Did you know that all of our cardboard packaging is home-compostable? From the box, tube and even the sticky tamper seals. Our packaging contains no plastic, no laminate, and no chlorines. 
Once you're finished with the packaging, you can simply rip it up into tiny pieces and pop it into your compost or dig a hole in the garden and bury it - mother nature will do the rest!
Don't have a compost system at home? No problem. Simply dig a small hole in a pot plant and pop the pieces in there to break down or simply recycle it.
What else can you do with Ethique packaging before it heads to the compost bin?
There are actually so many cool things you can do with our packaging before you pop it all in your compost, garden or recycle them. Here are some of our favourite hacks for reusing them:
- Seedling pot that can be planted directly into a pot or into the ground
- Jewellery holder
- Short term storage for any solid haircare bars
- Clever storage containers for medication, jewellery and charging cords that are perfect for travelling
- Have bits of yarn left over from a crochet or knitting project? Store them neatly in your craft bag for when you need them again
- Transitional propagation station for plant cuttings
- Great for storing left over bits and pieces from arts and crafts projects
- Eco friendly fire starters - stuff them with leaves, even tea bags
- Tear them up and use them for paper mache projects
- Bird feeder treat - brush syrup on the outside of the tube or box and roll it in some bird seed and hang it in the tree outside. The birds will love it!
- Use tubes & boxes for DIY seed banks and storing seeds - the boxes will stack neatly on top of each other
- Use the tubes to protect seedlings from snails - toilet rolls are great too
- Cut them up for gift tags and make cute gift tag bunting
- The ultimate eco-friendly confetti
- Gift box planter boxes
- Store hair ties, grips and clips
- Make paper mache seed paper and gift cards - they can be planted straight into the garden
- Make an insect bug hotel
- Use our tubes as desktop pen and stationary holders
- Emergency or travel yarn and sewing kits
- Cut them up for kids creative playtime or dolls house furniture
- Tear up the boxes and packaging and pop them into your worm farm or bokashi.
You can have so much fun with the boxes and packaging before it gets recycled or tossed into the compost bin.
While all our packaging is home compostable, not all cardboard packaging out there is.
Some of it has a secret plastic lining - the shiny pretty layer hiding in plain sight. Made from things like thin plastic coatings, laminates, and petroleum-based waxes. This means you can’t compost or recycle it! Disappointing right? Look out for a compostable symbol on the packaging and you can also check to see if there is hidden plastic with this little home experiment.
- Soak the cardboard in some water and leave it overnight.
- If there’s any hidden plastic, the plastic layer will separate from the cardboard and reveal itself in the morning.
- Squeeze the excess water out of the cardboard and now it can go straight into the compost.
- Dispose of the leftover plastic into soft plastics recycle bin - if it can be recycled, otherwise put it in your rubbish bin.
Is there a difference between compostable and biodegradable?
‘Compostable’ is a word that gets thrown around when it comes to cardboard packaging. But not everything that is biodegradable is good for the environment. Biodegradable plastic actually generates more methane gas than any other material in landfill!
There is so much greenwashing when it comes to this topic, so we set the record straight in a blog about it here.
Do you have a favourite way to reuse our packaging? We want to hear about it! Email us hello@ethique.com or tag us on social @ethiqueworld with your ideas!
