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At The Kentish Soap Co we really want to try our bests at minimising our effect on the earth and we do that by sourcing sustainable ingredients, not using any animal products in our range and making sure our packaging is environmentally friendly.
Back in 2018 we pledged by the end of the year our packaging would be completely plastic free. We completed that task in record time and we haven't looked back. All our packaging is now completely recyclable or compostable with not a scrap of plastic in sight.
In this post I'm going to walk you through our packaging, where you can dispose of it without hurting the planet or how you can reuse it!
Soaps
Our soaps come on there own or in a variety of gifts and multi-buy boxes . For our single soaps you'll find them cosied up inside a little Kraft box with a printed card sleeve over the top. Both the box and sleeve are fully recyclable and the ink used to print all our packaging is eco-ink so it won't hurt the environment.
If you want more soap but less packaging our soaps also come in our new "Jayne's marvelous multi-buy box" which is a Kraft postal box with 4 randomly selected soaps and a small piece of recycled tissue paper. I have been told more than once how exciting it is to receive 4 surprise scents and I couldn't agree more!
In all our gift boxes our soaps are completely naked, to reduce the amount of packaging as why do they need to be wrapped if they are already in another box. This means we don't have to put a box, inside a box, inside another box.
Pop all our Kraft boxes and sleeves into your cardboard recycling at home.
They could be reused as storage if you have anything small you don't want to lose such as hair clips.
One of the best reuses I have ever heard of is from one of our lovely customers who told us she takes the soap out, re-closes the boxes, pops the sleeves on and gives them to her daughter to play shop with. What a cute idea!
Hand Creams, Foot Creams, Body Butters and Candles
Our hand creams, foot creams, candles and body butters are put into fully recyclable aluminium tins. 75% of the worlds aluminum ever made is still in circulation which I think is pretty good considering only 9% of plastic is actually recycled in the first place. This makes recycled aluminium a very green metal and we love it. We also use it for our soap travel tins.
Our tin labels are all completely compostable (even the glue!) so what you'll need to do to dispose of these is peel off as much of the labels as you can and pop that either in your household compost or your garden compost (Quick tip: soaking them in warm water will help the labels come straight off!). Then wash your tin and pop it in your can recycling. Easy-peasy lemon squeezy!
Alternatively you could reuse them for other things. Our hand creams and foot cream come as solid bars and we sells refills for them that will fit inside your tins so you can use them again and again. Or you could wash them out and fill them for storage. Fill them with toothpicks, hair pins, nails, coins...
Bath Salts
Our bath salts are poured into glass bottles and topped with metal lids. Our bottles seals are made from natural rubber instead of plastic. The bottles are widely recyclable and can be put into your glass recycling or a bottle bank. The lids can be recycled with your can recycling.
These look great filled with fresh flowers and herbs for your windowsill or dining table! We actually used these a few years ago when my brother got married. Being a gardener by trade he grew all of his own flowers and then my mum (Jayne), my Nan and myself spent a lovely day up-cycling these glass bottles into beautiful flower arrangements. They looked fab as table decorations and then we let people take them home as additional wedding favours at the end of the night. They were a hit!
Bath Truffles
Our bath truffles are very popular with our customers but to this day people are still confused about our single truffle packaging. You see they are packed in.... compostable cellophane! Which is a see-through material that to some looks very much like a plastic bag. Which is why we have to explain ourselves so often at our shows, but we promise they really aren't plastic! These little beauties are made from sustainable wood and are wrapped with natural dyed raffia and a paper tag, making all of this packaging completely compostable. Either dispose of these in your household compost or in your garden compost.
As for the cup the truffles come in, these need to be rinsed under a warm tap to remove the oil, dried out and then they can be recycled or composted.
Our truffles also come in Kraft boxes of 4 with sleeves. These can be recycled just like the soap boxes.
Gift Boxes
All of our gift boxes are Kraft and can be recycled. The twine on our pamper boxes and collection boxes is completely natural cotton and can be put in the compost and all the tags are recyclable or compostable (depending where you want them to go!).
All of our gift boxes could be reused for storage or the pamper boxes would be perfect as wrapping for a friend or family members gift. Why not reuse when you can?
Well that's all folks!
As always please feel free to message us with any questions and we would be more than happy to answer. You can contact us through the website or me personally at emmaw@kentishsoap.com
Keep safe everyone!