Greening our business is now second nature for us. When Kim and I started our Little Green Workshops business, we wanted it to be as green as we possibly could. We strive to make sure that our personal values shine through when we teach our classes and that all of our ingredients and equipment are as sustainably sourced as possible. From local milk for the cheese making, to as much locally sourced oils for soap making, and eco-soya wax for candle making. We reuse things as much as possible and recycle everything that is possible.
During this episode you will hear Kim and I talk about how we started our business and what we teach. We get a bit off track at the start, but get to the greening part at around the [12:40] mark. If you just want to specifically listen to greening our business then fast forward to that time mark.
We have carried that through to our on-line business and all our new products where possible. Additionally, around the office we make sure that we source post-consumer 100% recycled paper, refill our own toner and ink cartridges for printing our booklets and invoices, and of course we use 100% renewable energy here at home.
An as for packaging our products we use recycled cardboard boxes and brown paper for most of our shipping. We even shred our old tax documents and any other paper we can get our hands on for filler for shipping. Nothing goes to waste around here. Boxes that we receive stock in gets reused for our own shipping or cut into soap mould lids or given away to friends. If we can’t find a use for it, we then recycle into curbside recycling.
We hope you enjoy the show and learn a little bit more about how we try to keep our business as green as possible.
Hi Gavin – have just got down to studying your site. I am very interested in your cheese making. In the past my husband and I had a Goat Dairy supplying milk/cheese and yoghurt. That was many moons ago in the days when pastuerization of goats milk was not compulsory. We built a mud brick house and lived without electricity for 10 years so you can see why I am enjoying reading about all your activities. Now 79 and 76 respectively we still grow all our own vegetables, bottle our fruit and make yoghurt and camembert cheese. Recently I started a blog: http://www.retireandenjoy.com. It seems so many retired people don’t know what to do with themselves when in fact there is so much out there to enjoy even with limited capabilities and resources. I will take the liberty of putting a link to your site for my readers to follow. I am sure many will be inspired by The Greening of Gavin. Many thanks.
Janice