Eco Credentials & Recycling

Glass has epic historic eco credentials

Glass has awesome eco credentials as it can be recycled almost indefinitely. Glass doesn’t fade, wear out, stretch or shrink. Glass links and beads will last for hundreds if not thousands of years.

The earliest glass beads found can be traced back to the Egyptians (4500-3100BC). Viking glass beads from 900BC have survived too. There’s lots of evidence that the glass used by the Vikings came from mosaic tiles which were made by the Romans. So recycling glass isn’t new. I suspect that if coloured gin bottles had been available the Vikings would have recycled those too, just as we do today.

Glass should never end up as landfill, but if it does it’s inert, so it doesn’t damage the environment by breaking down into into harmful chemicals or micro pollutants. Glass is a material to feel good about.

 

Repairing, Reusing and Recycling Glass

Glass is tough, and has a good chance of surviving for decades of regular use. But life happens. If you’ve bought something from us and it needs repairing please have a look at our repairs section.

Before recycling glass it’s worth checking if it can be reused. Glass beads and chains can likely be found new homes in their current state, and someone will be delighted with them.

If that isn’t an option glass can be returned to us for recycling into new glass objects.

Glass can also be recycled with general household recycling.

 

Reusing and Recycling Jewellery Findings and Tins

Sterling silver is hardwearing and easy to look after making it a great choice for jewellery you’ll want to wear every day. Our sterling silver catches are made with recycled silver. Sterling silver can be recycled through jewellers or returned to us as we recycle our scrap silver.

Stainless Steel chains can come back to us. We often get asked if we have bits of chains, so we’ll find them good homes. Stainless steel can also go into metal recycling.

Tins make great storage for all sorts of things (and we’ve found that our local charity shop and scrap store both love them). Otherwise they can go into household recycling as they’re made from aluminium.

 

Reusing and Recycling Packaging

We use paper and cardboard packaging which can be reused or readily recycled.

Any bubble wrap will be second hand. We end up with bubble wrap as it’s used to pack the glass rods we buy. It seems sensible to reuse it.

The felt used to cushion icicle decorations will keep them safe from year to year, so we’d suggest keeping that and the tin. If that doesn’t work for you schools, nurseries and scrap stores are always on the lookout for felt.

 

Is Glass Vegan?

Glass is suitable for vegans as no animal products are used either during manufacturing or when we make beads ,links and decorations.

The only animal product we use is wool. You’ll find that in the protective pouches which come with glass icicles. If this is something you’d prefer to avoid just let us know and we can use corrugated cardboard instead.

 

Our Environmental Policy

Making products which can be reused, repaired, repurposed and recycled is one part of our environmental policy. If you’d like to know more about what we’re doing and why you’ll find the details here.