Earth Day is (appropriately) quite close to Belle Terre's one year anniversary, so this is an exciting time for us. We frequently take an inventory of what we've done to ensure we are environmentally conscious and this is a great time to focus on that a bit more.
Personally we are trying to transition to a life that allows us to live closer to the earth, in a much smaller home, and to grow our own food. We are expanding our apiary, working on plans for our home, and we're developing our land to provide fruit and veggies for us.
From a business perspective, we started Belle Terre with the promise to ourselves that we would create a product that would be as eco-friendly as possible and we've held to that. Our packaging is minimal and typically recycled, we use recycled shipping envelopes whenever possible, and we research our suppliers in order to choose only sustainable ingredients.
We recently asked ourselves how our packaging could be more sustainable and the answer was basically not to have any. Sounds crazy? It might be slightly nuts, but others are doing it and we think it works. So, meet our new line of Naked Soap:
The bars are round (woohoo!) and are currently offered in three options:
- Simply Shea - our basic soap recipe with added shea butter
- Charcoal Shea - our basic soap with charcoal and shea butter
- Tea Tree - our basic soap recipe with tea tree oil
The Simply Shea & Charcoal Shea soaps have no added essential oils so they are perfect for sensitive skin. Tea Tree oil is known for its antibacterial properties. All three are just soap. Pure and Simple. These new options are available now on our Etsy site.
The giveaway: What are you doing personally or professionally to increase your commitment to the environment? One commenter will receive a free three pack of our new Naked Soap! The winner will be chosen Wednesday April 27th.
belleterre
April 29, 2011
Wayne is officially enamored with that slogan. Your response is quite inspiring…thanks for participating and congrats. Please send your address to us and your soap will be on its way. I hope you enjoy it!
Jamie
April 26, 2011
I’ve been thinking about this question a lot lately to find ways we can improve on our eco- friendliness:) We buy very few products with packaging, including foods, we like to make our own food, I use recycled fabrics in my sewing, I like to turn the water off in the shower when I don’t need it, grow our own food, compost, I also make our own cleaning products, lotions, misters and we are currently looking for ways to make eco decor using recycled materials.
Serafinamia
April 25, 2011
Hi – we compost every veggie bit, buy organic to reduce pesticide use and eat vegetarian to reduce the environmental cost of producing meat (among a host of other reasons). We recycle everything – sometimes even the neighbors’ cardboard or cast-off TVs. We also don’t poison our own yard, because ‘native grasses’ (aka, weeds!) are neat when mowed to uniform size!
The old WWII slogan, ‘Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without,’ just might be useful again.
Cortney
April 25, 2011
My daughter and I have both made it our goal this year to remove the "triple P’ threats of pesticides, plastics, and parabens!! Changing my whole cleansing routine was a very easy first step to our goal this year. Thanks for the fab products that are exactly what I need!
chui ying
April 24, 2011
at least you bought from an etsy seller instead of a commercially mass-produced one! good job!