Our Heritage Is Saved!

Save our forests! 

I heard the good news today that the Government has backed down on its plans to sell off Britain's forests. This is excellent news - we need to do all we can to save our trees.

Nearly the weekend!

New Member of Staff

Still Unsure of the Benefits of Recyling? Look to the Rainforests

Ever since recycling of goods became a widespread, commercial enterprise, sceptics have hailed the process as a worthless exercise. Many argue that the emissions from recycling are greater than that of producing virgin paper, or that the emissions from the transportation of recycled goods outweigh the carbon saved by not cutting down trees. However, research shows that while the early days of recycling presented fairly clunky, emission-heavy recycling processes, advances in technology have improved and streamlined the methods used to recycled materials. Data from the Bureau of International Recycling shows that producing paper via the recycling route entails 35% less water pollution and 74% less air pollution, although the organisation does not say how it reached this figure or what is taken into account.

Regardless of continuing arguments about whether trucks carrying logs produce more CO₂ than trucks carrying recycled paper or whether materials recycled in China produce more gases than virgin products made in the UK, a highly informative article by Daniel Howden of The Independent explains why we are missing the bigger picture. In order to slow the change in climate and regulate the ever more extreme weather patterns, he says we need to turn our eyes to the rainforests. According to Howden, while the destruction of the world’s rainforests is now being recognised as one of the main causes of climate change, global leaders are turning a blind eye to the crisis of worldwide deforestation. 

Of course, trees are not only felled to make paper. Areas are also cleared for cattle grazing, and agriculture, including the growth of palm oil and ostensibly health-promoting acai berries to fulfil the surge in demand. However, without the demand for wood, the act of clearing rainforests would be far less lucrative.

The rainforests, the majority of which are situated in South America and Indonesia, form a protection cooling band around the Earth's equator as well as generating the bulk of the rainfall worldwide. With the annual area of deforestation amounting to 50 million acres - or an area the size of England, Wales and Scotland, the rainforests now cover less than 7% of the earth. However, the remaining forest is calculated to contain 1,000 billion tons of carbon, or double what is already in the atmosphere.

The article cites a report published by the Global Canopy Programme (GPC), an alliance of leading rainforest scientists, which states that the emission of greenhouse gases as a result of the “rampant slashing and burning” of these tropical forests is second only to the energy sector. According to Howden, deforestation in the next 24 hours will release as much CO2 into the atmosphere as 8 million people flying from London to New York. Stopping the loggers, he argues, is the fastest and cheapest solution to climate change.

Of course, some paper products now come from sustainable forests. But much of it does not. Re-growing trees in sustainable forests is a slow process and therefore, it is often deemed quicker and cheaper to reap wood from virgin forests. However, the most effective way to reduce the demand for paper is to recycle it. Howden’s article demonstrates that the arguments regarding the amount of gases emitted during the recycling process are secondary to the urgent need to halt the deforestation. As the GCP's report concludes: "If we lose forests, we lose the fight against climate change."

Happy Christmas from Tiny Box

We at The Tiny Box Company would like to wish all our readers a very Happy Christmas and an exciting New Year.

This year has been economically challenging for the majority this year and we are extremely thankful for the custom we have received. It is heartening to know that even in such adverse financial conditions, many people are making sustainable and ethical choices when it comes to purchasing packaging.

We would like to thank everyone for their support this year and we especially appreciate the patience of those whose orders were affected by the snow.

With our thanks and best wishes,

All at The Tiny Box Company

Government Cuts

We at The Tiny Box Company think it best to remain politically neutral, outwardly at least. However, it has come to our attention that the latest wave of government cuts is affecting even the most affluent of areas.

New Member of Staff

Snow Business

To all our customers. Please bear with us. We appreciate that not all of the country is as badly affected by the weather as us but we are under 2 feet of snow. The town and surrounding villages are littered with abandoned cars and lorries.

So if you have not received your boxes, this is why and we are very grateful for your patience.

This photo is of the Charlwoods Road estate in East Grinstead. These vehicles have been sitting for two days. Brrrrrr!

