OUR BOXES ARE NOW BOOXES: GOODBYE SINGLE-USE BOX, HELLO REUSABLE BOOX

February 18, 2021

In our latest step towards sustainability, we’re replacing our recyclable shipping boxes with endlessly reusable booxes! 

What is a Boox?

A boox is a reusable box made from a material 4x more durable than cardboard. It can be reused over and over by customers and brands all over the planet. Boox the company is climate neutral, donates 1% of their revenue to environmental initiatives, and is on the road to becoming a certified B corporation. 

How does it work?

1. Your ĀTHR Beauty order arrives at your door wrapped in a brightly colored, reusable boox.
2. Inside, you’ll find a pre-paid shipping label. Fold your boox flat into its origami-like shape, attach your label to the boox, and pop it in the mail for return to Boox HQ.
3. The Boox team will sanitize and refurbish the boox and reuse it for another order.
4. Congratulations, you’ve just saved more packaging from the landfill and contributed to a more sustainable circular economy! 

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What’s wrong with cardboard boxes?

For most of our shipments, we use FSC-certified, fully recyclable cardboard boxes. And honestly, these work great for the most part. As long as our beautiful buyers recycle/reuse the boxes on their end, most stay out of the landfill.

So why use booxes?

In our current stay-at-home, shop-online world, cardboard box production is through the roof. And while cardboard is one of the most successfully recycled materials, 800 million tons of cardboard still wind up in the trash every year in the U.S.

Why? In 2018, China, the main buyer of our recyclables, stopped purchasing most of our materials. Without the domestic facilities (and buyers) to handle all our own recycling, many of the items in our recycling bins wind up in the trash or incinerated. This is still a massive problem and cities are scrambling to build and maintain recycling facilities to manage the incoming recyclables.

What’s more, many boxes that well-intentioned shoppers try to recycle still land in the landfill because of contamination. RECYCLING TIP: make sure your items are clean and free of any mixed materials to ensure they’re recycled. For cardboard boxes, remove all tape before recycling the box.

What else can you do for more sustainable online shopping?

Your best bet is to shop from sustainably-minded brands who are minimizing their impact on the planet! A couple measures we put in place for the most earth-friendly online shopping experience:

Carbon Offsetting

For about $0.28 (depending on weight) you can purchase carbon-neutral shipping for your ĀTHR Beauty order. Our partner, Cloverly calculates the carbon impact of each order and offsets exactly that amount with green energy credit purchases. 

Recyclability for everyone, everywhere

Even though our products are already 100% recyclable, we offer a free Terracycle program for customers who don’t have easy access to recycling facilities. Simply fill out this order form to receive your recycling envelope from Terracycle. Read more about how it works on our blog.

Giving back to the planet

While limiting our impact on the environment is a great start, we also need to balance our activities with positive measures! We give 1% of our sales back to 1% For The Planet, a charity that supports environmental initiatives that restore and preserve our oceans, help reverse climate change, reduce pollution, and conserve and protect land.

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Read our blog ‘What is Blue Beauty’ for more about how we make the most sustainable choices in packaging, production, shipping, ingredient sourcing, and recycling. 

- ĀTHR Beauty xo

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