsumption affected his home state. For him it was sad to see plastic and debris that can come from thousands of miles away wash up on shore where children play. And the fact that Hawai’i has limited land and fragile ecosystems makes it harder to remove waste. Research also shows that because of ocean currents and inadequate waste disposal facilities, islands are especially susceptible to plastic pollution (United Nations Environment Program, 2021). Once you have witnessed the effect of waste on an environment, you start to view products differently. Products that seem minute elsewhere add up quickly when there is limited space and resources.

Co-founder Jiajia Zhang experienced similar awareness after years of travel throughout the U.S. and China. Travel allowed her to observe the same disposable products in various cities, rural areas, coastlines and national parks. Single-use packaging is designed for convenience, used for a short period and then discarded without much consideration for the environmental impact. Over time, she realized that environmental damage is not unique to one location or culture. Instead, it is cumulative and occurs due to consumption.

Why This Matters for Everyday Products

Each year, more than 400 million tons of plastic are produced globally, with only a small portion recycled (Houssini et al., 2025). The majority of plastic ends up in landfills, incinerators or the environment where it can last for decades and decompose into microplastics that pass through ecosystems and food systems (EPA, 2025). This reality, however, doesn’t make recycled materials irrelevant, but rather makes it more important to keep existing materials in use wherever possible. When packaging is made from recycled sources, it reduces the need to extract and process new raw materials, which is one of the most energy-intensive and environmentally damaging stages of production.

Packaging hydration products from recycled materials are especially important because they are used regularly. Although each hydration product may appear inconsequential individually, the environmental footprint increases dramatically when considering the number of times a hydration product is used. We could not feel confident developing a product that promotes health, if we were to ignore the negative environmental impacts.

How That Perspective Shapes IMPAC+

At IMPAC+, our viewpoint regarding sustainability manifests itself in how we select materials and packaging. We use recycled, food grade materials when feasible, and design packaging with the intention of keeping it in circulation. Research also shows that materials that are recycled and properly processed typically require less energy and result in fewer greenhouse gas emissions than virgin materials (The Aluminum Association, 2024). Indeed, our selections don’t eliminate the potential for negative environmental impacts. However, we believe that they significantly decrease our reliance on newly extracted raw materials.

Ultimately, it is our perspectives growing up that connect the dots. Coming from locations where the environment is directly associated with daily life, and witnessing the wide-ranging negative impact of convenience, we do not believe that sustainability should not be separated from what we develop.

References

Houssini, K., Li, J., & Tan, Q. (2025). Complexities of the global plastics supply chain revealed in a trade-linked material flow analysis. Communications Earth & Environment, 6, Article 257. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02169-5

United Nations Environment Programme. (2021). From pollution to solution: A global assessment of marine litter and plastic pollution.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2025). Impacts of plastic pollution. https://www.epa.gov/plastics/impacts-plastic-pollution

The Aluminum Association. (2024). Aluminum Agenda: Recycling Overview. https://www.aluminum.org