We’ve been working with our suppliers to reduce the use of plastics in our packaging, use eco-friendly alternatives, and where possible make it easier for our customers to recycle. The cellophane bags we use to protect brushes and small items, and our packaging peanuts are 100% compostable.
Over the years, with careful consideration and because we believe in recycling, we have opted for paper and cardboard where possible and 100% recyclable plastic when there just isn’t a better option.
We’re working on solutions for our non-recyclable packaging and our recyclable plastic packaging, to further reduce our plastic use. We also switched several years ago to using mainly paper tape to make it simpler for you to recycle the boxes and card you receive from us.
Our warehouse separates all the paper and plastic that our goods arrive in and re-use the packing materials when we send out orders. We have a zero-to-landfill policy at our warehouse which we’ll be writing a full post about soon.
You can see full information on our packaging and how to recycle or compost it on jacksonsart.com.
We’ve added stickers to our 100% compostable cellophane bags
We’ve been using these bags to protect brushes and small items for a while but we wanted to make it clearer that these bags can go in the compost. Our 100% compostable stickers are also compostable themselves and are from total chlorine free face stock (TCF), water-based adhesives and solvent free polymers.
The cellophane bags are made from PLA film which comes from annually renewable corn and other sugar starches. It’s certified with the European standard EN 13432 and the ‘OK biobased ****’ conformity mark.
The film itself biodegrades completely into CO2, water and biomass after 6 months in industrial composting conditions (58° C). This makes it 100% compostable as well as biodegradable.
You can put the bags in your hot home compost or in an industrial composting collection. You can check with your local council if they accept certified EN 13432 compostable packaging in their food or garden waste collection.
Our stickers are compostable as well, as they’re made from total chlorine free face stock (TCF), water-based adhesives and solvent free polymers
We’ve introduced 100% compostable packaging peanuts
The most difficult area to deal with has been to work out how best to fill in the empty spaces in the cardboard boxes in which you receive your orders. If we don’t fill in these spaces, products will move around and get damaged. Paper is suitable for some products but heavy tins and jars need something denser to stop them moving about and causing damage to any other materials or the box.
100% home compostable starch based packaging peanuts we’re now using to fill empty space in boxes
There are biodegradable plastic options available but we discovered they usually need oxygen and UV light to degrade. This means that bio-degradable plastics if buried in a landfill can take hundreds of years to break down, and breaking down is all that they do. What was a sheet of plastic becomes many tiny pieces of plastic. It’s still there, just in bits. On top of this, if you were to put the biodegradable plastic in the recycling bin, it can contaminate recyclable plastic and make it un-recyclable.
Instead, we either use shredded recycled cardboard, which is made using a shredder from old boxes in our warehouse, or 100% compostable cornstarch-based packing peanuts.
These peanuts are made from sustainable starch-based raw materials in a low energy manufacturing process; a far more environmentally friendly solution than petroleum-based polystyrene packing material. They are completely natural and non-toxic and break down incredibly quickly in home composting. They’re also completely water-soluble so you can dissolve them in water and pour them down the sink.
Our protective brown paper, that is used as a filler or to wrap items, is made of 100% recycled paper and is completely recyclable and home compostable
Responsible parcel delivery
We are delighted to announce that our delivery partner DPD won the ‘Transport/Fleet Management Initiative of the Year’ at the edie Sustainability Leaders Awards 2020. This award follows their ‘Green Apple Environment Award’ for environmental best practice, and a ‘Fleet Heroes’ award from the Energy Saving Trust. For more information about their sustainability practices, visit their website.
If they are starch and sugar, wouldn’t
they be better poured into the
garden/around plants? Just wondered…
whatever it’s a great idea!
You definitely could pour the starchy water into the garden or around plants but I’d look up what it will do to your soil and the particular plants you have. Especially how the concentrations will affect any house plants (just as you would if you were adding nitrates or any fertiliser). Some plants won’t enjoy too much sugar and it actually can lead to them reducing their annual growth, as soil microbes thrive off, grow faster and increase competition for nutrients. If you try it please would you let us know how your plants do?
I tend to reuse the cardboard and paper
when sending out completed orders, that
way, I know that the note that I put in for
the customer to also either reuse or
compost, means that it will be reused at
least 3 times if not more!
