It's not easy being green… but it's worth it!
Hi I'm Cat and Little Green Wood is my eco-friendly brand of reusable products and blogs.
Our little business started after the amazing Sir David Attenborough highlighted the impact our lifestyles are having on the world in the BBC's Blue Planet.
I had been guilty of prioritising convenience over longevity. With a hectic and stressful lifestyle, working full-time, starting a family, renovating a house and attempting to have a social life (and breathe!), I hadn't stopped to think about the impact I was having. But seeing the effect that convenience products and plastic packaging are having on our oceans made me want to change my buying behaviours.
I began searching the internet for ideas on how to reduce my waste, without giving up on the luxuries that I had become used to. I found this surprisingly hard! Everything seemed to have a compromise, either the quality wasn't quite there or items were expensive compared to what I was used to.
So I started to think, if I can't find what I want I'll make it. And with that, Little Green Wood was born.
We have started small, with simple but beautiful reusable make-up wipes and bags.
These were to replace the disposable ones I had been using, around 500 of them a year (ouch!)! All of that waste going to landfill just so I could take my make-up off. Not only that, but I calculated it was costing me about £60 a year, that amount of waste and money did not sit well with me at all.
That eco products shouldn't mean boring products!
To produce no waste – We only send receipts by text or email and the offcuts of our fabric are reused for making teddy bears, stuffing cushions or making new items.
As a new business this wasn't easy, but I'm so proud of how far we have come since launching in October 2018. It has been a personal journey too, which you can read about the blogs on our website. Here I share what I have learned and how I have changed my ways to not only be kinder to the planet, but also to myself.
If you are looking to be more environmentally friendly the best piece of advice I can give you is to start small. Much like a diet, making huge changes to your life in a short space of time isn't sustainable. Making little ones will help to build new habits and are also less stressful! This could be something as small as buying packaging free vegetables or having a reusable water bottle rather than buying plastic bottles all the time. You'll quickly see your waste and the amount you spend reduce.
We are lucky enough to have our lovely eco products within many stores across the country, as well as on our own website. But we are very excited to also be part of Meadowhall's Easter Bank Holiday event. So, if you are free on the 18th, 19th or 20th of April please come down and say hello, I'll be at Meadowhall Artisan Market located on Park Lane. I'd love to hear about your own eco journey!