How to reuse your sustainable gift packaging

As part of Recycle Week 2022, we have decided to share our tips foe how we recycle our gift packaging for our sustainable hampers and gift boxes!

When given sustainable gift boxes, what do you do with packaging? We have been thinking about this lately; every part of our packaging is reusable. We thought we would share this with you to give inspiration and ideas for how you can reuse our sustainable hampers and gift boxes.

Why is reusing important?

Reusing an item is one of the ways we can help our planet. It can help prevent pollution caused when recycling items (we encourage recycling; reusing can be a great alternative if the option is there). It can help save energy, lower greenhouse gas emissions, inspire sustainability, give products more purpose, minimise what we put in landfills and more. 

How can you recycle your sustainable gifts?

Sustainable Gift Boxes

On the front of our sustainable gift boxes are the words ‘This Box Supports Different Social Causes.’ The receiver will immediately know this is a gift that is sustainable. The illustrations on the outside of the sustainable packaging show fun people carrying out the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, such as children being educated in a school, disabled artists empowered to create and so much more. Our sustainable gift boxes are made from recycled materials, reducing their carbon footprint. When you receive a gift box, what do you do with the packaging? Do you reuse it? Throw it away? Does it stay in a corner? We have some helpful uses that you can apply to your gift box listed here -

• Storage - you can use your sustainable gift boxes for storage purposes! Whether it is gaming equipment, beauty essentials, stationery, study materials and more. Using your gift box as storage will keep your belongings organised.
• Planter - use our gift box to place your plants as a make-shift plant pot! Cut off the lid, which you can put in cardboard recycling, place your plant on a saucer/plate, inside its starter pot and place where you feel it suits best! You can also line it with a plastic bag for watering, which adds the bonus of reusing a plastic bag!
• Picnic Box - you can also use our gift box as a picnic box! Just pack it as you would a picnic box and carry it with you travelling to work and home.

Featured: Plant Box

DID YOU KNOW - 17 trees are rescued for every ton of cardboard that is recycled - (Bywaters, 2021)

Sustainable Gift Hampers

Our sustainable gift hampers were introduced as were received feedback that your teams wanted the option to send gifts with durable, reusable gift hampers they could keep for life. We heard you and we introduced our sustainable gift hamper range which is great for reusing! Use these for storage, decoration, re-gifting and carrying around for travel!

• Storage - you can put your personal items in the sustainable gift hampers to store in your home or in the office
• Decoration - our sustainable gift hampers are not only great for storage - but are great options for decoration! If you have a natural aesthetic these can be great for hallways, living rooms, bathrooms and bedrooms. 
• Picnic basket - our gift hampers make for great picnic baskets! Whether you are going to the park, safari, the beach or in the garden - sustainable gift hampers are great additions to travel with style.
• Re-gifting - these hampers will last for generations and can be refilled and regifted. Your family can get together and build your own hamper to gift to grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, daughters and sons, and parents. 

Featured: Picnic Gift Hampers

The “Sustainable Packaging” section of our “Impact Report” page highlights information on our packaging and goes into detail. Furthermore, you can view the impact we are creating with our Carbon Offset delivery. View our “Impact Report” page here.

Wood Wool 

We use wood wool in our sustainable gift hampers and gift boxes to keep our products in place and pull each gift together. Wood wool is reusable in many ways.

• Regifting - if you are sending sustainable gift boxes or hampers to someone and do not want to use packing peanuts and want a sustainable option, you can create a natural feel by using wood wool to help cushion the gift and keep it safe. The wood wool is great to protect glass bottles and jars from moving - just make sure it is packed tightly.
• For storage - if you like to keep precious items in boxes - for example a memory box - we recommend you reuse our wood wool to help keep them safe! It will cushion them in the box and ensure.
• Pet bedding - wood wool is not made with any toxic chemicals and is pet friendly, so if you have a rabbit or hamster that needs bedding - you may find it in one of our sustainable gifts!
• Garden Waste - if you do not want to reuse your wood wool - you can recycle it as garden waste. 
• Compost - did you know wood wool is also compostable? If you need to top up your compost heap, wood wool is a great addition.

