I can’t believe it’s only a year since I started moving towards more eco-friendly packaging. I thought it would be a slow process but almost all my plastic packaging is gone, and there have been no complaints from my customers.
The latest stage was switching to glassine bags, which can be recycled as paper. I like these a lot as I can still see what’s inside and they keep the finish protected while they’re being stored ready for shipping. I’m now using them for all my pins/brooches, badges, magnets, keyrings. polymer stamps, notepads and writing paper.
My polymer stamps got new backing cards too. My main problem now is wholesale orders for shops, and craft markets. In those situations, the customer does need to see the product clearly and it needs more protection from all the extra handling. With craft markets, I will probably have sample display items alongside packaged items. Hopefully shops can move towards doing something similar too.
One of the reasons this happened so quickly is because my customers were so supportive so please remember that your voice counts and keep asking for plastic-free packaging when you order online. If shops get enough feedback about this, they will have to make changes.
I’ve decided to start doing this in future as it’s so depressing when I order an enamel pin and it’s in a plastic cello bag and bubble wrap envelope. We can all do better, and we need to.
