the 5 R's: Reduce, recycle, repurpose, reuse & rot

Since I launched my company in 2020, I've learned so much more about the concept of the 5 R's and how I could incorporate them into my business model. It's become a process of continuous improvement and also creative thinking every time  a new product is introduced. This page has info and really short videos (each under 30 seconds with captions) that I hope inspire you. Here's a quick summary of about my eco-business efforts:

• When I launched my company, I chose soy wax because it's better for all of us (more below), and I included tips & tricks on how to re-use my candle jars. Since then, I took a harder look at all my shipping materials and how to do more than just encourage re-use of my candle jars.
• In 2022, I reduced the impact of my packaging materials by removing  plastic shipping tape and switching to eco-friendly gummed tape. And by choosing a paper tape marked "fragile", it also allowed me to eliminate the fragile stickers I've historically used on my boxes that weren't biodegradable. 
• I've always used corn/potato starch based peanuts in my packaging and will continue to do so. You can save the non-static peanuts for your own use, or watch my video on how to "rot" them!
• While  some of my new body products come in plastic containers, I'm trying to offset the impact by inspiring re-use of the packaging, see the video on flower arranging in my candle jar and/or bath salt packaging.

Since re-using my candle jars is core to so much of my business model, here are two videos showing two different methods for easily & effectively cleaning the wax from your jar for all kinds of repurposing projects!

Method 1: Use a Wax Melter to Clean the Vessel
*the wax melter here is $6 at Michael's craft stores

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REPURPOSE IDEAS

Repurposing is simply about taking something you've purchased and using it in a similar or different way after its original "use-case" is completed. Check out these three fun ideas for repurposing my candle vessels, bath salt containers & cloth gift bags!

Repurpose My 9oz Candle Jar

Repurpose My Fabric Gift Bags

 Candle & Bath Salt Jars for Flowers

ReUSe IDEAS

Reuse focused on avoiding a "single use"...especially with plastics, but with any material. Here are a few video ideas of how we can work together to mitigate the single-use of my shipping materials.

Reuse My Tiny Peppermint Bags

Reuse my Info Card

Reuse my Bubble Wrap

recycle & ROT

I exclusively use the USPS for my shipping, including using their shipping boxes. Per the USPS website, all of their shipping boxes are fully recyclable -- and because of the measures I have taken with gummed paper tape and biodegradable shipping labels, the box you receive from me is "clean & curb recyclable" which means you don't have to do a thing when it comes time to put it in your town's blue recycling bin or whatever process your town uses! 

In these 2 videos, I identify how each shipping component fits with the 5 R's.

Why I chose Etsy

Etsy offests the cabron footprint of every item delivered to one of my customers - Read here for their POlicy on Carbon Offset and their goals by 2030

WHY I CHOSE SOY FOR MY CANDLES

TALK ABOUT WHY 
​

about my BODY product products 

Cruelty Free -- but also safe through FDA audited facility

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