Featured: Wood Wool Sustainable Packaging

DID YOU KNOW - 18-34s are more likely to recycle than any other age group - RecycleBins.co.uk, 2021

Cards

We have a range of cards that go with our boxes, including "Congratulations", "Happy Birthday with cupcakes", "Happy Birthday", “I hope you have an amazing day”, "Happy Anniversary", a Social Stories Club design, and a "Thank You" card. 

You can reuse it by regifting it - giving it to someone celebrating their birthdays, anniversaries and more. Remember the happy occasion of receiving your sustainable gift, put it in a memory box, write a lovely note on the back, and put one up on the wall as decoration - keeping them on the wall can make for a lovely decoration.

Featured: Gift Cards

Story booklet

Our story booklet is included in all of our sustainable gift boxes and hampers and holds a range of stories about the social enterprises we work with, how they are sustainable and what they do! Keeping onto this story booklet allows reflection by reading the stories of these inspiring social enterprises and their social impact. The receiver will know this is a social enterprise gift box and will be delighted that the gift is creating a positive social impact. Furthermore, giving our story booklet to others means you are spreading the word about social enterprise through gift boxes and introducing the people to the social stories. 

Featured: Story Booklet

Reusing items can be easy and fun to do. It is a great way to support our planet and give products a brand new purpose and lease of life. We have set out to create the most sustainable gift boxes for you to enjoy. We are constantly working on improving our offering and we are very excited that our warehouse runs on renewable energies and all the carbon from the delivery of our gifts is offset. We hope you have found this blog insightful and enjoyable; we cannot wait to see how you reuse your Social Stories Club sustainable gift boxes.

Visit our “Impact Report” page on our website to discover the different ways we are helping to create a positive social impact. 

You can shop our Sustainable Gift Box collection here.
You can shop our Sustainable Gift Hamper collection here.

Read More From Blogs

An Interview with Aayush Goyal, Co-Founder of Social Stories Club: Spreading the Impact of Social Enterprise One Gift at a Time

Meet Aayush Goyal, a passionate social entrepreneur from India with a deep commitment to spreading the word about the power of social enterprises. Aayush co-founded Social Stories Club to help create a world where businesses drive positive change, and customers can feel good about their purchases.

The Power of Storytelling in Social Enterprises: How Social Stories Club Makes a Difference

In today’s business world, storytelling has become more than just a buzzword. For social enterprises like Social Stories Club, it’s the heart of everything we do. We believe in the power of stories to connect people, foster understanding, and create a lasting impact.

An Interview with Karis Gill, Co-Founder of Social Stories Club: From Market Stall to Making a Difference

Meet Karis, a social entrepreneur with a passion for chocolate-dipped strawberries, storytelling, and making a difference. As the co-founder of Social Stories Club, Karis has been at the forefront of using business as a force for good. Her journey starts at a market stall in Glasgow.

Which Country is the Best Place to Start a Social Enterprise?

Social enterprises are increasingly being recognised as powerful vehicles for addressing social and environmental challenges while operating as businesses. These innovative ventures merge commercial goals with a strong mission to create a lasting, positive impact on society.

Social Stories Club Corporate Gifting

If you are looking to show your team how much they are appreciated, attract and retain clients, or you have a corporate event and you want to create an impression, then our sustainable corporate hampers are just what you need. We have created the most exciting gift to give and receive which are packaged beautifully using sustainable materials, filled with delicious products made by social enterprises, and also include a storybook starting conversations about sustainability.

"Social Stories Club is a fantastic initiative that enables social enterprises to collaborate in such a creative way. The perfect way to buy gifts with a social impact" - David Adair, Head of Community Engagement, PwC