How to Dispose of your Errant Viridia Products
You may think the answer to this would be just throwing it in the trash, right? Wrong!
Landfills aren't the best solution for waste disposal, honestly its best to think of them as a holding tank for waste. For items to break down they require oxygen, which landfills don't provide. That means over time the items, especially food waste, slowly degrade over time releasing harmful methane into the environment. While we don't produce food waste at Errant Viridia, there are other things that come with our products that you may be tempted to throw in the trash.
Let's break down the best ways to properly dispose of our products and packaging from the tape that holds our eco-friendly boxes closed to the hemp twine that we use to keep things tidy!
First we’ll explore the outer packaging that protects your products during shipping. These include the box, the packing peanuts, tissue, hemp twine, GreenWrap, envelopes, notecards, packing slips, business cards, and stickers. Let’s break them down!
Outer box/shipping box
Curbside Recyclable or Compostable! Just flatten out the box so that you can fit more items into your recycling bin, plus the recycling teams will thank you!
Kraft Tape
Not recyclable or compostable. Good news, this tape doesn’t need to be removed before placing the outer box in the recycling bin. It is easily removed during the recycling process.
Shipping Label
Fully recyclable and compostable, no need to remove the label before recycling the outer box. What’s even cooler is the liner that the labels come on is also fully recyclable, that’s a win for both of us!
Tissue Paper
Our current tissue paper is recyclable, but check with your local provider first. Due to the flimsy nature of tissue paper, some providers prefer that it be composted instead.
Packing Peanuts
These packing peanuts are completely biodegradable and easy to dispose of with water. They’re also safe around pets, but you really shouldn’t eat them. I would suggest if disposing of them with water to fill a container with water instead of letting the water run while they dissolve so you don’t waste excess water.
GreenWrap
Curbside recyclable and compostable. I would suggest balling it up before putting it in the recycling bin since it’s flimsy if left flat.
Hemp twine
This is easily home composted (it can degrade, it just takes a while), but may be accepted at some Industrial Composting facilities.
Earth stickers on the GreenWrap or tissue
These are regular thermal paper labels, so I would suggest removing them and disposing them in the trash since there’s no information on their recyclability. I would also suggest not composting them either due to the possibility of plastic being used in the sticker.
That covered pretty much everything that goes into packing your goodies, now let’s look at our products!
Glass jars
The glass jars are completely recyclable, but I would suggest reusing them first. They’re a great starter jar for the seed buddies included with each purchase, as barware, or even great for storing small items.
Lids
Unless saving them to use with the jar, the best bet is to throw them in the trash.
Wax melt bags
The bags used for our wax melts are made of paper, but they aren’t readily recyclable. This is due to the fact that most glassine paper is coated in a waxed finish that may mess with the recycling machinery. .However they can easily be composted at home, just make sure to throw out the cardboard liner they sit on. The liner is coated so that it doesn’t absorb the fragrance from the melts making it non-recyclable and non-compostable.
Incense package
The outer package is completely recyclable, no need to remove any of the stickers! On the flip side, the liner that the incense is in is only compostable due to its finish.
Room spray bottles
Our room spray bottles are made of aluminum, but before tossing it in the recycling bin, check with your local provider to see if they accept them. While most providers accept things like aluminum cans, aluminum cosmetic bottles are thicker and may require more specialized processes. However, the bottle can be reused if you wish! Do note that the spray tops are plastic, so they can’t be easily recycled.
That covers everything we use from the packaging to the products. While there are so many options out there for being eco-conscious as a business, know that we're constantly researching what's out there. After all, it's a balance between effective eco-options and being an affordable option for great home fragrance!
