Happy Pixie is in the process of transitioning towards more eco-friendly packaging and materials in our production wherever this is possible. As a small business it will be necessary to use up existing supplies until they have gone, but future purchases will be more focused on reducing environmental impact.
All new packaging used will be eco-friendly (recycled,recyclable or a combination of both of these). I will also aim to reuse packaging where possible that has been used by my suppliers to send materials to me (which may have plastic parcel tape attached as sent to me by them). I have already invested in some plant based packets as an alternative to single use plastic packets for protecting the stickers in the card envelopes when they are posted out. These are made in the UK from PLA (Poly-Lactic-Acid) vegetable starches from annually renewable crops and are compostable and biodegradeable. They break down naturally into CO2 and H2O (not microplastics) and can be put into the home compost bins. (Please note that currently the peel off seal strip is not compostable but the suppliers are working towards manufacturing a biodegradeable alternative to this. I will keep the site updated once this changes in the future). I also will be using paper parcel tape rather than plastic tape. My sellotape is also plant based. The gift boxes that earrings and necklaces are presented in are also made from 100% recycled card and are also re-useable and recyclable.
Materials used in production will be recycled/recyclable where the product allows (once existing supplies have been used up), while taking consideration of the high quality of the product that you would expect when buying. For example, many of my products using paper or card (such as gift tags) can be created using recycled card but items such as the art prints require a much higher quality card. The prints would still be recyclable though. Some materials may be sourced from nature but they will always be responsibly gathered from a renewable source. An example of this would be some of the fleece that is used in the creation of my felted products is sourced from a local farm who wanted to dispose of the fleece from their sheep flock. The fleece needed to be removed from the sheep for their welfare and comfort and so it was a waste product. This was then cleaned by me and dyed using natural dyes such as beetroot juice, which was a by-product of my homemade batch of beetroot chutney! I grew the beetroot myself using organic, no-dig methods and the leftover juice would otherwise have been tipped away on the compost heap. Dried flowers added to handcrafted paper products will have been taken from my own garden and dried by myself. As I said, I am a small business and my products are not mass produced! Everything is individually crafted with care, thought and love.