Committed to being Green.
Here at The Wrens Nest I try really hard to be as green as I can, not just in the business but in my day to day lives. I'm hoping to instill in my daughter a love of the natural world and a desire to protect it for future generations. It’s an ongoing journey.
Danielle x
“The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.”
In the garden
It starts in the garden with the flowers I grow for using in my products. I don't use any chemical sprays at all in my garden and only use organic feed on my plants, usually seaweed or farmyard manure. I make my own sprays for dealing with bugs that get out of control but they do say that if your garden isn't being eaten by something its not part of the eco system. I guess I have a happy garden then!
I use glass bottles for my oils, which make gorgeous vases or condiment bottles after use. My deodorants come in aluminium tins - one of the most environmentally metals on the planet - or compostable cardboard tubes. These tins are used for lots of different things in our house including being used for crafty bits & bobs, and hair bobbles. I don't wrap my soaps, they just have a paper label (recycled paper) around them with details of the soap.
Glass & tin containers for more sustainable packaging.
It was really important to me to make my gift wrap/gift range as green and environmentally friendly as possible too. I use cardboard boxes for my gift wrap but don't worry, there is nothing plain about them. Your gift is wrapped in pretty, compostable, tissue paper and your gift is tied up with gorgeous ribbon or twine.
My gift wrap is entirely compostable and biodegradable - something I’ve been working towards for a long time.
The ribbons are naturally dyed, by myself, using plants, seeds & flowers such as avocado stones, hibiscus, acorns, annato seeds and more. The ribbons are recycled silk, left over from the sari production industry and produced by small womens co-operatives in rural India.
Silk scarves dyed naturally with hibiscus flowers and annato seeds,
I recently added another gift wrap option to my range so you can now choose to have your gift wrapped in a beautiful, naturally dyed silk scarf.
The entire gift wrap can be composted but I suggest you reuse - the boxes are sturdy and the ribbons & scarves make for gorgeous, unique hair styling!
When you order from the Wrens Nest, you can be guaranteed that not only is your soap and skin care earth friendly but all of the exterior packaging is too!
My tissue paper that your order comes wrapped in and that’s used in my gift boxes is from a company called noissue. Their tissue is completely acid free and FSC certified and their ink is soy ink, made from soybeans as opposed to the traditional petroleum-based inks.
And the best bit is that every time I order from them a tree is planted, in my name, as part of their Eco Alliance Program. Read more about it here.
My raw materials
As mentioned previously, I use flowers grown in my own garden for some of products. They go into infused oils that I make and the dried flowers are used in my soaps and as decoration. I have to get my oils, butters and essential oils from an outside source and I try to make sure I use companies that are also 'green' in their practises. It is often difficult to know everything about a company you are using if you don't have direct dealings with them but I do my best to research and look into as much as I can before I choose to use someone as a supplier. I'm lucky with my main ingredient supplier as they are inadvertently supplying me with my packaging too. They send me my goodies wrapped in a type of corrugated paper that works great for me when I have to post products in glass. Its a win win situation !
“My order arrived quickly and was wonderfully packaged. Delighted with my new soap. Really quick responses to questions even though she has to be insanely busy with Christmas orders at the moment. Very helpful and friendly. I love her environmental ethos. I’ll be back for myself and for gifts. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐....Mary Ni Laomdha”