How We Walk the Talk in Being a Sustainable Business

A lot of business say they are doing good for the planet or are eco conscious, but are they really? Is using an earthy colour pallet on your website/fast fashion enough to convince people that your business are eco warriors?

Here at Worldly Lane we aim to be as transparent with all decisions made and in particular how we undergo our daily operations. Today we will be covering from top to bottom our operations and our office to ensure that you understand how we keep our promises and are fulfilling our sustainability commitments. 

The set up

For starters, the bulk of our office gear, such as seats, desk, printer, standing desk attachment, wrapping station, and side tables have been purchased through second hand means. There is no need to purchase an office set up brand new, when there is an abundance of wonderful and affordable products through the second hand market. 

Apart from our packaging process, we have had to purchase only two new items for the store. One being a storage unit for our wonderful eco products and the second being a printer. Unfortunately searching the internet for weeks, we could not find anything that suited our need for these products. Where we have to purchase new, we searched hard for something of high quality, recyclable material and something that we can use for a while to ensure we minimise our waste.

Our shipping, packaging and delivery process

1. First we determine the size and type of packaging required for the order.  Did you know that a traditional plastic mailer takes 300 years to break down? Our mailers are plant based, waterproof and compostable (generally it takes six months to break down). Although, if your order is too big or fragile, we use a cardboard mailing box, which has been upcycled from surrounding business. 

2. Once we have selected the eco mailer or cardboard box, your order will be wrapped in some form of tissue/kraft paper or hex wrap. The tissue and kraft paper, have been upcycled from us overtime. When we need to use a new product for packaging, it is the hex wrap which is 100% recyclable and compostable. 
   
   3. Next, if your order requires tape we use a biodegradable option that once disposed is approximately 90% faster then conventional tape to break down producing an organic matter (a natural fertiliser) and creating no micro plastics. 
   
   4. To ensure that you can recognise our order, we use an eco stickers. They are made from sugarcane, are recyclable and industrial compostable (this is a step up from home composting where they monitor the inputs such as air, water, carbon)! These stickers are printed through our ink jet printer, which allows us to only refill the ink which is low rather than replace the whole carriage, when it is a low ink situation. At all costs we try to minimise the need to print.
   
   5. Our shipping labels are industrial compostable, and printed through our thermal printer. Our thermal printer is a massive workhorse, printing all of our shipping labels and it does it with no ink at all. It uses heat to apply to the paper, which means it’s super eco friendly. 
   
   6. We then add a personalised hand written thank you card which has been printed on recycled paper through eco inks and green electricity. 
   
   7. When the order is packaged and the shipping label has been printed, we then use our one of many carbon neutral shipping couriers to deliver it to your door.
   
   8. Once all of the above has been completed, we will plant a tree to give back to the planet we call home. 

Want to chat to us more about our processes or have suggestions on how we can improve? Send us an email, or leave a comment, we’d love to chat to you further about this. If you’re another small business looking to make your daily practices more sustainable, reach out as we’d love to help out.