Small change: combat single-use plastic
By Becka Griffin for Ethos magazine: issue 09 | February 2019
In 2018, small-business owner Becka Griffin, of the self-titled Becka Griffin Illustration, realised that there was a lot more she could be doing to combat single-use plastics. Together with a team of likeminded small-business owners, she founded Naked Cards, through which she found that binning plastic, was a lot simpler than she could have imagined…
In early 2018 I had a lightbulb moment. After seven years of selling greetings cards online, and packing each individual card in a plastic ‘cello’ wrapper, it suddenly struck me that not only was this a totally unnecessary piece of single-use plastic, but it was also taking me time to pack each one, as well as costing me money. I trialled biodegradable alternatives, but these were expensive and — as I soon realised — not strictly necessary. It was a no-brainer; the cellos had to go.
I was aware of other online sellers voicing similar feelings on social media, and as a result I joined forces with a few other card designers to set up our online campaign ‘Naked Cards’. We launched our social media campaign in April 2018, drawing attention to the fact that such use of plastic was, in many cases, totally unnecessary. Our aim was to educate other sellers and to encourage them to follow suit.
We faced a lot of the same arguments over and over again — the main objection from fellow sellers was “what if the card gets wet in the post?”. Some of our Naked-eers carried out tests to see how wet an envelope would have to get for its contents to be damaged; and we were all pleasantly surprised. It’s highly unlikely that you’ll end up with a rain-damaged Naked Card! We don’t put pressure on anyone to stop using cellos; we just shout about how easy it is — and hopefully our positivity will win us more converts. We’ve actually now had several retail outlets conduct Naked Cards trials, which is a really exciting development.
Back in my own business, I still have a small stock of cards which are cello-ed (from my pre-Naked days). Once these are sold through, all of my online orders will be Naked. Wholesale customers still have the option to have cards supplied Naked or packaged — though once my plastic cellos have run out, I’ll only be using biodegradable cellos. My standard–sized prints all go out in biodegradable packaging, and I’ve also switched to biodegradable bubble wrap too. My biggest win was finding triangular cardboard Toblerone-style tubes for my large prints, cutting down on the traditional tubes with plastic end-caps.
My small business is still a long way from becoming plastic-free, but I’m really proud of the numerous small steps I’ve made so far to become more eco-friendly.
Becka Griffin is a Liverpool-based illustrator creating beautiful prints, cards, badges and mugs. Find her work on Etsy, Not on the Highstreet and Thoughtful.