New Member of Staff

Thank You

The Tiny Box Company would like to thank everyone who watched our wee slot on Dragon's Den last night and to all who have put kind messages on our Facebook and Twitter. If you missed us, undoubtedly you can catch up on BBC iPlayer.

We do appreciate the support.

New Member of Staff (suffering with a terrible dose of the cold).

Easy Being Ethical?

Scenes like this are happening all over the UK. Young hoodies. Out on the streets. Nicking stuff.

But this time it’s not Playstations, your widescreen TV with 3d glasses, your Wii Fit, your Guitar Hero or your Kona Cindercone mountain bike. No, the Tiny Box Company’s Environmental Policy states that where we can recycle, we will. And where we can use recycled goods we will.

Which means we nick the boxes that people throw out on the street, take them back to the Tiny Box Warehouse in the dead of night and then use them to ship out our goods. So if you see dodgy looking characters hanging around your place at night casing the cardboard, don’t be alarmed.

And if you order 500 kraft natural 100% recycled gift boxes but the packaging says “cod fillets”, it’s probably not actually cod fillets but 500 kraft natural 100% recycled gift boxes. If it’s actually cod fillets, it’s not from us.

DON’T FORGET: DRAGONS DEN. 24TH OCTOBER 9PM BBC 2.

New Member of Staff.

Ethical Company??? Tiny Box Exposed.

See below email.

Disgruntled New Member of Staff.

From: rachel watkyn [mailto:supreme_overlord@tinyboxcompany.com]
Sent: 14 September 2010 11:24
To: 'New Member of Staff'
Subject: RE: Annual Leave

Dear Minion,

Absoluely NOT! What do you think this place is??? It is a slave camp where no one is entitled to holiday – EVER! And its no good muttering about human rights and the law, blah blah blah – heard it all before. HOLIDAY IS BANNED FROM TINY BOX !!

Rachel Watkyn

Tiny Box Company

mailto:nicky@tinyboxcompany.com

http://www.tinyboxcompany.co.uk/

Follow us on Twitter

From: New Member of Staff [mailto:minion@tinyboxcompany.com]
Sent: 14 September 2010 11:18
To: 'rachel watkyn'
Subject: Annual Leave

Dear Boss,

Request for one day’s holiday on 8^th October 2010.

I will fill in the relevant forms if required.

Yours sincerely,

Minion

Tiny Box Company

Meet Theo the Dragon

Hello - our tiny hit counter tells us that we have had visitors, so thank you for following. I apologise for not having updated for a wee while but I'm glad to report that we've been very busy. I'm working on one of those long articles that I do, which are full of facts and probably really boring but I haven't had time to finish.

In the meantime... meet Theo!

Last Friday, Rachel - our Supreme Overlord, along with Sharon - Accounts Lady and Organiser Extraordinaire, went to a local school to give the wee children a presentation on the importance of recycling. Afterwards, Rachel, Sharon and the children made a dragon out of rubbish to demonstrate the idea of making something out of waste. Theo was created out of loo rolls, milk bottles, wooden spoons and a lavatory cystern and the children had great fun.

Don't tell anyone but the BBC was also there, filming the shenanigans and they have also been in the office, skulking around the warehouse, filming here and there and asking us to "act natural".

Unfortunately we can't say much more... Ssshhhh.

New Member of Staff

Capt. Charles Moore on the seas of plastic | Video on TED.com

Capt. Charles Moore on the seas of plastic | Video on TED.com

This is an excellent talk about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a Pacific island twice the size of Texas, which is made entirely of plastic that has drifted the oceans to rest here in a gigantic swilring mass. If you are curious, take a look on Youtube, which has footage of the Patch. It's unbelievable.

New Member of Staff.

Thursday at Tiny Box House

Not wishing for our blog to be too serious, I thought I'd drop a quick nearly-the-end-of-the-week hello.

