Meet Koala Eco: Bringing Nature Into Everyday Living

At Koala Eco, co-founders Jessica and Paul have built more than just a brand—they’ve created a movement that celebrates the healing power of nature in our homes and daily lives. What began in their Sydney home in 2017 as a search for safe, natural remedies to clean and nurture their family’s environment has since grown into a globally recognised eco-conscious company. Inspired by childhoods spent immersed in the outdoors—Jessica in the forests of New England and Paul in country Western Australia—they combined their shared love of nature with a deep commitment to health and sustainability. Today, their award-winning range of non-toxic, plant-based cleaning and personal care products harnesses the therapeutic benefits of Australian native botanicals, offering both effectiveness and emotional wellbeing.

More than just a response to a market gap, Koala Eco was born out of a life-changing moment when their youngest son faced a serious health challenge. This experience cemented their dedication to removing harmful toxins from everyday living and reinforced their belief that connection to nature is essential for wellbeing. With products that are vegan, cruelty-free, safe for families and pets, and packaged in recycled materials, Koala Eco continues to lead by example in redefining what sustainable living looks like. Their mantra—More Nature, Feel Better—is at the heart of every product, reminding us that caring for our homes, our health, and the planet can go hand in hand.

Let’s dive in!

1 Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your journey?

My husband Paul and I are co-founders of Koala Eco, a company making non-toxic plant-based products for a clean home, body and mind, using pure essential oils from Australian native botanicals. We started it from our Sydney home in 2017, and we now also make and retail our products in the States. 

I grew up in Boston and was influenced by my grandmother, who would take my sister Dee and me on long hikes through the forests around her New England home, pointing out all the flora and fauna. Paul was raised in country Western Australia. So we both grew up loving nature. Paul and I met while working in New York City and our story developed from there! We have two tweenage/teenage sons, Emerson and Arthur.

2 What inspired you to start your eco-friendly business?

When we became parents Paul and I wanted to use natural remedies and solutions to clean our home. However, as a five-week-old baby Arthur was diagnosed with neuroblastoma. It wasn’t down to anything other than bad luck, but I don’t think anything can prepare you for hearing your child has cancer. Thankfully, due to fantastic treatment, Arthur fully recovered, but our resolve to live as healthily and as close to nature as possible really intensified. 

Having failed to find safe and efficacious household cleaning products, we started Koala Eco to make our own. We soon realised Koala Eco had the potential to be much more than an ordinary cleaning products company. We wanted to bring more nature into people’s everyday lives, and to do that we needed to bring some of our own experiences into how we shaped and grew the Koala Eco brand. One of the most important of these experiences is simply that the more time we spend in nature, the better we feel. So sharing the benefits of the connection between nature, wellness, mental health and lifestyle (including how we choose to clean our homes) has become an overarching purpose for Koala Eco. 

3 Tell us about the products you make. What makes them unique?

So Koala Eco makes natural products for cleaning, home and personal care. The key ingredients are pure essential oils from Australian native botanicals like Lemon Myrtle, Rosemary and Peppermint. In addition to their antibacterial properties, these oils have therapeutic and mood-enhancing benefits. As ingredients in our products, they smell divine (no added or artificial fragrance) and are safe for everyone, youngest to eldest, in the family. Plus pets! 

Our products meet rigorous safety standards. We are certified toxic-free, made-safe, allergy-certified, vegan and cruelty-free. Our products do not contain any dyes, masking agents, synthetic perfumes, chlorine, bleach, sodium laurel sulfates or phosphates. All of our products are non-toxic, vegan, grey-water safe, and plant-based. Nothing we make is, or ever will be, tested on animals. 

Imagine your bathroom smelling of head-clearing Eucalyptus and Peppermint (essential oils in our Multipurpose Bathroom Cleaner and Natural Glass Cleaner respectively) instead of bleach. Your clothes and bed linen washed in either of our Laundry formulas, Lemon Scented Eucalyptus and Rosemary, or Mandarin and Peppermint. First of all they do an amazing cleaning job, and as a bonus, the aromas of the essential oils also get to work on the limbic system of our brains, regions related to emotion, memory and behaviour. 

