Environment and Packaging
The planet matters a great deal to me; that being said operating a retail yarn online business has a lot of environmental impacts.
Here's what I do.
Yarn and Fiber: Once a year I buy a fleece or processed roving from the west coast or pacific northwest. I get it processed locally and dye it and bring it back to you. This may increase over time.
Any new polwarth bought is an organic base. Any new falkland merino bought is sustainably sourced from the falkland islands. Both are available through Ashland Bay, an imported located about 60 miles from me.
I drive an electric car and take it to most in-state festivals. (FYI, the car is primarily charged at night.) I rent another car if I have to go to Seattle. All of the power at my home is purchased green power, which means that we're supporting the expansion of the green grid.
Recycled Packaging:
I reuse as many of the plastic bags that my products arrive in. That may mean an old label underneath a new one, or a slight tear in a bag. If you require or desire gift packaging, please say so and it will arrive in a nice piece of tissue paper inside a new bag.
I am changing over to eco-enclose packaging that is made from 100% post-consumer waste. I still have many bags in stock though, so I'm not sure whether you'll see them in January or June of next year.
Packaging Reuse:
One of my local Salem Etsy team members sells mirrors online. Whenever I have too much styrofoam, air packets, bubble wrap, etc., I send it to her for reuse.
Recycling:
All paper gets recycled.
Festival bags - any plastic bags given out during festivals are reused from the packaging the yarn and fiber comes in. They do not have handles. 3 out of 5 of the cities I do festival business have plastic bans, so if you are coming to visit, I recommend bringing your own!
