Environmental Policy

We are working towards sustainability at Buttercup Learning by implementing environmental, social, and financial strategies. We acknowledge that we are not perfect. We take our responsibility for sustainability very seriously.

We have put green practices into place to lessen our negative impact.

We use local suppliers to reduce our carbon footprint and support the local economy.

We refine our design and production processes. All print and nature curious subscription box orders ship without any plastic packaging.

Triangular print tubes are made from strong, weather-resistant cardboard. It is simpler to transport and apply labels with this shape. Making them practical and environmentally friendly.

Our demand print supplier, Inkthreadable, uses vegan water-based inks. Their inks are OEKO-TEX® certified and contain no harmful chemicals.

Our print-on-demand model ensures that our products are only made when they are sold, reducing overstock and minimising energy and raw material waste. We also use a paperless order system to connect our products with our print suppliers.

DPD, one of our print-on-demand delivery partners, has a carbon-neutral commitment.

We use recycled and reused plastic-free packaging for our wholesale orders.

We promote sustainability within our organisation by providing training to all staff. Staff can take part in sustainability team challenges through Giki and Drawdown. Rachel is certified carbon literate.

Our goal is to achieve net zero emissions. We tax ourselves for the amount of carbon we emit and fund projects that offset our footprint.

As of April 2021, we are working towards offsetting our carbon footprint by planting trees through Ecologi. www.ecologi.com/buttercup

And through B1G1

and donating one percent of every Stripe payment to emerging carbon-reduction technologies.

We have reduced our digital footprint by using a new website that is 65% better than the average for carbon emissions and is green-hosted. Our company HQ operates on a green energy tariff, and we aim to operate a virtual business structure to minimise excess travel and keep costs to a minimum.

We use recycled or recyclable stationery from sustainable paper sources. We try to avoid using physical stationery and printing business documents wherever possible.

We reuse second-hand products where available, including our IT kit. In our design studio, we recycle all cardboard and paper. Buttercup HQ uses refillable ink cartridges for their test prints. Test prints are then donated to local schools and community centres.

We commit to social projects.

We are launching Pants Club, a local community project. Aimed at removing children’s pants from landfill and encouraging parents to donate pants.

Rachel will be working with local primary school children. Helping them create their own biodiversity-themed prints. We will support the school with a new website for their green club. Supporting families to re-wild their gardens.

We are also on the lookout for regional and national schemes. We want to support longer-term regenerative projects to re-wild the UK. Get in touch if you have a project.

We are working with others to enable a clearer picture of the carbon we emit. We want to achieve carbon synching. This is the idea that we need to not just remove CO2 from the atmosphere, but we need to do it at roughly the same speed (or faster) than we are emitting.

We also plan to add a carbon footprint label to each of our products. Inspired by footwear brand All Birds. Our new labels will keep us accountable and our customers informed.

Our reason for existing is to make a positive impact. We are striving to get better at monitoring and reporting our environmental and social impacts. We will be sharing our first environmental and social impact report soon. To support our journey towards becoming a B Corp in the future.