I’ve been really trying to make my jewellery business (along with the rest of my life) more sustainable and eco-friendly.
So in terms of my packaging here are some of the things I do:
- My little gift boxes are made from recycled card. I use Tiny Box Company for my boxes as they make a real effort to be sustainable - my daughter and I also joined them on a beach clean they organised last year.
- The jiffy bags I use for sending out are the “green” version, so no bubble wrap padding, just extra layers of paper. They don’t feel as padded as the bubble mailers I used to use, but they do the job for the slimmer earring boxes.
- I also found some dinky cardboard boxes which are a bit more protective for the slighter taller boxes such as those I use for my rings. I pad these out with some compostable and recycled paper.
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As well as the Jiffy Green mailers, I also recycled bubble mailers I have recieved from my suppliers. Again, not as pretty as a shiny new envelope, but I think people understand and appreciate why.
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To reseal the recycled mailers, and also make the new ones more secure I used to use sellotape, but I’ve recently invested in some plastic free tape. I didn’t really twig how much we use sellotape but it comes on pretty much every package I get - and most of it ends up in landfill, so the paper tape is very welcome! It also sticks really well. I’d definitely recommend it.
So far, I think the P&P department of my little biz is doing okay in reducing the impact on the planet. I’d love to hear any other tips/ advice from you on how to be more sustainable and eco-friendly.
I’m slowly working my way through my other processes and materials to see what other changes I can make….it’s a bit of a minefield but I’ll get there - one sheet of recycled sterling at a time