Packaging with a Past Life!

Just wait until you find out what our gorgeous ribbons started their first life as! As part of our continued efforts to reduce our carbon footprint here at Sparkle Towers HQ, we are always looking for ways to improve our processes and packaging, working towards an even more sustainable approach to our little company!

Anyone who knows anything about packaging in retail will probably know that making significant changes to packaging can be quite expensive: the recycled paper and card that we use within our printed media often costs far more than purchasing high-gloss card and paper that has not yet had a previous life, and switching to eco cardboard for gift bags and boxes is similarly pricey.

However, as our small team grows and our brand broadens its horizons, it really has become part of our efforts to make changes for the better: ensuring the future of our planet is imperative, and it doesn’t just end at our paper and printed materials either! We are far from perfect (who is?!) but as time passes and we become more conscious about the impact our lives have on the environment, there are so many more options popping up and becoming available to smaller companies to help us make little switches that can make a big difference overall.

Our Gorgeous Ribbons

We are currently in the process of transitioning from our old loose ribbon design to our lovely new recycled ribbons: using up the old materials we have is more eco-friendly than simply throwing out the ‘old’ in order to bring in the new! So over the next few months, we will be continuing as we were whilst we aim to make the switch as soon as we can with our loose ribbons.

Our new reels of ribbon have a fascinating background, as they are actually made from recycled bottles! Old plastic bottles are collected, cleaned and shredded down into flakes before finally being melted down and turned into polyester yarn which is then used to make the new ribbon. You simply can’t tell that these gorgeous ribbons had a past life, and you certainly wouldn’t think they had started off as a plastic water bottle!

This is also a great initiative for the economy as those who have struggled to find work are supported into jobs as bottle collectors, and these bottles are even collected from the sides of roads and highways to be made into these new ribbons, so it really does do the world good from all directions!

Although there is not currently an easy way for these ribbons to then go through further recycling (although a lot of work is currently being done to allow this to happen!), there are many ways you can make excellent use of your ribbons after unboxing your gorgeous Alyssa Smith jewellery.

Here we go! How to use your ‘past life’
ribbon and give it a third life!

1. Going away on holiday? Ribbons make for an excellent way to keep track of luggage! Simply tie your lovely Alyssa Smith ribbon onto the handle of your bag or suitcase and you’ll be able to spot your precious luggage from miles away!
2. How about turning your ribbons into beautiful Christmas decorations to adorn the tree, or turning your hand to a fun arts and craft session with the family?
3. Many people also swear by ribbons for helping to hold together and organise their scrapbooks: you can hang photographs from ribbon tabs, decorate covers and frame your most precious memories. You could even go a step further and bind your own homemade scrapbook from scratch!
4. Instead of using plastic cable ties around your growing plants such as tomatoes and sunflowers in your garden, you can use our pretty ribbon to tie around the plants, and it is so much gentler than a cable tie too!

Do you have any other uses for our gorgeous ribbons? Do share them in our blog comments for other readers to enjoy!

Our Signature Touch…Glitter!

For our signature finishing touch inside our jewellery boxes, we just love leaving a sprinkle of eco-friendly glitter… we’re called Sparkle Towers for a reason, afterall!  This is something our founder, Alyssa, has actually been doing since she started the brand way back in 2009, but it will be no surprise to learn she has always loved glitter, filling every single Christmas and birthday card with glitter, even from a young age!

Standard commercial glitter is surprisingly damaging to our environment. It may appear small and harmless, but it causes damage to our lakes, rivers and waterways. Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic that measure less than 5mm and are so damaging that many UK companies, schools and creative industries have turned away from conventional glitter altogether and are looking for suitable alternatives.

It’s not just our ribbon that had a past life, either: our beautiful biodegradable glitter in silver and gold is crafted with natural, plant-based polymers which are proven to simply biodegrade into harmless substances at the end of their lifecycle. This means you get to enjoy our glittering goodness without it remaining in and damaging our precious environment and wildlife!

Again, switching from the readily available glitter made from plastic has been a little bit pricier but we are really passionate about doing our bit for the world without losing our sparkly touch, so when we found the perfect glitter to use as an alternative, it was a very welcome switch!

We started using our biodegradable glitter back in 2018 which was also around the same time we removed the shredded glitter strips from our parcels too. We chose not to substitute the shredded glitter, but instead we pop sweeties and chocolates into each parcel now for a little extra surprise!

You can read our top tips on re-using your biodegradable glitter here

We are incredibly proud of the little changes we have made to our packaging and processes so far at Alyssa Smith and look forward to continually improving our resources and making changes for the better. It’s definitely one of those marathon things (not a sprint!), with little and often making a wonderful difference.