As a small British brand we pledge that we will continue to do all we can to strive towards a carbon neutral, zero-waste, and 100% plastic free enterprise. To be honest about our efforts without green-washing, and to learn all we can to help protect our environment. We will reuse, recycle, and repurpose as much as we can, while keeping sustainability at the heart of what we do.
The maps we use are upcycled and repurposed from real old vintage maps. Rescued from otherwise ending up in landfill, we use unloved atlases and folded OS maps for our artwork. And each map can be reused multiple times to create many pieces of art. No map goes to waste.
Our frames are made and produced in Britain using FSC sourced sustainable wood from British sources. Each frame is made using moulding harvested from forests that meet the social, economic and ecological needs of present and future generations.
Our supplier holds PEFC™ and FSC™ Chain of Custody certifications. Their mounts are made of a special water-based coating, are fully recyclable, and contain no metallic pigments or plastic.
The MDF backing boards are certified with an Environmental Product Declaration compliant with EN 15804. The wood fibres used are sourced from PEFC™ and FSC™ forests which are manufacturer owned and situated close to the production facilities. All the waste generated during the production process (waste from cutting the boards, chip waste, and debarking or sanding waste) is used to generate useful electricity for their factories.
Our frame producers use British suppliers for their materials, and employ staff locally on long term contracts to ensure that they keep all of their highly skilled workers. Our producers also became 100% recyclable in January 2020! And back up their ethical operations by planting 20,000 new trees every year.
We source our card, papers, and woods from local British suppliers and manufacturers. Minimising the distance our raw supplies have to travel ensures that the effect of our carbon footprint on the planet is kept as low and as close to carbon neutral as possible.
Our frames are glazed using a UV Perspex, which reduces fading and glare. These framed products are made to last, and are produced with the intention of creating a forever gift that will never end up in landfill.
Our sustainability ethos at Bombus means that from design to execution we are considering the environment at every step. Our gifts are plastic-free, sustainable, designed to be kept, and are not intended as throw away items but rather something to be treasured, to help support responsible consumerism.
We are vocal with our suppliers about our environmental expectations and reject surplus packaging and unnecessary use of plastics and non-biodegradable fillers.
Our packaging has been cafefully tailored to reduce waste and minimise material that will end up in landfill. We have chosen plastic free products that still ensure items arrive undamaged through the post. Eco-friendly biodegradable bubble wrap is used instead of conventional wraps, and we reuse and upcycle fillers that arrive with our deliveries.
Your parcel may arrive in a non-branded pre-loved box. This is part of our attempt to reuse as much cardboard and paper as we can. We will sometimes repurpose boxes from our deliveries wherever possible.
We have phased out the use of plastic packing tapes in favour of paper alternatives.
Our jiffy bags are filled with paper, rather than plastic. These envelopes are designed to become more protective the more they are used, so we encourage our customers to retain the packaging from their gifts to regift, upcycle, and repurpose again. They are also compostable and/or recyclable.
Our team work in the Bombus Oast House studio at Brenley Farm in Faversham, Kent. Sustainability and the environment is at the heart of our culture at the studio and we are a Green Team.
Read about how our team commute, eat, and live green here: An Eco-Friendly Brand - Bombus blog
Our Oast House studio has also gone green and energy efficient. We have recently converted all of our lighting to low energy LED fittings and bulbs, reducing our energy consumption dramatically.
Our culture at the studio encourages the team to wrap up warm rather than crank up the oil heating during cold snaps. And as the work is physical, our use of fuels for heating has a minimal impact.
We are nature lovers at Bombus and do our best to offset our carbon footprint wherever possible. We have joined the fight to Save the Bees and the Butterflies at our studio by planting our garden full of bee-friendly and pollinator-friendly wildflowers, alongside targeted promotions that encourage our customers to do the same. By helping the wildlife in our grounds we hope that we can help increase the bee population and improve the bio-diversity in our local area.
For most of our shipping needs we use Royal Mail. Over the past few years they have worked tirelessly to improve their sustainability and reduce their carbon footprint.
https://www.royalmail.com/sustainability
90% of our sales are domestic and are sent within the UK.
Despite our best efforts to reuse and recycle as much as possible we still create waste. And while we strive to reach zero-waste in the future, there is inevitably some of our offcuts that end up in the bin. In disposing of our surplus waste we have chosen a refuse company that have a strong environmental and recycling policy.
Countrystyle recycling concentrate on four key steps in reducing the impact of waste on the environment:
- Reduce
- Reuse
- Recycle
- Recovery
Read more about their efforts here.