SUSTAINABILITY
POSTAGE AND PACKAGING
In 2019 I made the switch from plastic to cardboard packaging in a conscious effort to try and improve my business approach to sustainability. I also offer earring cards as an option, rather than boxes which can be recycled.
What is in your parcel? Your jewellery will come in a branded card box (or earring card) wrapped in a small paper bag for extra protection. I include your order details, a postcard and any other relevant information, together placed inside a cardboard postage box. All of which should be suitable to go in your local recycling, should you not wish to keep the outer packaging.
The foam inserts in my jewellery boxes cannot be recycled but they could be repurposed, or of course used to keep your jewellery carefully stored away. With bigger items of jewellery, I do include a small polishing cloth to help you maintain the appearance of your special piece, and this can be kept safe and reused whenever your jewellery needs a bit of extra shine!
Fortunately my local post office is a 10 minute walk away so no need for a car or public transport, plus I get to do some cloud spotting on the way!
PRODUCTION
There is no such thing as scrap or waste metal from the production of your jewellery. Every last little speck of silver/gold dust is swept up and kept for refining. This means I can continue to use the metal I have, or it can go back into the jewellery industry to be used by other makers. A number of my pieces are made using my scrap metal and I try to use customers old, unworn jewellery to create new pieces when possible. My casting company also uses recycled silver grain in their production.
The resin I use is bought in small amounts and I cast in even smaller quantities to minimise any waste. If I do have left over resin, it gets used up making small studs ready for Christmas!
As a one woman band, I make every piece of your jewellery by hand in my workshop. Any outsourcing I use for specialist skills is to other independent crafts people, continuing to small businesses.
BEACHCOMBING
My seashore collection is made up of casings from real shells I have found on my many beach combing adventures over the years. All empty shells are collected predominantly from beaches in North Wales, North Yorkshire and Norfolk. My girls and I are natural gatherers so we always come home with beach treasures in our pockets and if we have too many, we return them back to nature for others to enjoy! When I'm beach combing I try and take at least one rubbish bag full of litter from the beach in an effort to keep our local shoreline clean. This can be a difficult task when we are a tourist hotspot but every little helps!
There are many ways in which we can all improve our impact on the environment and I try to work as sustainably as possible within my means. If you have any suggestions or feedback on my packaging and work precesses then I would love to hear them! Thank you!