Reduce, Reuse, Replenish at RGFC
While our business promotes and encourages sustainable living, you may wonder what we do ourselves to be as eco-friendly as possible. Look no further! Here are some of the processes and guidelines we follow to reduce our waste and reuse as much as possible.
Shipping We only send out shipments twice a week. As a very small business, our one-woman team (that’s me! Jessica!) delivers all shipments to the U.S. Post Office herself. Choosing to ship out orders on Tuesdays and Fridays means less trips to the post office and less gas used!
Packing The majority of our packing materials are recycled, donated, or made of compostable material. That includes everything from the boxes/envelopes we ship in, to the inner supportive materials in the box. We avoid plastic/bubble wrap, but if it is included in any shipments or donations we receive from family and friends, we will use it when necessary. Our next change will be purchasing a better form of packing tape, as well as utilizing recycled paper brands for printed shipping labels.
Candles One of the things that inspired this business was a burnt out candle jar I had. I felt guilty throwing away the empty container and I can only repurpose so many candle jars into other things. And so, the cycle of candles to make more candles was born! My goal is for ALL our candles to be poured in recycled jars and I encourage all our customers to take advantage of our Jar Donation option in the store! We will pay for you to ship your old jars/burnt out candles to us to reuse!
Soaps Making soap inevitably means there will be some scraps to deal with. We collect all our scraps and repurpose them to be Bath Soak Bags or soap samples that we often include with customer purchases.
Buying As much as I’d love for all our supplies and products to be homemade or homegrown, that just isn’t realistic for us. We do our best to order in bulk to reduce shipments and support small or local businesses where we can. We make sure materials used in both our soaps and candles are as natural and safe as possible, and sourced from reliable and earth friendly sources. An example of eco-friendly ingredients is that our soaps do not contain Palm Oil due the to environmental impact the crop has caused in places like Indonesia. Because of this, our recipes or designs may change from time to time as we learn and grow.
We aren’t perfect, and likely never will be, but we will always do our best to improve where we can. We welcome feedback on any ingredient or process we use, sometimes we miss the latest findings from the world. Every time we are able to better streamline the way we do things, it often means less waste too!
We hope you will continue to grow and learn with us, and be our mirror when we need one.
