We reuse, repurpose, and recycle packaging whenever we can. If we have to buy new, we make sure that it's either compostable, recyclable,
or made from recycled materials.
The biodegradable packing peanuts are made from natural, nontoxic sources, such as wheat and corn starch. They dissolve in water and can
be thrown into compost piles after a single use. We don't buy these, we reuse them from packaging we are sent from our suppliers.
Any plastic packaging that comes from us is repurposed. Any bubble wrap or air pillow cushioning, etc., is all repurposed from orders that we receive from suppliers, or that we collect from personal orders. All our staff and friends collect boxes and packaging for us to reuse!
Clean paper, like tissue paper, butcher's paper, scrunched brown packing paper - all of these get sorted and reused to protect parcels.
We don't get enough clean paper for our needs, so we also buy butcher's paper that's made from recycled newspaper.
If we have to use new satchels, we choose certified compostable satchels from Heaps Good Packaging.
We reuse as many cardboard boxes as we can for packing your orders. Boxes that are too large, or too damaged for us to reuse get collected
and recycled by a specialist cardboard and paper recycler so that we know that it's actually being recycled.
When we need extra cardboard boxes, we get them made locally (right here in Melbourne) so that we can reduce our eco footprint, and of
course the boxes themselves are recyclable. We also have lovely customers who drop them back in to us so we can use them again!
A note on "plastic free" packaging. We don't buy new plastic packaging, and we give feedback to our suppliers that we are trying to reduce plastic packaging in our warehouse. However, sometimes your order will come to you with plastic packaging. Rest assured that we have not bought any of this new, but we think that it's better to reuse the plastic packaging that we received as many times as possible. Throwing away plastic packaging so that we can buy new biodegradable packaging seems wrong to us!
This is just one of Hello Charlie's sustainability initiatives. You can read more on our sustainability page here, or you can drop us an email with any questions that you have to info@hellocharlie.com.au