SUSTAINABILITY - the avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance.

RECYCLABILITY - characteristic of materials that maintains useful physical or chemical properties after serving their original purpose allowing them to be reused or remanufactured into additional products

BIODEGRADABILITY - the ability of organic substances and materials to be broken down into simpler substances through the action of enzymes from microorganisms

COMPOSTABILITY - the ability of a product of disintegrating into natural elements in a compost environment within 90 days, leaving no toxicity in the soil

When creating our skincare products, locally sourced, recyclable packaging is our first choice.

To ensure that our cartons and delivery boxes are recyclable, we choose cellulose and water based coatings and cardboard or glass as far as possible. Our soap boxes and glass bottles can also be usefully reused as little storage containers. As our products contain high volumes of plant based oils, it is impossible to use solely biodegradable packaging, as the oils would seep through.

Packaging delivered by ingredient suppliers is reused and recycled and we ensure that we don’t waste any resources in the workshop. There is no single use plastic - if we receive a delivery with plastic bags, plastic bottles or bubble wrap they are all reused, recycled, refilled or returned.

A good use for our big delivery boxes is to break up the cardboard and use it to cover the soil in the organic walled garden where our herbs and flowers are grown. Permaculture and no-dig-gardening methods have been implemented to suppress weeds naturally and promote resilient ecosystems, without destroying the delicate infrastructure and biodiversity within the soil layers. Waste green matter is composted and reused in the garden, preventing evaporation of water from the soil so that plants don't need frequent watering.

Very little heat is used in making soaps or skincare oils - coconut oil and shea butter are solids at room temperature and therefore need to be gently melted, but all other processes are carried out at ambient temperature, in the cold process method, in order to preserve the nutrients of the ingredients and not denature them.

No chemicals are used in the workshop - cleaning and washing materials are biodegradable. Our goal is to run a zero waste, zero chemical and zero plastic business eventually, respecting our environment and our customers. We don't claim to be perfect, but we are learning new techniques and developing our sustainability goals all the time.