Packaging and the Environment

Single use plastics are becoming a major problem for the environment, and online shopping and shipping are part of that problem. We aim to re-use and re-purpose, when possible, packaging material that accumulates as part of our business to reduce the amount of extra waste generated by our shop.

Ideally, I would love to use only recycable or compostable material in our packaging, but so far I have not found any 'environmental' packaging that satisfies our requirements. Packaging needs to protect the contents - in my expreience, compostable eco-plastic bags tend to break more easily and are not water-proof.

Packaging also needs to be light-weight and strong - simple paper bags are not strong enough and padded paper bags are much heavier than plastic satchels. The heavier the packaging, the more CO2 is generated when transporting.

Shipping padded paper bags is also a lot more expensive than using flat rate plastic satchels. We try to keep shipping costs low so we can continue to offer flat rate shipping no matter how much you order. We already subsidise the shipping cost of larger orders and we would have to increase our shipping costs substantially if we switched to only using padded paper bags.

For the time being we will continue to use plastic Australia Post Flat Rate Satchels for most of our shipping needs. The plastic satchels are light-weight and strong and offer superior protection for our yarns.

In addition, we wrap yarns in plastic bags inside the packages to protect them just in case the outer layer rips or gets otherwise damaged (which can and has happened).

And that is where we believe we can make a real difference.

For example, we re-purpose cardboard, boxes and bubble wrap to protect fragile items.

We re-use, when possible, plastic wrapping and plastic bags that we receive when buying goods or shipping material.

We ask for your understanding.