We believe that high quality natural products don’t necessarily have to cost the planet and we worked hard to introduce our customers only to brands that are fully committed to eco sustainability.
We know that from a marketing perspective packaging is extremely important as many people pay more attention to how a product is packaged than anything else.
We believe that a company can create packaging that is both aesthetically pleasing and environmentally friendly and this is the common theme behind all the brands you’ll find on our website.
SHIPPING PACKAGING MATERIAL
As an eco-friendly company, Biocasa will always:
- minimize packaging materials.
- use materials that have little environmental impact such as compostable satchels and recycled FSC certified paper courier bags, compostable stickers and mail labels and paper tape.
- use materials that can be recycled by our customers.
- re-use materials we have received.
We believe firmly in the three "R's," reduce, reuse and recycle.
What You Can Do With Styrofoam Packing Peanuts
We don’t use packing peanuts but if you happen to receive a delivery that includes them, reusing peanuts is the best way to keep them out of landfills.
There are some nice ideas on how to peanuts such as for filling large planters, making Christmas garlands, using them as ice alternative. You can read the full list on this website.
PRODUCT PACKAGING
Our Product Packaging is Over 99% Plastic-Free
PAPER
Rotofresh Cling wrap and Baking paper packaging is made only from FSC certified paper, Frusack produce bags’ packaging is made from recycled paper.
Our Laundry strips will be sent to you with minimal packaging, inside a FSC certified paper that can be recycled or disposed of in your home compost bin.
The standard packaging for our natural Soap and Shampoo Bars is a simple recyclable cardboard box made from recycled paper that can be tossed in your paper recycling bin.
Our organic Chagrin Valley Deodorant Sticks are packaged in a 100% recyclable paperboard push-up tube, not plastic. Our organic Body Powders and Dry Shampoos are packaged in recyclable paperboard tubes.
CELLO BAGS AND GLASSINE BAGS
Our Chagrin Valley Bath Herbs are packaged in natural cello bags manufactured with wood-based fibers taken from only sustained forests and are 100% cellulose without any added plastic or plastic coatings.
Chagrin Valley Shower Lotion Bars are packaged in natural glassine bags. Glassine is simply paper that has gone through a process called calendering. Rough paper sheets are rolled through hot rollers that exert a lot of pressure. The final product is an extremely smooth natural paper which acts as a barrier from grease and air.
Both the glassine and cello bags are biodegradable and compostable. Just remove the label and toss them in your backyard compost pile.
METAL
The Chagrin Balms are packaged in recyclable tin-plated steel tins and aluminum tins because they are easy and inexpensive to recycle. The steel in these tins contains between 30 and 50% recycled content.
- Aluminum requires only 5% of the energy to recycle into new cans, compared with mining new ones and creates little pollution.
- Recycling steel uses 60% less energy than making new steel. Since aluminum and steel can be recycled over and over without breaking down, the quality of the recycled product is just as good as the virgin product.
- A recycled can is generally turned into a new can and back on store shelves within 60 days after hitting the recycling bin.
- At the consumer level, each can that is recycled substantially reduces the environmental footprint of the next can.
Please recycle aluminum bottles and tins. Cans in the landfill are a wasted resource. Every can that is thrown away is a lost opportunity to save energy and preserve the environment. Reuse tins to store buttons, safety pins, etc.
Better yet, upcycle your used tins or used glass containers. Upcycling uses your creativity to turn packaging or other waste materials into a "different" product by exploring new ways to repurpose them.
Let your kids decorate tins to store mini keepsake items--upcycling can be a fun way to introduce children to a greener lifestyle.
GLASS
The Chagrin Valley body, face and hair oils are packed in glass bottles with tin-plated steel caps.
Metals are good conductors of heat and cold and the temperature changes affect the products’ quality dramatically so in this case glass was the best alternative to plastic.
- Glass jars are 100% recyclable and can be recycled without any loss in quality.
- Over a ton of natural resources are saved for every ton of glass recycled.
- Energy costs drop about 2-3% for every 10% cullet (crushed recycled glass) used in manufacturing.
- One ton of carbon dioxide is reduced for every six tons of recycled container glass used.
- Glass is made from all-natural sustainable raw materials--sand, soda ash, and limestone.
A Note About Biobased Plastics
As explained in our blog “Compostable, biodegradable and degradable: a guide”, bioplastics are "plastics" made from renewable resources such as sugar cane and corn. While this seems great, they have major drawbacks. Growing the crops needed to make bioplastics comes with the typical environmental impacts of agriculture, including greenhouse emissions from farm machinery and water pollution from the runoff of fertilizers used in large quantities. In some cases, these indirect impacts from “growing” bioplastics may be greater than if we made plastics from petroleum.
Furthermore, the new bio-based compostable plastic packaging is only compostable in commercial industrial composting sites that are not even available in most cities. This new packaging cannot be recycled and if accidentally placed in your recycling bin may actually damage the recycle stream of ordinary plastic. If it ends up in a landfill it will emit methane (a pretty bad greenhouse gas).
So, if you cannot recycle it, and there is no industrial compost facility in your area, it will end up in a landfill. Although the idea of using bio-based plastic may be a good one, the infrastructure is not in place to make it a good choice at this time.
