Sustainability
Sustainability is not just a buzz word I use in my marketing, it is something I am very passionate about and what makes up the majority of my brand mission at Saltwater Picnic Co.
For me, sustainability means "meeting our needs as a business without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs".
That sounds pretty simple and straightforward, but it was a huge challenge I faced when setting up Saltwater Picnic co. that you can read the full story HERE.
The key was finding a balance between the materials and the technologies I needed to create the perfect picnic rug and their effects on the planet, which took some time, but we managed to get there.
Our production techniques, our partnerships with environmental groups and our programs to ensure our products stay out of landfill make us, what I believe to be the creators of the most eco-friendly Picnic Rug in the world.
Look after Yourself and Our Planet
Emma xo
SUSTAINABLE MATERIALS
We selected a 300D Oxford material for the printed topside and the waterproof underside, this material is made from recycled plastic water bottles, keeping them from landfill and our waterways. The poly batting filling and trimming is also made from recycled material, making the whole rug eco friendly.
This material ticked all the eco boxes for us, as well as allowing us to utilise techniques that will give our rugs the luxury feel we are after, while also providing colour fastness, UV protection and the water, sand and stain proofing properties that we feel are paramount to creating a beautiful, totally usable picnic rug.
SUSTAINABLE PARTNERS
Finding the balance with materials was the easy part.
We also had to ensure that all the elements involved in treating and producing the rugs left as small a carbon footprint as possible.
To do this we selected partners that shared our mission for sustainability and who embraced all the renewable energy sources available to them like solar energy.
ECO INITIATIVES
After all this there was still a small carbon footprint we needed to offset, so we decided to partner with Ecologi, who is a not for profit ecology business planting and protecting trees in Madagascar where the mangroves they are creating store four times the carbon as tropical rainforests do.
Our commitment to Ecologi is that we will fund the planting of a tree every time a Saltwater Picnic Rug is purchased. They promise to keep us up to date on how our Ecologi forest is growing so our community can follow our sustainability efforts in real time.
We are also working on some initiatives to help keep plastics from our waterways locally, which we hope to partner with the charities focused on plastic pollution and will keep everyone up to date on as it progresses.
Being from Generation X, lessons on environmental impacts that business has on our planet were very much missing from our school curriculum.
It has been lessons from our two beautiful girls, both Gen Z’ers that have made us mindful as to what we need to do to be responsible and sustainable business owners.
Making our girls proud of what we built with the Saltwater Picnic Co brand, holds way more value than the figures on any financial statement can.
Much Love
Emma