Being an eco-friendly business is almost a necessity in today’s environmentally conscious society. Which is a good thing, right? Without tooting our horn too loudly, our business wins big in this arena. Here are some of our environmentally safe practices.
Our inventory is a collection of treasures from the past. Dishes, goblets, flatware, linens, and decor have all been found items – in thrift stores, second-hand stores, some estate sales, flea markets, auctions, and online resources. Almost every trip we take involves a couple of side visits to the local thrift stores or flea markets where the goods might be unique to the area. The most treasured resource, however, were the gifts from friends, acquaintances, and even folks who were looking for a place where their family collections would be appreciated and used. We especially love these additions.
Most of our shelving, tables, chairs, and some of our carts were previously used. When we first moved out of the house and into a business location, we got lucky and found the most sturdy set of shelves from an auto parts store that was going out of business. These are the ones we use for the dishes and glassware and they can hold a lot of weight. Wooden shelving from our home and thrift stores were collected one by one and pieced together to hold vintage books and assorted decor. We did need to buy wired shelving that will last almost forever.
Our studio walls are decorated with vintage artwork and trays either found at thrift stores while some were generously gifted to us. Their florals and botanicals suit our inventory beautifully!
We have also upcycled a few items – boxes from old wooden fan blades, “vintage” cigar boxes, decoupaged vases from bottles, and dried floral bouquets in bottles.
The workhouse of a dishwashing machine came second-hand from another location. It’s energy efficient, recycles the sanitizing rinsing cycle water to wash the next load, and cleans a load in about 3 minutes once the water heats up. The dish detergent we use is Mrs. Meyers, which is “made with essential oils & other thoughtfully chosen ingredients.”
To protect our clean dishes for our clients, we use a food-safe plastic which is made with “eco-friendly bio-assimilating plastic.” And, when a crate comes back to us unopened, we will reuse the plastic bag as a garbage bag. Surprisingly, we have little garbage but the bags on used crates are definitely trashed.
The crates and racks used to hold and transport dishes and goblets are used over and over again. Some of them were found secondhand but many had to be bought new. When ordering these, we try to make the order large enough to justify the packing and shipping.
For items that need some protection, we are now using pillow cases and napkins to wrap them. These were found at a thrift store and are washed after every use. This transition from bubble wrap has created a more secure wrapping and is reusable.
Of course, we recycle cardboard, bottles, paper, and cans. It’s easy to recycle the cardboard with a bin on the property, but we take the other home to put in our home recycling bin. To save paper, we use email and phone meetings to correspond with clients. Rental orders, contracts, and packing lists are all attached to emails.
Have we bought anything new? Well, we have. We love block napkins made in India and we have purchased several sets to complement a boho tablescape. Miscellaneous supplies, such as plastic containers for linens, teacups, and coupes, are needed to keep our studio organized.
That’s a wrap! It may be more information that you ever wanted to know, but we wanted to emphasize that being eco friendly means a lot to us and our business. We hope you appreciate our commitment!
