Sustainable Efforts at Our Warehouse in Florida

Apr 21, 2024by Anna Kebe

Here at Air Plant Shop, naturally we're all about the environment and mindfulness. Tillandsia are at the heart of what we do, and they thrive thanks to Mother Earth and responsible farming practices. Our warehouse is a reflection of these values, embodying sustainability and ethical choices every step of the way. We are not perfect, but we're always striving to do better. In this blog we detail our current sustainable efforts and our hopes and dreams for APS's future in sustainability.

Hard on the "Reuse"

As we ship out numerous orders from our warehouse, we also receive a variety of items to meet those orders. Every week, we get deliveries ranging from cardboard shipping boxes and plants to packing materials and display accessories, and the list keeps growing. Rather than discarding these packing materials, we're all about getting creative and reusing them as much as we can, as long as they're still in good shape. Take our boxes, tissue paper, and bubble wrap, for example — they're perfect for a round of recycling. Trust us, the excess of internal packing material is ridiculous and more than possible to repurpose! We trust our experienced shipping team to make the decision of what is satisfactory and fair to reuse for our customers. We would never ship something that we would not personally be overjoyed to receive.

cardboard shredder sustainable environmentally concious

We recently made a large investment into our sustainability efforts with Recycling.com's Freestanding Cardboard Shredder – check out our customer testimonial. If a shipping box is not viable to be reused in it's original capacity, for example if a box is no longer durable or otherwise flawed, then the machine perforates the cardboard into flexible padding material! We then use this perforated cardboard as an alternative to newsprint packing paper and plastic bubble wrap in all types of orders. With the help of this machine, we have reduced our newsprint use by about 75% and our bubble wrap use by about 95%! We are extremely proud of this impact which is probably the largest sustainability effort in the history of our company.

Here's to less single-use packaging!

Of Course, We Recycle!

Our team is fully on board with our reuse and recycle initiatives! Any cardboard that doesn't find a new purpose goes straight to our onsite paper recycling bin. We're all about reducing waste and giving materials a second life whenever we can. As for plastic, unfortunately we do not have the option in our direct vicinity to recycle it, however a team member volunteered to personally recycle the collected plastic recyclables. This is our most recent environmentally conscious action.

We are proud to share that anything in our warehouse that can be recycled, is recycled!

Honorable Mentions...

We made a point to only use one piece of paper per order (unless it is a large order) which includes the packing slip and shipping label! Some companies use two plus pieces of paper.

Call it thrifty, over here we like to say it's sustainably conscious... We even reuse hardly used plastic bags to separate and secure our APS shirts, recycled cotton tote bags and whole bean organic coffee.

Our commitment to sustainability runs deep in our brand ethos, especially when it comes to our new products. Take our latest branded tote bags, for instance; we made sure to use renewable materials in their production, reflecting our dedication to eco-friendly practices. Likewise, our new cork bark display accessories are crafted from the sustainable cork oak trees, a natural and renewable resource that keeps on giving. Check out our full blog on the Harvesting History of Cork Bark.

P.S. We are huge proponents and supporters of environmentally conscious farming. Check out our two blogs on this topic: Environmentally Conscious Farming and Air Plants of the Future: Growing T. Xerographica by Seed.

The Future of Sustainability at APS

We are always looking to improve our business and that includes sustainable practices! If you're a business owner or have experience in a warehouse environment, we've love to hear from you about additional policies we can insitute. Let us know in the comments of this blog or reach our to our customer service team at service@airplantshop.com.