Hello everyone! I’ve decided to take a bit of a breather from the work grind to write instead.
Most of you are probably aware of our efforts to reduce our reliance on plastic, especially when it comes to packaging our soap. In 2014 we began selling our soap in beeswax cotton wraps, which are made in-house and entirely by hand. Then to push the envelope further with regards to minimizing packaging, we started offering the option of buying our soap without any form of wrapping.
And from what we have observed, it really is possible to do away with packaging entirely–I am so happy to see this! You all are truly helping to reduce our environmental impact.
So much of our modern-day city life is saturated with messages that imply that you need more of something or other in order to be happier / more successful in life. I disagree. We can be happier with less stuff, to make more room for other more fulfilling pursuits. (For more practical ideas or discussions about what minimalism really is, I encourage you to visit this inspiring website.)
So in terms of the products that you buy, you have shown us that you care more for the product itself, and that you are quite happy to do away with superfluous packaging.
We have also chatted with numerous customers who shared that they have simplified their skincare routines to basic cleansing with soap, and moisturization if necessary. You make your own simple yet nourishing and effective scrubs out of foodstuff that you already have in your kitchen (yay!) – which means purchasing less cosmetic products in their own packaging. Your skin doesn’t need much more than that, unless you have a medical condition that requires special treatment.
Using less also means you are channeling fewer things to landfills.
So, to those of you who have been purchasing our soap bars, wrapped or otherwise, thank you for helping us do our bit to reduce our environmental impact in the course of meeting your skincare needs.
Operationally speaking, we’re taking little steps forward to encourage recycling, reusing and reducing waste material. Our ingredients arrive in plastic jerry cans, bags, and bottles made of plastic, glass and aluminium–we try our best to recycle all of these. I’ve made our cleaning kakak responsible for the collection of all our recyclable plastic bottles and containers, so that she can sell them for additional income (she seems quite happy with this arrangement). Glass bottles are a little trickier because of their weight and fragility, but I think CRC would be willing to come over to collect them to be sold to recycling centres too (although I’ve heard that glass doesn’t command as good a price as paper or plastic).
Paper scraps from our soap mold liners are used to wrap our free soap samples (so we can ditch the plastic zip lock bags). This was Christine’s idea.
We have also begun stamping our soap bars with their names, along with their “best used by” dates, so they are easy to identify even in the absence of any form packaging.
I’m sure there will be more we can do. Lots of inspiration came from the practices of other eco-conscious people around us – like yourselves!
Do share with us what you do to reduce your use of packaging for cosmetics, or for any other area in your daily life, for that matter. It’s always interesting to hear your stories. 
And again, because we can’t say this enough–THANK YOU for doing your bit for our environment. You inspire us to follow suit.
Have a terrific week ahead!
Much love,
Michelle
p/s: Have a peek at our range of soap bars here – those of you with skin concerns may benefit the most from what we have to offer.