Sustainability

We love gift boxes full of beautiful things, but not so much when they are also full of plastic packaging. Our mission is to help you share thoughtful and eco-friendly gifts by striving to make all of our gift boxes and hampers plastic-free.

Did you know that every year millions of tonnes of plastic ends up in our oceans and this is currently on track to increase dramatically? Millions of animals are killed every year by plastic in our environment and the impact on human health of micro-plastics throughout our food chains is still unknown. And if we don’t take strong and immediate action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions life on earth faces huge risk.

But it’s not all bad news! There are many individuals and businesses, particularly small independent businesses, striving to make a difference, taking action to minimise their carbon footprint and providing products that have been responsibly and ethically produced and are free of plastic packaging. And consumers are increasingly driven to consider environmental impact when making purchasing choices. We can all take small actions and collectively have a big impact.

Carefully selected suppliers

We carefully select the suppliers that we work with and are proud to support a wonderful range of businesses all of whom are dedicated to operating in an ethical and environmentally conscious way.

Plastic-free

We strive to avoid single use plastic in our gift boxes and all of our packaging is recyclable and / or compostable. 

Packaging and printing

We have carefully selected all our suppliers based on environmental credentials as well as quality. All of our boxes, packaging and collateral is created from recycled or sustainably sourced FSC-certified stock and are recyclable and / or compostable. The ink used on our boxes and on our postcards, tissue wrap and stickers is water, vegetable or soy-based and the adhesive on our stickers is non-toxic and compostable.

However, we understand that while recyclable and compostable packaging sounds good, it can still be confusing understanding how to actually dispose of everything. So we hope that the below helps, and as always if you have any questions we're always happy to hear from you at hello@sandandsparkle.co.uk.

The gift box - Please feel free to re-use this pretty box! When ready, this is fully recyclable in your curb-side recycling.

Internal packaging - The internal wrapping paper, wood wool and sticker are all suitable for home composting. 

Postcard - We hope you can enjoy the stunning Cornish scene on this postcard for as long as you desire, share it with a loved one or perhaps use for a kids’ craft project! Once ready please pop this postcard into your council recycling. 

Product packaging - We carefully select suppliers who are committed to operating in as environmentally sustainable and ethical way as possible. All cardboard and glass packaging can be recycled.

We are advised that the inner bags in the Exmoor Tea, Westcountry Tea Co, Devon Cottage Organic Fudge and Josh's Chocolates products are all home compostable. All tea bags are biodegradable and while the recommendation is generally to place these in your food waste collection, they will break down in home compost over a couple of months. 

The bag which the Voyager Coffee comes in is hot compostable (if you are unable to hot compost at home you can return to Voyager Coffee). 

Supporting Beach Guardian

We are proud to support Beach Guardian with a donation from each gift box sold donated to support their great work. Beach Guardian CIC is a social enterprise based in Cornwall that organises regular community beach cleans and delivers educational programmes through its Beach Guardian S.E.A.L. (School Education Activities Link) workshops. Their work helps to protect our beautiful beaches and environment, educate and empower communities including children, and bring people together to improve the health and well being of both people and the planet.