Environmental Values

At Really Well Made we care deeply about the environment and the legacy we leave for future generations. As a supplier of new furniture and accessories for the home the simplistic view could be that we are making a negative contribution to emissions, creating more waste to be disposed of in times ahead. However we actively take measures to counter our impact and thought you might be interested to know what we do and why. Read on to find out more about our sustainability, ethics and approach.

 

The products themselves

We purposefully select products which can stand the test of time, in terms of both wear and tear and trends. When someone decides throw out or replace an item, it is mostly because it is broken or has become unfashionable. We aim to increase the longevity of our items by partnering with brands which manufacture products to a very high standard of quality. The aim being that our products will age gracefully and hopefully become heirlooms rather than disposed of.

Trends come and go but we don't subscribe to them. We like to think that our products are timeless and will be just as desirable in 10 or 20 years time as they are today, perhaps even more so! Take for instance a Vitra Eames DSR chair. This chair was designed over 70 years ago and it's more popular than ever. For good reason too - it looks great and is super comfortable. We don't want to toot our own horn too much, but we're pretty confident we've picked out products that are either already classics or the classics of tomorrow.

Of course every product will eventually come to the end of it's life and it's important to consider how it can be recycled into something new when the time comes. Take a look around our website and notice what our products are made from. Primarily you will find it is metal, glass, wood and stone. Wood and stone products are of course completely harmless to the environment and can easily be returned to the earth. Metal and glass are the most simple materials to melt and turn into something else. Where a product is made of plastic it is always a well known compound like polypropylene. Simple plastics like this are designed to be easily recyclable with lower emissions from the process.

 

Packaging and delivery

Our mantra on packaging is 'ugly box, beautiful products'. When we are sent boxed products by our suppliers we will decide to either keep them for re-use or send them away to be recycled. It means that about 25% of our orders sent out to customers will arrive in a reused outer box. They may not look great but what does it really matter as long as it does it's main job - carefully protecting the items in transit. If you are buying an item as a gift and presentation is important we will of course send it to you in a shiny new box, just let us know if this is a must-have! When we do send new boxes they are biodegradable, recyclable and made from a minimum of 75% recycled materials.

Other packaging materials of note are also our tape and void fill. If a box does not already have any polypropylene tape used on it, we will use a paper based tape which is stuck down with a water-activated glue. Our void fill is either 100% recycled paper or 'packing peanuts' made from potato starch. Both are recyclable and biodegradable. The packing peanuts are also compostable. 

We also re-use other forms of packaging that are sent to us by our suppliers. This includes polypropylene air cushions and other forms of void fill. If you would prefer us not to use for your parcel then please let us know. Our compostable packing peanuts are easily identifiable as they have a slightly wheat-like smell and start to dissolve in water. If you're not sure what we have sent you, please do get in touch.

When you parcel is sent using one of our DPD services then it is automatically a Carbon Neutral delivery. You can find our how DPD achieves this here.

Carbon neutral shipping is also available through us using UPS services. At this time this is not a standard service as the majority of our customers do not request it. However please let us know if this is of interest and we can discuss adding this to your orders.