I have always been an advocate for using glass over plastic. It's a no brainer - glass is recyclable. Plastic pollution is taking over our beautiful lands and oceans at an exponential rate. Did you know that half of all plastics ever manufactured have been made in the last 15 years, with over 8 billion tons of plastic being dumped into our oceans every year! Though I strongly believe it is the biggest companies in the world that need to change so that we as consumers have access to plastic free alternatives and education, we can all do our part to help, no matter how small.
You may have noticed this year we have made a few extra changes to our tops and containers for our products. We are slowly phasing out our plastic tops and we have changed some products to reflect this use.
Previously there simply were no other options, yet humans are amazing and the technology and inventions coming out now are just incredible. We recently visited a packaging exhibition at the NEC and some of the innovations we saw there in terms of using less plastic and more alternatives was mind blowing.
The conscious choices we have made over the years for our business include; all our facial products having no plastic caps, meaning they are all pourable and our essential oils don't come with plastic caps. Plus our thick hand and body lotion (which is coming back soon) comes in a large glass jar - just like our grandparents used to use! One of the positive side effects being that you can get every last drop out of the jar.
We use aluminium tops where possible because there are no limits to the amount of times metal can be recycled. If we do have plastic tops they are PET plastic which can be recycled and our genius human inventors around the world are bringing forward new concepts and ideas for refillable packaging and zero waste consumables. Where possible we us PCR plastic which is already recycled and is sourced in the UK to help keep carbon footprint down.
This year we have sourced new eco pumps that are fully recyclable that we have been trialling on our professional collection too. We also take great care in sourcing recyclable packaging to ship out our products, though we confess we do still have to use bubble wrap when sending our glass bottles overseas as we are yet to find anything that protects these bottles on long journeys, where the boxes get thrown around by all the different couriers. Though if anyone knows of anything to help us reduce our bubble wrap use do get in touch! We have tried the paper bubble wrap and sadly this causes breakages.
Another choice we have made this year was to move our bath salts into glass jars with aluminium lids and our wax melts into aluminium tins, which can both be fully recycled or refilled with our new eco refill bags.
One of the wonderful reasons I love using glass is that not only can you fully recycle it but you can also reuse it too! Our customers use our beautiful glass bottles for all sorts of wonderful things once they are empty such as storage jars or flower vases. They look stunning in a window with the light shining through.
We love seeing photos of what they are reused for. Do send us a photo, we have a prize for the most inventive!
With love,
Sarah
To find out more about Plastic Free July visit their website here.