It has been extremely busy at TBH this week - more happy customers we hope. One of our happy customers brought in some lovely chocolates which, unfortunately, due to their richness and exoticness, made a couple of members of staff feel a little unwell. So,I valiantly ate the remainder to save my colleagues from any further sickness.

As always, feel free to say hi, leave comments and suggestions, or join us on Facebook or Twitter.

Nearly the weekend!

New Member of Staff

From Swampy to Sienna – The Changing Face of the Environmentalist.

Remember Swampy? Swampy Hooper first appeared in 1996 as an environmental protester, barricading the machinery sent in to dig out a bypass through the woodlands outside Newbury. The standoff between protester and machine lasted for weeks, with people taking root (no pun intended) in the trees and Swampy digging an underground tunnel, where he stayed throughout the protest. Dreadlocked and donning the big sweaters that were fashionable amongst certain groups in the 1990s, Swampy became the image of environmentalism at that time. As result of his appearance, he and his cohorts were dismissed by many as “crusties” and potheads and the press made much of his middle class upbringing, as if it somehow diminished his authenticity. However, despite the negative reaction by many, Swampy became a celebrity. More than ten years later, not only is Swampy still protesting, albeit more quietly (more recently he appeared at the demonstrations against the third runway at Heathrow), but Swampy still practices what he preaches. According to the Independent, Swampy lives a self-sufficient life in Wales, in a community where there is no electricity or running water. The family, consisting of him, his partner and three children, grow most of their own food, wash in a nearby stream and use an eco-loo.

In my last article, Recycling in the Recession, I addressed the way in which matters concerning the environment are still perceived by many as “middle class” issues. So it is interesting that actually coming forward and challenging the system of power that threatens the environment, or indeed involvement in any kind of demonstration, has long been associated with the working class. Those presenting anything less than “salt of the earth” credentials, as in the case of Swampy, are rejected as fakes. This presents a weird paradox, since on the one hand, a working class background has been essential for the authenticity of the protester but on the other hand, his or her voice has been ignored because of exactly that. Despite their significant role in bringing the growing devastation of the British countryside to the attention of the public, the physical appearance of Swampy and the gang almost certainly weakened their progress in terms of getting their message heard by suit-wearing officials and politicians.

Fast forward a few years. By the mid-noughties the planet’s corner was being fought by a host of celebrities, including Coldplay’s Chris Martin, his wife Gwyneth Paltrow and actress Sienna Miller. Exalting the virtues of composting, recycling and hybrid cars, the endeavour of these celebrities was ostensibly to lead by example. Regularly featured in Coldplay’s music videos was Martin waving his hands, adorned with messages in the form of coloured tape and scribbled symbols, as signs of his commitment to Fair Trade. However, widespread reports of hypocrisy that detailed ecologically unsound activities such as regular long haul flights in private jets, seriously damaged the credibility of both the message and the messenger. Not to mention that Coldplay, in a few short years, went from being the coolest kids on the block to something no self respecting music lover would admit to having on their i-Pod. It could be argued that Martin’s increasing propensity to use his music as a platform for political activism took him down the same route as Bono et al, on a one way trip to uncool.

So in 2010, what are we left with? Horribly contrived photographs of politicians, such as David Cameron, riding bicycles through London, tailed by a legion of support cars? Al Gore? Gore’s authority was seriously degraded some time after the release of his initially well-received film An Inconvenient Truth as a result of leaked emails and sexual allegations, meaning the public once again turned away in disbelief. Or perhaps we place our faith in Lewis Pugh, “The Human Polar Bear”, a Devonshire environmental lawyer who swam 1km (0.62 miles) across 2°C Pumori Lake under the summit of Everest to draw attention to the rapidly melting glaciers. Pugh, who has previously swum in Antarctica and across the North Pole , is something of a hero in both sporting and environmental terms and has so far been praised by the media for his efforts to raise awareness of increasingly visible environmental problems. But perhaps Pugh will only hang onto his integrity until the press can dig some dirt on him. It seems that since way before Swampy’s time, anyone with a message relating to the way we live and the things that we need to change has been condemned by certain segments of the media and had their sincerity challenged. In reality, they have probably made quite a difference in the thinking of the public but at the cost of their own reputation.

