Recycling the Gumbies Way

Here at the Gumbies HQ, we go further in ensuring that almost anything can be recycled or re-used, whether its recycling mailing bags, or cutting down on our cardboard boxes - here’s how we do it the Gumbies way;

1. Gift boxes Our gift boxes can still be purchased for an additional cost; however, we now no longer place all Gumbies orders into boxes. Why? You may ask. Firstly, these can take up more spacing within a shipping container – the standard ISO shipping containers are usually 8ft (2.43m) wide by 8.5ft (2.59m) high. If we were to have our all of our products inside cardboard packaging, then we would need approx 2-3 shipping containers. Since we changed the packaging to recyclable plastic bags in 2019, we have been able to limit this to one shipping container.

So, the less shipping containers that we use, the better.

Another reason being is that if the stock gets wet, then cardboard is not usually the best solution and can be damaging to the products, so this brings us to our next subject – plastic packaging bags.

2. Plastic packaging bags Although one may gasp at the thought of a plastic bag, we are pleased to say that ours are 100% recyclable or re-useable. We are currently looking at alternative packaging, however, we have found that these have protected our products in the best way possible as they prevent the products from getting dusty, dirty or wet.

3. Bicycle tyres As well as recycled car tyres for our Gumbies products, we also recycle bicycle tyres!
These are used at our Tradeshows as part of the show displays.

4. Mail bags All of our mail bags are made from 100% recycled materials with biodegradable components so these will break down naturally if they are thrown away. We encourage our customers to re-use these or to recycle them if they can.