Richard Gabriël

Retulp | Richard Gabriël

Website: tulper.nl

Retulp

Richard Gebriël started his company, Retulp, in 2015, supplying environment-friendly drinking bottles to shops like Bever, WAAR, Ekoplaza, Dille&Kamille and Simon Levelt under the Retulp brand. They also print bottles as promotional gifts and for private labels.

Gabriël: ”We wish to stimulate reuse with our Retulp drinking bottles. Hundreds of thousands of pet-bottles and cans are used on a daily basis in the Netherlands. We can prevent a lot of garbage by taking your own refillable coffee cup or drinking bottle with us. We are specialist in all different kinds of reusable bottles in the Netherlands. The thermos bottles and water bottles are produced using sustainable stainless steel, which is highly recyclable. We also produce bottles and lunchboxes made from bio-based materials”. A biobottle primarily consists of cane sugar and there is also a stainless steel bamboo thermos bottle.

Mission Indisposable

The Retulp brand is clearly recognizable by its logo that consists of two waterdrops forming a Dutch tulip. The Netherlands is a water country and that’s why we serve as an example for maintaining plastic-free seas and oceans. We also supply clean drinking water to people in developing countries. For every Retulp drinking bottle sold, we donate 1000 liters of clean drinking water. This way you are always sharing your drink with someone somewhere. In short a beautiful handy bottle for your own use, clean drinking water for someone else and a healthy planet. In the years 2021 to 2025, Retulp aims to donate 25 million litres of drinking water and prevent the use of 25 million single-use bottles every year through their Mission Indisposable campaign.

Export thanks to tourist shops

First exports happened by coincidence. The Retulp bottles are for sale at Schiphol Airport, ARTIS Amsterdam Royal Zoo, Park de Hoge Veluwe, Burgers Zoo and many shops in Amsterdam. Employees of German and Belgian companies bought the bottles as a tourist and, after satisfied usage, decided to order them for their own companies. Many new orders came from this as a result.

Alternatives to plastic

During the first few years, sales came down to 50,000 bottles per year. Gabriël expects to sell 90,000 bottles in 2022. A large part of this growth is expected from abroad. To achieve this, the company's strategy focuses on bringing in foreign distributors and selling products via international platforms.  Another goal is to cooperate more in Apeldoorn because operating on a local scale is enjoyable and sustainable.


Export countries: Germany, Belgium, France