We Need To Talk…
Posted by Taz Taz on
Here at B&C HQ we talk a lot about our goals. Our personal goals - maybe we want to end the summer bench pressing our personal best? (Okay, that might be more of a pipe dream.) Our creative goals - how can we bring the pretties-on-paper into the real world and onto your wrist? Our business goals - what would our customers like to see next? Is there anywhere in the world we should be focusing on?
One set of goals we can all agree on is we want to leave this world in a better way than we found it.
So this why we need to talk, lovelies.
Our founder Cam has always been passionate about bringing the very best quality true vintage and reproduction jewellery to you - and a lot of consideration goes into doing that in a sustainable way. We want to bring all that colour and sparkle into your lives with minimal impact to our glorious planet!
First up! We want you to receive your B&C jewellery in pristine condition. There’s nothing that revs our creative engine better than seeing your excited unboxing videos on our social channels! You may have noticed we’ve started to reduce the amount of non-recyclable packaging (including biodegradable bags seal bags) we use to get those pretties to your door. If you didn’t then - GOOD! That means we’re like stealthy environmental ninjas with our biodegradable bags. We currently reuse a big chunk of the packaging that you see too. By the end of 2020 though, we hope to have 100% recyclable/biodegradable packaging that still ensures the safety of your pieces.
We’ve also taken a long hard look at the amount of energy our processes use. We reduce the energy used in our office through a number of measures. We use as little artificial light as possible - most our product shots are taken using natural light (check out our instagram to see all the free sunshine gleaming off our goodies!) Any artificial lights we have are low energy and efficient bulbs too. Plus this blog is coming to you from a high efficiency laptop! We make sure our devices are switched off & unplugged when we’re not using them. We don’t use air-con either! Our favourite methods of temperature control are open windows, free sunshine, and if necessary - cute vintage knitwear.
But why is this little blogger telling you all this?
Because there’s still more we can do. There’s still more we WANT to do.
We’re not saying we’ve got it cracked - we still want to bring you Lovelies the most opulent experience we can! We just want to make sure we do it in an environmentally mindful way.
We’ve already cut out the use of lacquer on some product lines and we’re working hard with our partners reduce our processes. The new composition will mean even less impact on the waters around our production houses AND will make our pieces easier to recycle! We’re hoping to implement this within the next 6-12 months.** Now now, we know that our long-wearing resin jewellery isn’t quite the same thing as a single-use plastic-coated coffee cup. Every piece we save from heading to landfill is worthwhile though!
As soon as these pieces hit our shelves - you’ll be the first to know!
November UPDATE!
Here's a quick heads up on our latest changes, Beauties! We've now rolled out all-new paper packaging tape, that even features our gorgeous mascot Dora. This means that our outer/dispatch packaging is now 100% recyclable or biodegradable like our red poly mail bags.
Of course, we're still working hard with our production partners towards our broader sustainability goals. We'll be posting all new updates right here!
NOVEMBER Update part 2!
Moving forward with our plans to be more environmentally conscious you now have the option to remove all plastic packaging from your order.
You can do this simply by Typing “YES” in to the notes on the cart page at the checkout. Opting into this will remove all the protective plastic and biodegradable bags we use around the individual items inside your parcel.
We will instead wrap your items with recyclable tissue paper, as we know some of these goodies may have further to travel. Just know that your new pretty things will be just as well cared for if you choose to leave the plastic behind!
**JULY 2020 Update!
We want you all to know, we’re working hard in the background to change our production processes. These changes will make the business more sustainable. We’ve been working on getting this new approach in place for over a year & a half and we will continue to work towards our environmental goals.
We have faced delays due to the Current Global Pandemic, so are now unsure of a timescale for this. However, we have a cut-off date in mind.
If we are unable to enact the changes we want to see within our timeframe - we will have to consider shifting the nature of the business. Yes, that sounds like a scary prospect. But we only want to share this with you because we need to be completely clear about how strongly we stand by this commitment.
August 2020 Update
We're very pleased to say we've recently teamed up with Ecologi, supporting projects to reduce atmospheric CO2. If you'd like further info on Ecologi & the work they do - just click HERE.
Tx