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Environmentally Responsible Wax Melt Packaging


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I'm feeling guilty about all the plastic I'm sending to land fills with my different wax melt packaging options. Individual shrink wraps are better than those adorable plastic cups, but not much better IMO. I can put a few in a plastic bag I guess but I'm not thrilled with that option either. Even the clamshells make me uncomfortable...

Any suggestions?

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I'd forgotten completely about recycling. I'll include that on my labels and if I ship out I'll put in a note (on scrap paper, of course) to please recycle.

Vio I'd never even thought of soap boxes. I have some - I'll have to see how my melts fit.

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I think that some bag or box or a container that could be re-used by the customer would be the best. I had a friend give me a Christmas gift in a beautiful little cloth gift bag and of course I am keeping it and if I wanted, I could re-use it to package a gift to someone else: much better than a paper gift bag that you throw and much better than recycling. You never get 100% of the original material out of the recycling process, much is lost plus it uses a lot of chemicals, energy etc. Let us know once you find what you feel comfortable with .... I am sure many of us would like to hear or see a picture of what you ended up using.

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Guest Candelishis
If you are feeling guilty about using plastic, take the ecological footprint quiz and see what else you might find out. Very interesting and informative. check it out http://www.earthday.net/footprint/info.asp

Eek...Mine was 24!! Which is exactly average for people in my area, they say. But man, that's scary. We have NO public transportation here or in the surrounding counties, and to recycle anything we have to take it 30 miles away.

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Be careful with that recycling label stuff ..

The votive and tart clamshells I see most often are made from PVC, which is technically recyclable but NOT in your little blue curbside box. I don't pretend to understand why that is but that's what the guy from Impact MFG told me and they're the ones that make those things :)

If you can find ones made from APET, that WOULD be curbside recyclable and would merit that mention on your label. Most customers aren't going to take the PVC ones to a special recycling place, they'll just throw it away. I'm actually waiting on a quote from Impact to make a 9 and a 12 cavity votive clamshell mold from the APET material. We'll see how expensive it looks :)

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Ah - what you said makes Top's post make sense (in a way). Let me know if APET votive clamshells are reasonable - if yes I can follow up with a query about ones for melts.

The city actually provides an explanation. It seems that even if a municipality accepts the other plastics, they are not necessarily being recycled.

At present, NYC's recycling program accepts ONLY plastic bottles and jugs. CHECK THE NECK: if it's smaller than the body, put it in the recycling bin. If it is NOT a bottle or jug, put it in the regular garbage.

Over 90% of all plastic bottles and jugs are made of #1 PET and #2 HDPE. Other plastic items, including tubs, trays, pots, toys, and bags, may be composed of any number of other resins (PS, LDPE, PVC, etc.) that are present in extremely low quantities in our waste stream.

Plastic resins must be sorted by type before they can be used to make new products. The presence of even small quantities of “contaminating” resins can ruin an entire batch of recycled plastic. Markets for recycled plastic are strong for PET and HDPE due to their significant presence in the waste stream and consumer commodities. Markets for other resins, due to their relatively small presence in the material economy, are weak or lacking. For both reasons, it is economically and environmentally advantageous to concentrate on HDPE and PET recycling over other resins.

While some plastic yogurt and other wide-mouth containers are composed of #2 plastics, some are composed of other plastics, such as #5 (polypropylene) plastic. Wide-mouth containers or plastic bags made from #2 plastics can't be recycled along with #2 plastic bottles because they are formed differently and have different melting points.

In other municipal recycling programs in the U.S., such as San Francisco, residents are encouraged to recycle all plastics in order to maximize the recycling rate of HDPE and PET. If residents do not have to think about which plastic to recycle or to discard, the thinking goes, they will recycle more overall. In such programs, non-HDPE and non-PET resins are usually sorted out and discarded at the recycling plant. In New York City, high labor and transportation costs suggest that such an approach is not worth the expense and extra citizen effort.

However, the City’s new Solid Waste Management Plan, which details how NYC will manage its solid waste for the next twenty years, includes a directive to explore the recycling of additional plastics.

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It isn't very difficult for us in Germany to recycle all kinds of plastic and other materials as there are containers for all kinds of recyclable material everywhere.

But it is best to avoid as much waste as possible, of course.

I guess all of us can do better, me included of course.

I'll think about new packaging as well.

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This is one of my biggest "issues" with my packaging for candles & melts.

Because I do sell at a few craft fairs I always have a fairly good selection ready made but I don't use shrink wrap, for ecological reasons, so at present each candle or votive is wrapped for storage in bubble wrap which can be re used at a later date. I really do need to source boxes for the candles tho as after a few outings they sometimes end up with a little knock here or there.

Melts are individually wrapped in acid free tissue paper & labelled, leaving the clamshells as the only plastic being used.

It is possible to get bio-degradable cello wrap but I haven't tracked down a U.K supplier as yet...the search continues.

What do other folk use as alternatives to plastic wrapping?

Sally.

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This is a really good point.

I sell my candles naked, only some raffia and a heavy paper hang tag.

But votives and melts needs protection.

This is where my perfect plan gets stuck LOL.

To me best way for now would be using some shrink wrap, I found some "green" films on the internet, it seems they are recyclable but the company doesn't answer to my emails, and I'm afraid that for my little business this would be too much, usually companies like that have very high minimum for purchases.

But I like the idea, we have to care for our mother earth!

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CareBear, I'm so glad you started this thread. I too am searching and searching for a solution to package the (gasp) single tart sale. With one of the benefits of soy wax being its renewable resource, it seems a pity to package them in wrap/bags that will go to the landfill once they reach their first destination (I can't imagine anyone reusing a bag with the scent of a yummy melt in it!) I have thought of the wax paper and the brown recyclable paper, but IMO you need to show the tart to sell it. I hope someone reading this thread has an idea for all of us!!

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Just an outside thought for those who want to be greener - what about collecting or using the brown recycled paper from grocery bags?

You'd get a pair of scrapbooking scissors and cut out the desired shape and use a label to tie it together. It'd leave the ends open for sniffing, and provide a peek at the colors, but would not only be made from recycled material, but also is continually recycleable itself.

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CareBear, I'm so glad you started this thread. I too am searching and searching for a solution to package the (gasp) single tart sale. With one of the benefits of soy wax being its renewable resource, it seems a pity to package them in wrap/bags that will go to the landfill once they reach their first destination (I can't imagine anyone reusing a bag with the scent of a yummy melt in it!) I have thought of the wax paper and the brown recyclable paper, but IMO you need to show the tart to sell it. I hope someone reading this thread has an idea for all of us!!

At craft fairs I have my individual melts (wrapped in tissue & labelled) in baskets plus a couple of naked tarts lying around for folk to look &

sniff at :rolleyes2

Sally.

(he he couldn't help myself :tiptoe: )

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I too am searching and searching (have spent numerous hours-literally) trying to find affordable eco-friendly packaging. I do have some companies working quotes and will let all of you know if anything turns up here. I recently told my boyfriend, if I do end up selling my eco-friendly candles, wrapping them in plastic would defeat the purpose.

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