Editor's note: Thorne's dissolvable disc suite has been discontinued. Learn more about our other offerings here.

Healthy individuals start with a healthy planet.

Thorne has built its approach to personalized health and wellness on scientific solutions. The same holds true for our sustainability efforts; just as good health is a journey and not a destination, so too is the pursuit of sustainable solutions. From the supply chain to the consumer, Thorne responsibly delivers a clean formula to the market.

At Thorne, sustainability isn’t a promise, it’s the way we do business. Although other companies preach sustainability, we achieve our goals by making real changes to our operations.

From research and development to production and shipping, we explore every possibility to find new ways to reduce emissions and eliminate waste. 

Here are three things you should know about Thorne’s sustainability practices.

1. Sustainable sources

We take pride in being a steward of the botanical ingredients we use in our supplements. Protecting endangered botanical resources is how we source ingredients in a responsible way. We scrutinize farming and manufacturing methods to safeguard quality and purity, and also to ensure sustainable harvests.

Kelp – a sustainable superfood. Nutrient-dense kelp is a seaweed vital to ocean health. A significant portion of the emissions of carbon and nitrogen ends up in the oceans, which alters the pH balance of the water, making them more acidic and less habitable for marine plants and animals. Kelp, which grows in shallow coastal waters all over the world, does an excellent job of absorbing carbon and nitrogen from the environment. 

Kelp grows rapidly (up to two feet daily) and sends much of its biomass into deep water, where it can sequester carbon dioxide and nitrogen. In fact, a kelp forest can potentially sequester 20 times more carbon per acre than a land forest.

As a bonus for human health, kelp is nutrient-dense and low in calories. A 2-ounce serving of fresh kelp is only 25 calories and contains nearly 20 different vitamins and minerals, particularly calcium, vitamin B12, omega-3 fatty acids, and iodine. This is especially beneficial for individuals on a plant-based diet.

Thorne has connected with Atlantic Sea Farms, an aquaculture network of farmers and fishers who operate off the coast of Maine to grow and harvest native species of kelp in specially designed line farms, which greatly fosters a balanced aquatic habitat. This model places a priority on farmers, community, and the Earth to direct us to a whole new way of producing food. What’s more, the kelp from Atlantic Sea Farms is grown in the heavily regulated and clean waters of Maine, avoiding the heavy metal content in seaweed coming from southeast Asia, which comprises almost 99 percent of the seaweed currently consumed in the United States. We are proud to use the kelp from Atlantic Sea Farms in Thorne’s Daily Greens Plus.

2. Consumer conscience

To foster ecological and cultural responsibility, Thorne engage and educates consumers, suppliers, and employees to solicit their endorsement and support for our sustainability efforts. 

We believe the environment should never be compromised for the sake of business gain. At Thorne, good business and doing our part to protect the environment and its resources go hand-in-hand.

Sustainable products for sustainable wellness.When our research and development team is creating a new formula, they ask, “How can we innovate while ensuring our planet’s resources stay around?”

That kind of thinking sparked the idea for a new kind of nutritional supplement. We asked, “How can we remove water from the enhanced water equation? Imagine something like a gallon of alternative milk delivered like a sheet of paper in an envelope and reconstituted at home. And can we do this while also removing plastic from the bottled beverage industry?”

This forward thinking evolved into Thorne’s  dissolvable supplement discs – a first-of-its-kind supplement format delivering a nearly zero carbon footprint. 

By removing water from the enhanced water equation, our dissolvable supplement discs produce 53-percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions per 8-ounce serving, compared to the industry standard of shipping water-bloated, single-use bottles. Each dissolvable disc is dropped into a reusable water bottle or stirred into a glass for easy, on-the-go nutrients without relying on plastics.

What’s more, the packaging for our revolutionary discs is plastic-free, compostable, made from recycled materials, and certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. Look for their logo on our growing lineup of dissolvable disc supplements. 

Employee education. Greener begins at home. To nurture a culture of greener and cleaner, we provide resources to our employees on measures they can take at home and in the office to reduce waste, invest in sustainable practices, and support local biodiversity.

Our Thorne United Team carries out a Help the Pollinators campaign, providing employees with free flowering seeds and compostable starter pots to plant at home, along with tips on how to turn their at-home green space into a bee- and butterfly-friendly sanctuary. We have introduced a design competition for a Thorne Employee Appreciated & Meditation Garden to beautify our campus in Summerville, South Carolina, with native plants and natural materials.

To further support our employees during times of economic difficulty, we provide resources for ride-share services and carpooling networks to diminish the impact at the gas pump and reduce emissions from daily commutes.

3. Responsible operations

Extraordinary products demand extraordinary goals to reduce emissions and eliminate excess waste. As our sustainability roadmap evolves, we have redefined long-term solutions to eliminate unnecessary waste. From our revolutionary dissolvable disc supplements that use plastic-free compostable packaging, to our shipping supplies made from recycled materials, we defy industry standards to reduce environmental resource consumption and waste. 

Rethinking shipping. From our shipping boxes to the padding material inside them, nearly all our shipping supplies are made from recycled materials or are themselves recyclable. In 2022, we switched from poly/plastic mailers to kraft recycled and compostable paper mailers – removing more than 300,000 single-use plastic mailers from downstream waste. The corrugated boxes we use are made from 100-percent renewable sources. We also implemented an innovative paperless “pick, pack, and ship” system that reduces paper waste in delivering wellness solutions to consumers.

Industry-redefining innovation. We employ recycling bins for aluminum, plastic, and paper throughout our offices, and we recycle toner cartridges and electronic equipment. We are continuously implementing ways to boost efficiency, such as utilizing high-efficiency electrical equipment, including LED and motion-detector lighting, renewable energy sources, and high-efficiency HVAC units. The bottles in which we package our capsules and powders are PBDE-free to improve our environmental footprint.

On the horizon of our effort to redefine the industry, we will replace the plastic jars for our powdered products with environmentally friendly gusset bags. These bags eliminate headspace – the empty air that occurs as powder settles inside a rigid container. This change will reduce shipping emissions, because an estimated 26 pallets of jar supplements will be consolidated into a single pallet of gusset bag supplements. All this will enable us to transport more supplements on fewer trucks, removing vehicles from the roads and cutting emissions on the way to delivering health and wellness solutions to your home.

Sustainability, redefined

Thorne is guided by the drive to make the world healthier. Through sustainable ingredients, informed consumers, and responsible operations, we are empowering people to take control of their health and wellness, as well as the health of their planet.

You can follow our mission and stay informed by subscribing to emails from Thorne, checking out other articles on sustainable initiatives, and by following us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.