Our plastic free journey

When I started Olivia Jane in 2018, I always wanted to be as sustainable as I possibly could. In fact; Olivia Jane wouldn't even be here if I didn't love the natural environment and all that it has to offer but I won't go on about that, there is more about it on the 'About' page on the website. 

I care about keeping out carbon foot print to a minimum, which is why all of our suppliers are UK based. 

During the dreaded 2020 COVID lockdown, I lost my full time job due to the company closing. As uncertain and terrifying as this was, it also gave me the opportunity to work harder on Olivia Jane designs and product suppliers. This led me on to candles. Why? I had a candle sitting on my kitchen table that was bought to me as a gift from my lovely friend Ellie. The scent of this candle was incredible and made the house smell beautifully fresh. I had to find out who made this candle!

After a lot of searching and a little bit of detective work (we all know us women are good at that stuff) I managed to find the makers. As if it was a match made in heaven, the company has the same ethos as Olivia Jane; sustainable sourcing, UK based and a small business. It was a no brainer that I had to move this forward. 

Before our candles; greetings cards and Fine Bone China were our signature products. Our mugs have always come packaged in cardboard boxes with a wood wool filling which is bio-degradable. However, our cards came in cellophane slips to avoid envelopes getting lost along with our little thank you note which you will find inside each one. This didn't feel right to me. Why am I making sure all of our other products are environmentally friendly but our beautiful, hand printed cards are wrapped in plastic? So there I went again - to find an alternative...

I scoured the internet for some options which proved unfruitful. How has no one come up with an alternative to cellophane slips? 

After a trip to a local gift shop I finally found my alternative - Smart Seals! A clever little, tamper free sticker which wraps around the card and envelope to keep them together. 

I came home and scoured the internet to try and find a printing company that could produce less than 250,000. 

After having to only wait 4 days, I now have my own branded smart seals and can finally announce that Olivia Jane is 100% plastic free! We are so proud to say this and just hope that some of the larger companies decide to do the same. 

In the mean time; shop small, shop sustainable! 

Olivia x.