I like the Earth, it's where I keep all my stuff.
As a small business (and as a member of the human race) it means a lot to me that we tread as lightly upon this earth as possible. We only have one earth and the damage that excessive consumerism is doing to it makes me so sad. Here are some ways we're doing our best to limit our footprint on the planet:
We will always recycle any plastic packaging we receive. Although we use tissue and other paper packaging, if you ever receive your order in bubblewrap from us, it's already been used at least once before! We've never bought plastic packaging. If you can save it for use again, then this is always better than binning it. Enjoy gardening? Bubblewrap can be used on your greenhouse windows in winter to prevent heat loss, or you can wrap your plants in it to protect them from frost.
We are rapidly reducing plastic cello sleeves. The overwhelming majority of our suppliers are now able to send us greeting cards 'naked' (ie: not in individual cello sleeves). We are slowly working through our stock of sleeved cards, and hope that our greeting cards will be entirely plastic free in the next couple of years.
Paper and our grove of trees 99% of the cards we stock come from FSC certified board - this means that all our paper comes from responsibly managed forests, where timber is harvested without damaging biodiversity or disrupting natural processes. When able, I like to give back to the environment as much as I can. A percentage of each sale of our Sweary Pencil Sets goes towards an expanding grove of trees, helping to restore the Caledonian Forest as part of the Trees for Life project. You can see our grove and find out more here.
We stock gifts that are ethical and have low impact on the environment Many of our gifts are from the UK, made in small quantities and have a low carbon footprint. The chocolate we stock is slave free, palm oil free and the manufacturer gives back to the workforce in Colombia. Many of the bags we stock are made from recycled plastic bottles, the Vent notebooks we stock are made from recycled material and money from the sale of these books goes towards educating children. Wherever possible, I will always buy ethical, not-mass produced stock. It's more interesting, more exciting, more fuzzy feelings! And you won't see the same plastic tat on our shelves that you see in other gift shops, I promise!
The little things that all add up:
- Paper Tape - we use paper tape on all our packaging, making it easier to recycle.
- Working from home - we do not have massive offices to maintain (or a fleet of cars!), just one reasonably-sized room in our house, packed to the rafters with cards and stock!
- I walk your orders to the post office - every day! It helps my daily step-count too!
And finally... this isn't a page about virtue signalling. I'll be the first to hold up my hand and say we are not perfect, this business, like life, is a work in progress! As a smaller business, we are often at the mercy of the decisions of bigger businesses, and reliant on their innovation to filter down and become affordable enough for us to adopt. But.... if you ever feel like we're not doing enough, or you've heard of something environmentally beneficial that you think we should be adopting, drop me an email: claire@thecuriouspancake.co.uk and I'll gladly take a look and see if it's something we can do.
Cheers for now!
Earth illustration by StormyKnight