Who is Kai Beljon
Let’s start with a personal touch, I am a 33-year-old family man with 3 beautiful kids and a lovely wife living in the south of the Netherlands. I am a sports-minded person with interest in health and nature. I’m sociable and helpful and was raised by hard working business owners. Completed my business education and started working in our family business in 2013 and am now running it with my brother Sico.
Chi Natural Life has been run by my father for decades and we are proud to say that we are developing, producing and selling 100% natural products since 1979. Our core business is Aromatherapy, natural cosmetics and health supplements, with a catalogue of over 500 products. In our opinion nature brings us great ingredients that can help us solve all kinds of health issues. We use only 100% natural ingredients, since the start of our brand in 1979.
The markets we are selling to are very big, with lots of competitors. Especially since online sales have become booming. Small new brands came up very fast and got a piece of the cake. We have a very good distribution into pharmacies, natural product shops, organic supermarkets. Our products are also popular in healthcare organizations such as hospitals and nursing homes. Beauticians love working with our natural products and have been promoting and selling them for decades now.
We are always looking for better solutions, new ‘green’ packaging and innovations. We haven’t been able to replace all plastics in our products, but we do our best, keeping up with the latest trends. A very good example is our way of packing and shipping orders. For over 30 years we have been using 100% NATURAL AND BIODEGRADABLE filling material for all of our orders. Millions of liters empty space in our packaging was not filled by plastic air bags or plastic foam parts but by 100% natural corn-based foam particles. These kinds of great solutions are available for decades but because of higher costs, companies without the same sustainability intentions as Chi Natural Life do not use them.
It’s in our company DNA, we do not do these things because being more sustainable or ‘green minded’ is a trend and the public who wants this more and more. We have been working like this for many years, Ton Beljon who is the previous owner and director of Chi Natural Life is still active in our company as an advisor but has always put this matter on the agenda.
Keeping up with innovations en getting enthusiastic about new developments, although innovations cannot come fast enough and are very much needed!
Get into the bottom of it if you really want to make a difference! I almost made a mistake buying 100% recycled plastic packaging from a packaging selling company in Europe. After some research I knew that the production was done in China, and they made the packaging from NEW plastic grains. The plastic grains were produced from raw materials and stamped as final product, then the plastic grains were used to make the packaging and sold as ‘’recycled’’. Even giving the PET material a light grey finish to make it match real recycled PET.
I do my best but of course I’m not perfect, I’m doing everything what I have learned and I am teaching my kids these same principles and values. Of course, we try to educate our customers as well, which feels like a personal mission.
Buying personal items you use a lot in bulk or re-use items when possible, this is not only personal but also in business. Why throw away something you received in logistics if you can use it for a new shipment of your own?
I think Europe is heading in the right direction, it could be better of course, but the big problems are abroad. Knowledge in communities and waste management by governments in other parts of the world are the most important next steps.
I think all the above are important and should be on the urgent agenda. Governments have the biggest role in educating their people, unnecessary pollution (such as throwing your garbage in the rivers) must be punished and must be stopped.
I believe the biggest misunderstanding about sustainability is that it's only about the environment or that it requires giving things up — like comfort, convenience, or economic growth. In reality sustainability is about creating systems that work better for both people and the planet. It’s not just about reducing harm, but about finding smarter, more efficient, and more equitable ways to live together and do business.
I think microplastics are horrible. Knowledge and news about this topic aren’t spread wide enough and it is not getting the attention it deserves. It’s a silent killer and I think companies who used these ingredients in their products while knowing the potential risks are criminal enterprises…Letting unaware people consume products like this is unacceptable.
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