Reduce, Reuse and Recycle…Improvements we’re making in 2019

Like many businesses and individuals, here at Sketchbook Design we’ve been taking a look at how we can improve the environmental impact that we have. Just watching one episode of David Attenborough’s Blue Planet or Dynasties makes me feel incredibly guilty and has given us a kick up the ass to make some small changes to what we do. If we all make small changes this will surely have a positive effect on the environment…it certainly can’t hurt! Below we’ve outlined some of the plans we have to reduce, reuse and recycle at Sketchbook Design.

 

Swap plastic for paper

One of the first changes we made was to stop using plastic bags at events. I guess this was the obvious step! We’ve exchanged them for paper bags that, while being a bit more expensive, they look some much better and can be recycled by customers.

 

Joined the Naked Card revolution

You may have seen this on Instagram or Facebook but a campaign was started last year to encourage makers to send out their greetings cards without plastic cello bags. We send out a lot of greetings cards each week and when you think about how much one-use plastic we’ve added to the pile, its shameful. From now on we’ll be sending out all of our cards that are ordered online without cello bags. The exception to this is that we still have some in stock that are already packed so while we get rid of those some may still go out in cello bags. We also take part in events and markets so we will be offering customers the cards without cello bags where possible…every little helps.

 

Frames from Sustainable Forests

We purchase our picture frames from a company in Yorkshire and all frames are made on-site. They have just introduced range of frames that are all sourced from sustainable forests so we have switched decided to switch to them. Previously we have used plastic or MDF frames, many of which were produced overseas so it’s also nice to support local UK businesses.

 

Environmentally Friendly Packaging

Soon we’re going to be offering framed prints via the website. We’ve spent a lot of time researching different packaging methods, as we didn’t want to wrap the frames in layers and layers of plastic and bubble wrap to protect them. While we still may use some recycled bubble-wrap and foam protectors we have also purchased biodegradable loose fill to use. We will also be using paper roll fill that can be easily recycled.

 

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle – Future Plans

As we do take part in some outdoor events we do rely on plastic to protect our prints and framed artwork. We are however looking to invest in some biodegradable cello bags once we have used our current supply of bags.

Even with all of these changes I’m still sure that there’s more that we could do to reduce our impact on the environment. If you can offer us any advice on any further improvements to reduce, reuse and recycle please let us know.