Sustainability at Blomma Beauty
At Blomma Beauty we believe that living consciously is about balancing human and environmental wellbeing.
By stocking products made with only natural and organic ingredients and with a focus on ethical and sustainable brands, we are committed to limiting the impact to our environment through the products we consume.
We also want to make sure that, as a business we are doing as much as we can to continue making improvements that will impact our planet positively. Whilst we are a small bootstrapped business, we try our best to continually improve our impact. Here we share our past, present and future goals with you that we hope to achieve as our small, independent business flourishes...
Product Packaging
Present
- We want to make sure that the products we stock are first and foremost safe and healthy for you to use. Sometimes that involves using packaging that is less than ideal for the environment.
- Where possible our brands use recycled and recyclable packaging and we like to see materials like aluminium, glass, biodegradable materials and sugar cane bioplastic as much as possible in the products we stock.
- We favour brands who forego the use of outer packaging that serves no purpose.
- We list the sustainable credentials of each and every product so that you can decide if it matches your own sustainability goals and preferences.
Future
- As our spending power grows, we hope to champion change with some of our suppliers to help make changes to packaging of products which have fantastic natural and organic credentials but aren't packaged as sustainably as we'd like.
Sample Packaging
Past
- We sent our cream and butter product samples out in plastic pots.
Present
- Samples are either in sachets, plastic pots or glass vials with a plastic and rubber pipette. Everything except the sachets can be reused and recycled.
- The labels are recyclable.
- We are currently phasing in aluminium pots, except for clay based products which would be spoiled if placed in metal containers.
- Pots and bottles can be recycled at home or via our in store recycling scheme
Future
- We will be switching to labels made from recycled paper and printed with vegetable inks in the near future.
- For both product and sample packaging we are researching a letterbox recycling scheme to enable our customers to consciously dispose of the product packaging after use.
Shipping Packaging
Past
- We began by operating a direct dispatch model so each brand would send their items to our customers. As we've grown this has become unsustainable as it would mean that you would receive multiple deliveries expending more carbon and packaging in the process.
Present
- We ship orders to you directly from our HQ using cardboard boxes which are made from 70% recycled materials and are recyclable. Where possible we reuse delivery packaging so your items may look a little scruffy when they arrive!
- We use biodegradable maize chips to keep your products safe in transit which are repurposed from our own stock deliveries.
- We use recycled paper tape which is recyclable and biodegradable.
- Our Blomma note cards are made from recycled paper, printed with vegetable inks and are recyclable.
- We hand stamp our logo on every box using vegetable inks.
Future
- Source boxes which are made from 100% recycled materials.
Delivery
Past
- Our brands shipped with their own choice of courier.
- We then moved to holding stock and using local Evri drop off to avoid items being collected by vehicle from our HQ
Present
- We have a daily shared courier collection. We use Royal Mail for UK orders who are the UK's greenest courier. We use DHL for international orders who aim to be net zero by 2050.
- Our shipping labels are recyclable.
Future
- Offer carbon neutral delivery options once our number of monthly orders meets the required threshold for the courier.
- Offer bike based deliveries in the London area.
- Print our own shipping labels on recycled paper and vegetable inks.
Ingredient Sourcing & Product Manufacturing
Present
- Before any brand or product can be stocked with us, we ask our partners to commit that they are sourcing their ingredients and packaging ethically and sustainably.
- We have an ingredient philosophy that's grounded in research which is regularly reviewed, updated and adhered to by our partners.
- We love brands that use certified natural, organic, fairtrade, vegan and cruelty free ingredients and we'll always include a product's conscious credentials for you to check before purchase.
Future
- We plan to undertake a sourcing project to fully understand where every single ingredient is checked from source to skin ourselves instead of relying on third party certifications
Business Practices
Present
- We only use recycled paper at our HQ for printing and scrap paper for handwritten notes. You'll find notes on the back of old envelopes and leaflets rather than brand new paper.
- We have minimal electrical equipment. Only 2 computes, an ipad, card reader, printer (that uses ink cartridges lasting 3 years)
- We recycle all paper, plastics, glass and other materials and we store and reuse all packaging from stock deliveries. Our landlord repurposes waste to power the community local to their waste processing facility with electricity.
- Any fixtures or items we no longer need are resold on ebay or facebook marketplace to give them a second life
- We receive a lot of samples to review from brands who wish to be in our store. After we have finished testing them we offer them for sale in our shop in exchange for a donation to Global Generation, a local charity that helps connect people with nature.
Future
- Use only renewable energy sources (currently supply is stipulated by our landlord)
- Offset our carbon emissions annually.