Hi Reb,
That’s a great idea. In our warehouse, we try and reuse as much packaging as possible which is why sometimes boxes people receive have different information on them (a box stating it has 3 Cadmium Yellows may contain your Ultramarine Blue, Yellow Ochre and Ivory Black). So by working together, we might even have reused them 4 times! The note is a great idea though.
Makes me so happy to read this. I find it
really depressing to receive anything in
bubble wrap or any other kind of
plastic. Sometimes I even smooth out
the paper, prime it and paint on it. Well
done Jacksons.
Hi LDG,
Thank you. I’m glad it’s made you happy, we’re working to improve even more. That’s such an inventive way to reuse the paper, I’m going to make a note for myself to do that.
I think it’s wonderful that Jackson’s Art is
making a concious effort to reduce their
impact on the environment. It would be great
to see other businesses doing the same.
Hi Kate, thank you for your comment. We’re trying and we hope all of us doing our bit inspires each other.
Well done, Jacksons! I love the water
soluble peanuts.
Hi Judith, I love them too, they’re so fun as well as being environmentally friendly.
But manufactures send shipments to you
with plastic.
Hi Rita, we’re working with our suppliers to try and reduce the amount of plastic they use in sending shipments to us. We also have an incredible warehouse team that have a zero-to-landfill policy. This means any packaging we receive from suppliers gets reused, recycled or sent to plants to produce energy. We’re going to have a post up about this very soon as the process our warehouse manager has come up with is fascinating.
Congratulations, a fine achievement.
Thank you John, we know we still have a way to go but we’re getting there.
Brilliant news about the compostable
packaging. The more organisations that
take this step – the more others will follow.
Good for you.
Hi Roz, it’s great that compostable options are becoming available and as you say the more people that use them, the more will especially as the market gets broader.
Absolutely delighted that you are doing this.
Thank you Jackson’s,
From me and the planet!
Hi Lesley, thank you for your feedback it means a lot.
This is a really good change! Very pleased!
My last order from Jacksons had so much
plastic, even a few sheets of paper [sanded
pastel paper comparison pack] had two
plastic sleeves over the top of the actual
plastic packet and then 2 layers of plastic
bubble wrap around those in a big box with
lots of other bubble wrapped items. Very
well packaged indeed but also very
excessive and very plastic!
Hi Ross, we try to be really careful when wrapping paper so it stays clean and uncreased during shipping (as it can get so easily damaged). The reason we use plastic bags for wrapping paper is because it’s susceptible to moisture. The plastic is 100% recyclable and we use a more expensive thicker plastic than we could because we think this is more useful for longevity as the bags can be reused for many years to protect artwork. But there could be a better product out there and we are very open to suggestions. If you look at this website page we have a list of packaging we’re working on finding alternatives for. If you know of any solutions or have any suggestions we’d be delighted to hear them.
I am always happy to read about new
changes in your eco-friendly packaging.
Hi Natasha, glad to hear that, hopefully, we’ll have more updates for you soon.
I am so happy to read this!
I had to reduce online ordering because the amount of
plastic that arrived with each package, from tape to bubble
wrap, was ridiculous. My conscience couldn’t take it.
I am so happy JacksonArt is working on this. I will
definitely order from you again in the future to support
environmentally friendly company.
Hi John, Thank you for your lovely feedback. I’m so glad you’re pleased and want to help support our efforts. We’re hoping to have even more updates on our progress soon.
Well done, Jackson’s – another good reason
to order through you
That’s great to hear Anita! Thank you
Excellent news Jacksons and thank you for
making it easy to recycle. It really helps to
have stickers and notes that say what can be
recycled, especially and now there’s lots of
different sorts of plastic out there. I like
receiving my paints in re-used boxes (with
the friendly little note telling me my product
is inside!). As Anita says “Another good
reason to order through you”!
Thank you so much for your lovely comment, Jane!
This is so great, but I would love to buy
some of that starch foam to replace
styrofoam when making puppets. Where
could I buy large foam balls or egg shapes?
Have you thought of providing option for
artists to buy bulk items to ship their
art? I try to re-use as much as possible
but would love options.
Thank you for the suggestion. I will put this forward to our buyers.