When we started Hamper & Gift back in 2017, we saw an opportunity to provide unique confectionery hampers for a variety of occasions that would deliver joy to the lucky recipient. However, we must be honest - we were not focused on sustainability or the environment as much as we should have been. It was a case of getting started and using suppliers and packaging that was easy to get a hold of.
Back then, every hamper contained our very own Hamper & Gift branded confectionery. We would use plastic confectionery bags along with logo and ingredient labels that were also derived from plastic. Our delivery boxes, whilst made from cardboard would contain air bags made from plastic as box fill. We would use brown tape to secure the box for delivery and guess what, that was also derived from plastic.
Pivoting to a more Sustainable Future
You can see a bit of a theme here.
When we decided to revamp our product range, we decided to do it in a more sustainable and environmentally friendly way. We appreciate the beauty of planet earth and it's hard to see images of beaches overflowing with rubbish, or sea-life trapped in plastic packaging. That's why we decided to ditch plastic where we could and replace it with an alternative that would have less of a lasting impact on the world around us.
1. Introduce 100% Biodegradable & Compostable confectionery bags
This was the first big step as it would have a significant impact in removing thousands of plastic confectionery bags from circulation and replacing them with biodegradable bags instead. So that’s exactly what we did.
Every single one of our own branded confectionery bags are 100% Biodegradable and 100% Compostable. Not only that, the labels on the confectionery bags (displaying the logo on the front and the ingredients label on the back) are also 100% biodegradable and compostable as well. That means zero plastic and nothing but kindness for the environment!
On each of our product pages, you will see a section called ‘Contents’ where we list out all of the items in the hamper. Here, we also call out which of the items are indeed biodegradable.
2. Add an amazingly sustainable confectionery brand to our hampers
As part of our evolution into our new range of hampers, we decided to introduce other amazing confectionery brands to complement our own Hamper & Gift confectionery bags. Seed & Bean are one of those amazing chocolate brands and Seed & Bean chocolate bars feature in many of our chocolate themed hampers. They were the first UK chocolate brand to introduce 100% compostable foil to chocolate packaging, meaning every single bar of Seed & Bean is fully compostable.
3. Introduced Kraft paper tape
We have now introduced eco-friendly, recyclable Kraft paper tape to secure our boxes for delivery. The plastic tape is OUT and the eco-friendly tape is IN. This means when you put your cardboard delivery box in the recycling bin, you’re not sneaking in any non-recyclable materials.
4. Re-use box fill we receive from suppliers
We get a lot of plastic box fill from suppliers and whilst we do not create more plastic demand by buying it, we do try to be responsible and re-use the box fill we do get. That’s why you may find different types of box fill in one hamper vs the other. Most of the time they are recyclable which is a big step in the right direction for plastics.
We’ve taken a big strides in our sustainability journey but we know there is more to be done as we look to minimise our impact on the environment. Moving to become a more sustainable and environmentally friendly business comes at a financial cost as unfortunately plastic is always a cheaper option than more sustainable alternatives.
For us here at Hamper & Gift, we’ve decided that is a price worth paying.