4 How do you source your materials?

We source our oils from a company that has its own farms in New South Wales and also connects to a network of small independent growers across Australia.  They grow, produce and supply wholesale essential oils to other companies all over the globe. These farms are harvest rainwater and use 100% renewable energy. They supply a huge range of traceable and sustainable Australian essential oils and botanicals from top-quality plants.

5 What does sustainability mean to you and your business?

On a personal level, we try to reduce, re-use, recycle, and embed those practices in family life. 

On a practical level, none of our products contain anything harmful to people, pets or the planet. We’ve always used recycled packaging, and made refill sizes available. We were overjoyed when we campaigned successfully in 2019 to move to rPET bottles for our packaging, so Koala Eco is no longer responsible for causing new plastic bottles to be made. We’re also entering partnerships that move us closer to being plastic-neutral: for example, we’ve recently partnered with Repurpose Global, a worldwide movement set up by ‘young, passionate millennials and future custodians of the planet’ to address the global plastic pollution crisis. We're supporting projects that minimise and encourage creative re-use of plastics in Indonesia, Cameroon and Kenya.

On a more philosophical level, we’re really proud that Koala Eco was one of the first businesses to be invited to re-badge as a dot-eco company by the Vancouver-based dot-eco movement, launched by two former United Nations Environment Programme staffers. 

6 What challenges have you faced in building a sustainable brand?

The biggest challenge has been managing family life and a business so that the time and energy devoted to both is of quality, and is not compromised. A lot of discipline, determination, adjustment and self-forgiveness are involved, but it is possible. 

7 What are you most proud of in your journey so far?

To date, we’ve prevented 5.5 million new plastic bottles from entering circulation thanks to Koala Eco’s use of recycled and recyclable rPET bottles, and we’ve stopped over 2.3 million litres of toxic liquids from entering homes and waterways. 

We give back as often as we can: we give a percentage from each product sold to 1% for the Planet, an environmental group committed to protecting land, forests, rivers and oceans, and which encourages sustainable methods of energy. We’re also proud sponsors of WWF Australia, 1% for the Planet and Oceanic Society’s Critter Scholars Program, which helps disadvantaged teenagers get up close to and learn about marine wildlife and conservation.

8 Any tips for customers who want to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle?

Small changes make a significant impact. I’d suggest being mindful of waste, using up food scraps and leftovers (which also potentially saves households a lot of money). Being scrupulous with recycling. It’s important to separate out paper, glass, metals and hard plastics from regular household or office waste, and make sure these items are clean before taking them to recycling centres or in the recycling bin for your local authority’s regular curbside collection. Many stores and recycling centres will take e-waste like batteries. Other things to consider are reducing how much clothing you buy: opt for re-wear, recycle, or repair (it's also more creative). Swap books with friends or use the library instead. Buy local and get shop receipts emailed to you so they’re not printed out on thermal paper. Buy refills whenever possible. Think about what might be going into landfill from your home, and try to avoid that happening as much as possible. 

Simple adjustments, such as reducing plastic use, recycling more effectively, conserving energy, or opting for public transport, can contribute to a more sustainable lifestyle without major disruption. Some people assume that eco-friendly options are difficult to find or inconvenient to implement in everyday life, but this is also a myth. As more companies adopt eco-friendly practices and offer sustainable products, these choices are becoming more accessible and convenient. Online shopping, local markets, and even large retailers now provide eco-conscious alternatives, making it easier than ever to choose sustainably.

9 Where can we find you or learn more about your work?

Aussies can find us at https://koala.eco/ and access all our products in our online range. You can also find the stores we’re stocked in at 
https://www.tiktok.com/@koalaeco
https://www.instagram.com/koalaeco/
https://www.facebook.com/koalaeco
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUeAsw67Q0iNUwqnvymkDuw

10 Finally, what does the future hold for your brand?

We’ll continue to develop more products in our home and body range, and explore synergies with other companies and retailers who share our values. Our mantra is More Nature, Feel Better, and our purpose is to help people bring more nature into their everyday lives. There’s a growing body of research proving that humanity’s connection to nature is one of the most precious things we have, and we need to nurture that connection for our own physical, emotional and psychological wellbeing. 

This something that First Nations Peoples all over the world have always understood, and shared through their stories and cultures. Connecting with nature is one of the easiest, cheapest and most meaningful ways to invest in our personal wellbeing. It’s medicine. And it’s a reciprocal thing: if we care for nature, nature cares for us.