Perhaps, though, there is hope in the possibility that environmentalism has, at last, started to bridge the class divide. A heartening article in the Daily Telegraph notes how the battle against Heathrow’s third runway brought together a host of demonstrators, including middle class, aristocracy, politicians and the tweedy upper-middle class. This shows that the face of environmentalism is changing to one that encompasses us all and has the potential to make a difference from terraces and mansions, and living rooms and drawing rooms all over the country. From Swampy to Sienna – we need them all – but most of all, we need all of the people in between.

VAT

A number of customers have enquired as to why we charge VAT on our deliveries. Unfortunately we are charged VAT for the service and if we didn't also charge, we would be breaking the law. We hope that clears things up. Here is a link for your information.

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageVAT_ShowContent&id=HMCE_CL_000114&propertyType=document

Happy Friday - have a wonderful weekend.

New Member of Staff.

Confused? Recycled vs. Recyclable

If you don’t know the story of The Tiny Box Company or didn’t see us on Dragon’s Den, here’s what happened. While founding our parent company, The Tiny Difference Company, Rachel was attempting to source packaging for jewellery made in ethical factories in Africa. It stood to reason that an ethical company should be as responsible as possible in as many areas as possible, so the decision to use recycled packaging was a no-brainer. Therefore, Rachel searched the UK for attractive recycled packaging in which to sell the jewellery but, as she explained to the Dragons, it was an impossible task. On asking packing companies if their products were recycled, she got the same response over and over again – “our products are recyclable but not recycled”.
Well, hang on. It’s cardboard. Of course it’s recyclable. In fact, most things are. Paper, metal, glass, many types of plastic – these things can all be recycled – but if they are not and instead just thrown into landfill as waste, then their recyclable properties are meaningless. Many companies are claiming green credentials by stating that their products are recyclable. An article by Dr. Seetha Coleman-Kammula, founder of Simply Sustain LLC, highlights a target set by coffee giant Starbucks to reduce their environmental burden by making 100% of their cups recyclable by 2012. But, as Dr. Coleman-Kammula points out, well, they are already. However, for materials to be recycled in significant amounts, she argues “that there has to be a whole lot of infrastructure in place to make it all happen in an economically and socially sustainable way”. She goes onto say that the end result of recyclable products actually becoming recycled requires a massive collaborative effort between Starbucks to persuade the consumer to recycle, the consumer and also waste sorters, in areas where waste is actually sorted.
As Rachel discovered, very little packaging is actually recycled, especially in the UK, despite the success of kerbside recycling projects and the significant drop in price of recycled materials during the recession. While we like to know that our packaging is recyclable, especially food packaging, it makes no difference if we don’t drop it into our blue bins. As such, it is somewhat misleading of companies to claim environmental responsibility by providing recyclable packaging that, especially in the case of Starbucks, will probably be chucked in the bin somewhere down the road.
PS If you didn’t guess, that’s how Tiny Box was born.
New Member of Staff

How Many Bags for Life?

According to the Guardian, the problem is not, as we might think, getting people to buy bags for life but to actually use them. Apparently, consumers are repeatedly buying these bags and forgetting to take them shopping. We at Tiny Box think that you should keep one at home and one in your car. Or in your bicycle basket.

Only 4 1/2 days until the weekend.

New Member of Staff.

Another Win - We're On A Roll

Heopfully, you didn't miss Rachel on BBC Radio Sussex this morning, on which she won the quiz. Clash of the Titans - East Sussex vs. West Sussex and West Sussex scored a mighty victory.

Well done us.

By the way, do feel free to say hello or comment on any of our posts. We always like to hear from people.

New Member of Staff.

BBC Radio Sussex

The more astute amongst you may have noticed that Supreme Overlord of Tiny Box, Rachel Watkyn, did not appear on BBC Radio Sussex this morning. However, do keep your ears peeled, as she will definitely be on tomorrow. 9:40 am. Mark it in your (recycled) calendars.

