We are very proud to have been shortlisted for the New Forest Brilliance in Business Awards for Sustainable Business of the Year, the winner will be announced on 28th November 2024. We won this award back in 2019, so fingers again crossed for this year!
I thought this would be a great time to write a blog about why we are a passionate champion of sustainability.
The initial inspiration for starting our brand was to create beautiful, naturally scented products, using ethical and sustainable ingredients, that reflect our wonderful National Park and local countryside, bringing nature into our homes and enhancing mood and wellbeing. All of our products are handmade at our unit, at Setley Ridge Vineyard, Brockenhurst, in the heart of the New Forest.
Our ethos is to source as many local ingredients as we can and to supply local shops and hospitality businesses, plus online customers.
We use New Forest Spring Water in our water-based products, including our bestseller ‘Organic Hampshire mint, lime and lemongrass Hand Wash.’ We buy 20 litre reusable and refillable water containers from them, and they pick up the empties and reuse, creating a closed loop bottle recycling process.
We also use the wonderful, local, Noble Bee, beeswax and honey in all our lip, hand and foot balms and scrubs. Their hives are distributed in different places around the national park.
We use Summerdown mint, lavender, dill and parsley essential oils, grown on their farm in the north of Hampshire, in many of our products, including our Organic Hampshire mint, lime and lemongrass toiletry range, ‘Hampshire peppermint foot balm, Hampshire lavender candles, and gardeners hand products.
We grow our own lavender and rosemary which is then dried for our scented sachets.
Ingredients that we can’t source locally, we buy from suppliers who share our principles of natural and sustainable ingredients. Many of our ingredients are certified organic or from wild grown sources.
Our packaging is either in glass, tin or recyclable plastic and we have switched to bioplastic for our refillable plastic bottles. We also have a bottle return scheme for trade customers. Clients can send back their used 1L and 5L bottles, which we will sterilise and reuse. We also send, used printer ink cartridges back to the manufacturers to be recycled and use paper bubblewrap, maize chips, ecofriendly packing tape and Sellotape for our outer boxes. We are looking for ways to improve this more …
To cut our carbon footprint further, I’ve recently acquired an electric vehicle which we use for all local deliveries and meetings.
When it comes to waste, we try to have creative ways to minimise it. We reuse packaging received from suppliers to send out our own orders, and any extra packaging gets passed on to our next-door neighbour – a hi-tech camera company, to pack their precious cameras. Even bottle caps and cardboard tubes don’t go to waste – they’re donated to a local artist who turns them into art projects for schools.
We also produce natural products for other brands in the New Forest, Senspa at Careys Manor, Yellow Forest, The Noble Bee, The Menopause Boutique, Made in Here Southampton, Moonshack, Wallops Wood, Braido Organics (Brockenhurst and Sweden) and follow the same ethos when designing and manufacturing their products.
What’s Next?
We are always keeping an eye on how we can improve. We regularly review our current initiatives and keep up with the latest ideas in sustainability and ethical practices.
At the end of the day, sustainability is a core part of our identity. We are a small business, but we try make a difference, not just to the local area, but to the wider world too.
