Tag: sustainability

Floral Street & World Earth Day – from plastic coffee cups to award-winning perfumes

Putting sustainability at the heart of their scents is not only for World Earth Day at Floral Street – their award-winning reusable, recyclable and biodegradable pulp fragrance box now contains 20% upcycled coffee cups, giving new life to previously unrecyclable waste, every single day. They’ve already upcycled 350,000 used coffee cups to date – proving you can have beautiful and sustainable packaging that is kinder to our planet, while still enjoying fabulous (and now multi award-winning) fragrances.

Founder Michelle Feeney explains…

‘There’s too much beauty packaging in the world already, particularly from fragrance brands. I get so frustrated with the amount of cellophane wraps and bottles that are not recyclable.

When I decided to create Floral Street, I was never in any doubt that it would be a sustainable beauty brand. I thought it was an opportunity to make a statement and do things differently in fragrance. I want to do good for the planet.

We are sustainable every step of the way, from the ingredients right the way through to the packaging. With ingredients, I care about our suppliers and growers being treated ethically. I know that I can ring Robertet (the perfume house that we partner with) and ask exactly where an ingredient is from and how it was farmed. They are experts in sustainable raw, natural materials

 

 

I’m so proud of our pulp cartons, which house our scents. They are 100% compostable, reusable and recyclable. That’s an industry-first. Created in under a minute, they use less energy, with waste water being cleaned and recycled and any waste pulp composted at local farms. Our packaging is printed with vegetable and soy-based inks, and the card and glass fragrance bottles are widely recyclable.’

‘We get it.’ Michelle continues: ‘You love fragrance, but you don’t feel so good about all the packaging that comes with it. We feel the same so, we made it our mission to create a totally new way to house your perfume, a way to deliver it to you without using the same amount of energy or incurring the same amount of waste.

 

 

We did it. Each floral street fragrance comes tucked inside a groundbreaking pulp carton with an embossed lid, made from recyclable paper packaging and held together with a re-usable brightlycoloured band. We’re proud that we can offer a totally recyclable and biodegradable box – a first for the world of fragrance…’

Cruelty free, ethically souced and vegetarian and vegan friendly, Floral Street prove that perfumistas can care for the planet while still enjoying fine fragrance. Read even more about their ethos in our page dedicated to this forward-thinking fabulous house…

ånd fragrance – FFS! (For Frånk’s Sake) how YOU can support sustainable frankincense.

ånd fragrance have launched a campaign entitled FFS (For Frånk’s Sake), and are donating 20% of their December 2020 profits to support sustainable frankincense. Here’s how YOU can help…

The new niche fragrance brand started by Simon Constantine (formerly of Lush) is on a misson to (as he puts it) ‘unstink the world!’ What that means is n ot merely getting people to wear the fragrances, but making genuine changes to the way perfume houses source their ingredients.

Each of the ånd fragrance scents showcase ingredioents iconic to the fragrance industry, which we may think we know well, but which they are exploring in unique ways.

For the FFS project, the idea is to create a regenerative permaculture in Somaliland through funding small-scale frankincense nurseries. Frånk is, as the name may suggest, built around the note of frankincense, but it’s the fruity, mischeviously joyful side evoked, here (not the fusty, dusty, church-y scent that many of us may associate it with).

Simon wanted to put his money where his mouth. Because, after visiting Somliland last year, he felt truly moved to act. Here’s the problem…

‘This brilliantly beautiful region is epic in every way possible,’ he explains. ‘In true biblical style it’s home to Frankincense, myrrh and even gold. Equally the ravages of drought, disease and locust plagues continue to kick the people and land at a time when they need support the most. Somaliland has repeatedly been cited as the case study for the impacts of climate change. Peoples’ livelihoods rely on the land (the majority of communities being pastoral herders); however, since 2015, prolonged drought led to disastrous die offs of animals, leaving thousands to settle in internally displaced refugee(IDP) camps.

Frankincense provides a lifeline for many communities. After “tapping” with a cut to its bark, the Frankincense tree provides golden tears of resin. As both rain and money dry up the trees are tapped to the point of exhaustion and possibly death, another knock on effect of climate change.’

Just watch this short film to see for yourself the extent of the dangers frankincense – and those who rely on it – have faced.

But all is not lost. Not yet. We have ways of helping, of putting back, of doing good while smelling great. Says Simon:

‘And so here is the solution…a series of small scale community nurseries that begin to rebalance the situation.Growing hardy frankincense trees for the future. As these begin to flourish, it’s our plan to work with communities to create further opportunities using cutting edge growing techniques to restore and regenerate these drylands.

As these begin to flourish it’s our plan to work closely with communities to create further opportunities using cutting edge growing techniques which will help to restore and regenerate these harsh drylands. But let’s not forget the people themselves. The refugee camps require urgent aid and medical attention. And we believe that short-term aid can become true resilience when focused on regenerative livelihoods.

It would be great if we could give something back to Frankincense this Xmas, For Frånk’s Sake!’

So yes, now 20% of ALL ånd fragrance sales during the Christmas period will go directly to fund the build of a Frankincense nursery. Join in, smell fabulously festive and help spread the word #forfranksake #unstinktheworld…

ånd fragrance Frånk from £35 (10ml eau de parfum or solid fragrance)

By Suzy Nightingale

Recycle Week: Floral Street call beauty industry to action

It’s Recycle Week (21st-27th Sept), and award-winning, London-based independent perfumery Floral Street are ‘…calling on the Beauty industry to drive sustainable change.’

We once thought recycling was enough, but the concept of just throwing packaging into the recycling bin and hoping for the best is outmoded and most certainly not enough. ‘It is reported that more than 120 billion units of packaging are produced every year by the global cosmetics industry, much of which is not recyclable,’ Floral Street remind us.

This craziness has to end if we’re to make an impact on environmental change for the better, and so tossing that used container into recycling isn’t enough – even if it can be recycled, it will likely be turned into yet another single use packaging product.

It’s a subject Michelle Feeney, the Founder of Floral Street, feels passionately about. ‘The Beauty industry can do so much more to make products and packaging recyclable and reusable,’ she says. ‘Collectively we can innovate and drive real change. We are an industry of creatives, so let’s lead this responsibly, together.’

‘The majority of fragrance comes packaged in plastic wrapping and foam inserts with ornate caps and lavish additions – sometimes all in one purchase. Often the packaging that can be recycled is not done responsibly which results in unnecessary landfill and pollution of our oceans.’ – Michelle Feeney

 

 

From the get-go, Floral Street have championed re-using and up-cycling their packaging – the gift boxes are FSC certified, confirming they meet the highest environmental and social responsibility standards, and even the grosgrain ribbon they use is made from recycled plastic bottles! Personally, at The Perfume Society, we love using the boxes as seed trays and to store makeup brushes.

 

 

But as well as the boxes being fully compostable, Floral Street didn’t stop there, explaining that ‘…instead of cellophane, our fragrance packaging features reusable, brightly coloured, elastic bands. Our scented candles are presented in glass pots which are widely recyclable, but why not reuse them!

Our entire bath and body range is housed in sleek tubes made from sugar cane bioplastic which is recyclable and sustainably sourced. We have an accreditation to confirm this comes from a bioproduct of the food industry, so it’s not specifically grown just for beauty purposes.’

Why not get creative and have a look at some ideas we suggested on how to re-use your perfume bottles? They are far too beautiful not be given a new life, don’t you think? And we’re in total agreement with Michelle…
‘We believe recycling is good but reusing and repurposing is even better. This is the future of Beauty.’
By Suzy Nightingale