Hot planet saving tip of the day:
Boiled eggs use less packaging than sandwiches.

New Member of Staff.

Recycling in the Recession

In April 2009, an article in the Arizona Republic revealed that with the United States facing the most hard hitting and longest lasting recession in generations, environmental issues ranked low on the list of importance of those questioned. A survey taken in Phoenix found that for the first time in 25 years, Americans would sacrifice environmental protection for economic growth. Furthermore, two thirds of those asked said they cared less about the planet this year than last. This is in comparison to a year before the article was written when, as Earth Day approached, Americans seemed “smitten” by all things environmental, with the release of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, the drive in sales of the energy saving light bulb and the public statement that was the hybrid car.

However, the bill passed in June by the California State assembly to ban single-use plastic carrier bags suggests that despite the pressures of the current economic climate, environmental issues still attract a huge amount of support. Dan Jacobson, Environment California Legislative Director, announced in an email to supporters of the bill that it would not have been passed without a considerable quantity of donations, along with e-mails and phone calls to the Assembly.

So, it seems that those that are in a position to support environmental action continue to do so, perhaps more than ever. But taking the issue closer to home, how does the desire to operate or consume in a greener fashion translate to the average consumer or small business struggling to weather the storm? Is4profit, an organisation providing advice to small businesses, reports that small businesses are cutting back on environmental measures during the recession. According to the article, a survey of 7,000 small firms found that there had been a 75 per cent drop in those with a formal environmental management system in place since 2007. However, a Forum of Private Business spokesman said it was unsurprising that green measures were not a priority in 2009, reasoning that “Overwhelmingly, small businesses are concerned about costs”. The spokesman added that many businesses view being environmentally friendly as “a nice idea”, rather than viewing it as a “central business practice” and one that can actually reduce costs in terms of saving paper and energy bills.

This perception of the costliness of being environmentally friendly is almost certainly reflected in the eyes of the consumer. According to an article by Lets Recycle in June 2003 entitled, ‘Recycling is Still a “Middle Class Affair”’, The National Consumer Council reported that people on lower incomes are being dissuaded from recycling and buying recycled goods, due to perceptions of costliness and lack of availability. The report found that only a third of people on low incomes, particularly those on estates and in high rise flats (33%) have kerbside recycling, compared to an overall average of over 40%, indicating a lack of facilities that are available as standard for people in more affluent areas. The article also echoes the concerns of the Forum of Private Business spokesman, with an emphasis on the perception that recycled goods are more expensive than the non-recycled equivalent; the report found that cost and confusion often override concerns about the environment, along with habit, and convenience. Although this article was written a few years before the recession, it shows clearly how cost, or perceived cost, is an integral part of people’s habits.

Despite the suspicion of the consumer regarding the expense of recycled goods, a 2010 Mintel report shows that demand for recycled food packaging is remarkably high, perhaps because it is assumed that the retailers should absorb any cost incurred by offering recycled or recyclable packaging or by changing their packaging formats in order to use less. According to the report, 23 million consumers place recyclable or biodegradable packaging as the top attribute packaging should have, attaching considerably less importance to appearance, with only 1.2 million considering stylish packaging to be a top attribute. 18.5 million consumers claimed to re-use plastic bottles and containers, with 4.4 million claiming to leave excessive packaging behind at the grocery store, thus the report considered that food packaging design should factor in multi-functional use.

So it seems that people do still care - but are cautious. Since the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005 and the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, people are perhaps more aware than ever of environmental issues and the action needed to safeguard our future. However, this cannot be at any financial cost and while many businesses are struggling to stay afloat and individuals are at a loss as to how to meet their mortgage demands, people need to be aware of clear steps that can be taken to make changes to their habits in a way that doesn’t affect their purses. Recycling facilities are more widely available than when the article in Lets Recycle was written but the balance between those of greater and lesser wealth still needs to be addressed, with recycling and buying recycled goods becoming a habit of not just the middle class but one that is ingrained in the national psyche.

New Member of Staff