The Shop Naturally Recycled Packaging Program
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]One of the best things about running your own business is that you get to set the procedures in your own business and use your own moral compass and sense of what is right and fair when you decide how to set up each task that's performed. Since the very first box we packed back in May 2009 when our store opened, we have been running a significant recycled packaging program that we still run to this day.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text="Re-purposed Boxes" font_container="tag:h2|font_size:17|text_align:left|color:%23ff0000" google_fonts="font_family:Roboto%3A100%2C100italic%2C300%2C300italic%2Cregular%2Citalic%2C500%2C500italic%2C700%2C700italic%2C900%2C900italic|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width="1/2"][vc_column_text]There are many things we use in day to day life that get manufactured and only used once, but are certainly good enough quality to be used on repeated occasions. Cardboard boxes fall in to this category, and every day in Australia, I can only imagine how many tens of thousands, and probably hundreds of thousands of boxes get either thrown away or go through the recycling process when they could be used again for something else.
REUSE TRUMPS RECYCLE. ALWAYS.
If you can reuse something, it's better for the planet than sending it straight off to be recycled. Most of our suppliers send our goods to us in boxes that have already been used at least once, which is great. We also re-use the packing materials inside.
On these two trolleys we have around 70 wine boxes. This is just one trip on one day, that's on my way to work, so we're driving past anyway. These boxes are unpacked in store and kept in a neat pile in the corner and collected promptly and taken to our warehouse. These wine boxes have only ever had glass bottles in them and they're still in pristine condition when we get them. From 2009 to the end of 2016, we never bought new boxes to send orders out in. All our orders went out in a re-purposed box, either a wine box or the boxes from our suppliers that our stock arrives in. They are THE perfect choice for us and they are readily available locally.
These days we're just too big to be able to pack all our orders in a re-purposed box, but we still use as many as we can and we always will, until such time that we don't have the storage space for them.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width="1/2"][vc_column_text]
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width="1/2"][vc_column_text]In this photograph you can see a combination of flat packed boxes on pallets and also re-purposed boxed on the bottom row. Most of the new boxes are smaller than a wine box as smaller boxes are really difficult to get for free, so we do purchase these in now. To reduce the amount of time and wastage on the interior packaging, I spent a whole week analysing and measuring every parcel that went through our warehouse and custom designed three boxes that would fit all these orders and minimise the need for internal packaging.
Each box has a cute name - the MUFFIN BOX is the perfect size to fit 6 muffins in. Not that we sell muffins, but that's the size it ended up. The SHAMPOO BOX is sized to stand up shampoo & condition in. Our NOT A PIZZA BOX is a true sign of my weirdness - we were originally going to get it die cut 'like a pizza box' but the price was double, so we got it styled as a normal box that we tape up (with water activated paper tape, not plastic) and so since it's no longer a pizza box, the name stuck.
The MUFFIN BOX which is used for all our smaller orders and make up has even been designed so the bottom doesn't need taping, using as little resources as possible. We have left our virgin boxes blank on purpose in the hope that you will save them and use them for something else.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width="1/2"][vc_column_text]
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width="1/2"][vc_column_text]When all our orders are packed, they are safely packed in to cages and then loaded on to a giant red truck and taken around the corner to the Central Coast Australia Post main hub. We're thankful that it's only a few hundred metres from our warehouse as it allows us to continue to pick and pack your express orders until 1pm and still have them leave us the same day.
We take the time and care to place the heavier orders on the bottom and the lighter orders on the top, and like a game of tetris, there's always a combination of re-purposed boxes and new boxes stacked perfectly with barely a gap left behind.
Inside these boxes is a combination of re-purposed newspaper which we collect from a local retirement village, new paper pads that we make in house with a machine to get as much air in the box as we can while sill protecting what's inside and inner packaging that our suppliers send us. It is all sorted and re-used. Any white pellets are made of corn starch and can be put on your compost or literally dissolve in water.
We are cautious not to use newspaper up against anything that may be permanently marked by it. If you have allergies, please email us after you place your order and tell us.
We are very proud of our recycled packaging program and we take great care to ensure it is all clean and safe to use when packing your parcel. We have saved the need to create over 150,000 new boxes by doing this.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width="1/2"][vc_column_text]
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[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width="1/2"][vc_column_text]In this photograph you can see a combination of flat packed boxes on pallets and also re-purposed boxed on the bottom row. Most of the new boxes are smaller than a wine box as smaller boxes are really difficult to get for free, so we do purchase these in now. To reduce the amount of time and wastage on the interior packaging, I spent a whole week analysing and measuring every parcel that went through our warehouse and custom designed three boxes that would fit all these orders and minimise the need for internal packaging.
Each box has a cute name - the MUFFIN BOX is the perfect size to fit 6 muffins in. Not that we sell muffins, but that's the size it ended up. The SHAMPOO BOX is sized to stand up shampoo & condition in. Our NOT A PIZZA BOX is a true sign of my weirdness - we were originally going to get it die cut 'like a pizza box' but the price was double, so we got it styled as a normal box that we tape up (with water activated paper tape, not plastic) and so since it's no longer a pizza box, the name stuck.
The MUFFIN BOX which is used for all our smaller orders and make up has even been designed so the bottom doesn't need taping, using as little resources as possible. We have left our virgin boxes blank on purpose in the hope that you will save them and use them for something else.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width="1/2"][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width="1/2"][vc_column_text]When all our orders are packed, they are safely packed in to cages and then loaded on to a giant red truck and taken around the corner to the Central Coast Australia Post main hub. We're thankful that it's only a few hundred metres from our warehouse as it allows us to continue to pick and pack your express orders until 1pm and still have them leave us the same day.
We take the time and care to place the heavier orders on the bottom and the lighter orders on the top, and like a game of tetris, there's always a combination of re-purposed boxes and new boxes stacked perfectly with barely a gap left behind.
Inside these boxes is a combination of re-purposed newspaper which we collect from a local retirement village, new paper pads that we make in house with a machine to get as much air in the box as we can while sill protecting what's inside and inner packaging that our suppliers send us. It is all sorted and re-used. Any white pellets are made of corn starch and can be put on your compost or literally dissolve in water.
We are cautious not to use newspaper up against anything that may be permanently marked by it. If you have allergies, please email us after you place your order and tell us.
We are very proud of our recycled packaging program and we take great care to ensure it is all clean and safe to use when packing your parcel. We have saved the need to create over 150,000 new boxes by doing this.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width="1/2"][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]