Packaging Without Plastic

Watching online shopping rise to ubiquity over the last decade in London made us keenly aware of the environmental impact of packaging.

Although the mountains of plastic we saw in London finally gave way to stacks of cardboard piling up in driveways, the reality is that much of it ends up in landfills. That's because plastic tape turns cardboard boxes into regular trash.

 As that repeats in South Africa, we wanted feets to commit to only using 100% recyclable (and re-cycled where possible) packaging, without plastic, right from the start. We want to set an example and show that no business needs to use plastic to safely deliver orders. 

Our values, when it comes to packaging:

1. Where a recyclable, sustainable packaging option is available, it must be used. If the cost is not absorbable, the business is not viable. While we still have some plastic packaging lying around, no more of it will be bought or allowed to be used as of 21 August 2023.

2. Recyclable materials contaminated with plastic tape or oils are no better than plastic packaging. All efforts must be made to ensure plastic is not added anywhere in the packaging or logistics chain. 

3. Where possible, packaging materials should be re-used. Pre-used packaging (e.g. boxes from other stores) may be used in your order. Immediate re-use is the most efficient form of recycling. 

4. Just because something is in a recycling bin doesn't mean it's going to be re-cycled. It's our obligation to understand the local recycling process, its limitations, environmental impact, and final output.

5. Know where the recycling goes. There's a big difference between a local facility recycling the neighbourhood's boxes, and a waste company that ships containers of cardboard to the Far East in exchange for carbon tax credits. 

Reasons paper recycling can end up in a landfill:

Some ways paper might be rejected by recycling facilities:

• Covered in plastic tape
• Contaminated with oil-based glues or gums used by some paper tapes
• Covered with food residue (pizza boxes, for example)
• Mixed materials (a paper box with a clear plastic viewing window for a toy, for example)
• Mixed in a bag/box with non-recyclable items or things which use a different process

Remember: all our recycling goes into a big container where it gets spot checked by a man with a clipboard. If he sees a greasy pizza box or a bunch of bubble wrap taped to a box, the whole container gets crushed into a cube and dumped on the landfill, because it's cheaper than cleaning tape glue out of the machines. 

It's up to us.