Reducing environmental impact in a small business
We recently met with Sheriese Bacon from Community Group, Andover Plastic Free to talk about what we do at La Di Da Interiors to reduce our impact on the environment as a business.
Recycling old items rather than buying new ones helps preserve raw materials, whilst simultaneously saving money and reducing waste. 22 million pieces of furniture are thrown out in the UK every year; that’s about 1.6 million tons headed for landfill or incinerators.
We upcycle furniture: older furniture is often well made and solid wood but aesthetically displeasing to modern colour palettes. We find beautiful pieces of solid furniture which we transform to make it beautiful again for people to use and enjoy for years to come. We also paint furniture to commission for customers who don’t have the time or confidence to paint it themselves. We sell Annie Sloan Chalk Paintand Fusion Mineral Paint so you can do it yourself and also run workshops to teach you the tips and tricks of the trade too!
Our bricks and mortar store would not be commercially viable without our website, we post items all over the UK. We re-use as much as we can of our suppliers package. Our parcels may not be the best looking, colour co-ordinated or branded but it’s what’s inside that counts! The huge boxes that we can’t re-use we send for recycling with a local cardboard specialist. The packaging peanuts (or wotsits as we call them) that we use are made of maize so when you add water they disintegrate. As part of our agreement with our courier we have to place the paint in sealed plastic bags when posting in case of leakage, we purchase 100% recycled plastic bags to do this. We use the smallest address labels possible too. The parcel tape we use is still plastic based but we are looking into alternatives.
Our bags are made of paper, we hand stamp them with an ink pad rather than getting them commercially printed. We do also sell re-useable shopping bags made of recycled plastic bottles.
Our A boards outside the shop are made of wood and painted and we use chalk boards to write on them instead of plastic printed advertising boards.
Our own brand La Di Da home scents range comprises of candles, diffusers and bath soaks are vegan friendly. They are packaged in recycled card board boxes, the glass is recycled and the candles are plant based, the scents are natural.
We stock a host of eco-conscious products from triple milled soap bars to reduce the bottles in the shower to beeswax wrapsto help you ditch the cling film. Beebombshave been one of the best-selling products of the summer. Made in Dorset with no-plastic they’re native wildflower seeds specifically selected to be attractive to bees.
One of our newest suppliers produces candles for us in repurposed bottles, we have gin and tonic candlesin gin bottles, honeysuckle scented in prosecco bottles. They’re made in Hampshire and wrapped in biodegradable cellophane.
Last Winter we started stocking Bamboo reusable cupsfor hot drinks in an effort to encourage people to use less disposable cups. Our new Autumn stock this year includes bamboo straws.
We love using local suppliers and we are stockists of Test Valley Gin which is made less than half a mile from the shop. We are also the recycling point for Wessex Spirits, so if you bring back any of their bottles to us you get £1 off the purchase of their products.
We are a small business but wherever possible we try to minimise our eco-footprint by reduce, reuse and recycle, shop local and support community so we are happy to support the Andover Plastic Free Campaign.
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