Further update on "Who Gives a Crap"

Last week, I reviewed the loo rolls by Who Gives A Crap and said that I'd also bought tissues and kitchen rolls. I was disappointed by the plastic strapping that bound the carton of tissues and carton of kitchen roll together, and also that there was a plastic film in the top of the box of tissues.

I contacted WGAC about it and this was their reply:

We use what's called oxo-biodegradable plastic on the top of our tissue boxes in order to keep them secure and dry. This oxo-bio plastic breaks down much faster and will degrade in the presence of oxygen and sunlight (depending on the local conditions, 12-24 months vs 1000 years for regular plastic!). You can even test it out in your yard! We know it's not the ultimate solution, however it's something that is slightly better when having to go a limited plastic route.

As for the strappings.... urgh!!
We avoid using plastic wherever we can, but when shipping multiple parcels we strap them together so that 1) we (and the customer) are only charged 1 shipping fee for the package, and 2) there's no risk of the packages becoming separated in transit and the driver having to make two deliveries to the same address for the one order (also not good from an environmental perspective).
We're researching more sustainable strapping materials-- and we *have* tested paper strapping, but it hasn't been strong enough, and just breaks in transit. We need something that works with commercial strapping machines so the options are limited, but it's a priority of ours that we are continuously searching for a solution.

Some suggestions: There may be dedicated recycling centres you can find that will take them off your hands or you can work your magic in upcycling them into something unique (heaps of ideas on Pinterest)!

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