Environmental and Ethical Policy
The Birds In The Meadow does not claim to be perfect, but works very hard toward reducing it's environmental impact.
The goods in store are not produced by large scale industrial processes. I haven't bought mass produced, churned out cookie cutter items to assemble into one seasons throw away fashion. This lessens the impact of large scale environmental pollution caused by industrial plants churning out vast quantities of new "stuff". There is enough "stuff" in the world already, lets have fun with the "stuff" we already have!
The Birds In The Meadow utilises recycled materials, from the packaging your order will be wrapped in right up to the product itself. The longer we keep "stuff" useful, attractive, fun and out of landfill or polluting incinerators the better.
Also, everything in this shop has been hand made by one person, with love, commitment and care. Apart from the fact that you will be purchasing a low-impact one off item, you can rest assured that no sweatshop worker got exploited to provide you with your purchase.
Packaging The Birds In The Meadow is proud of its unusual and individual attitude to packaging. All orders are carefully and imaginatively packaged using recycled and recyclable materials, and we encourage you to do your bit as well and recycle the packaging once you have unwrapped your order. Packing materials are kept to an absolute minimum, although fragile or unusually shaped items may require more packaging than usual to ensure safe transit.
Materials Because our handcrafted goods are made from recycled, salvaged, vintage and fairly traded materials, you can be sure that environmental damage is kept to a minimum when you shop here. You can also rest assured that nothing here has been made in a sweatshop; it's all been made with care and love by one person.
Plastics Use of new plastics is kept to an absolute minimum but vintage or repurposed plastics such as vinyl records, "rescued" or vintage beads and pendants, and handmade plastic laminates are used.
Wood I use salvaged and repurposed wood in my work as well as occasionally using new wood that has been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.
Fabrics All fabric items sold here will be either customised, repurposed, or made from scratch using clean, fresh recycled fabrics. Plush items will be stuffed with brand new hygienic acrylic wadding.
Animal Products Leather and fur is not used in the manufacture of any The Birds In The Meadow item. In theory I have no objection to leather being recycled, but I personally do not like to work with it. The Beachcomber range of jewellery uses Beachcombed shell - I can tell you exactly which beach your necklace came off! I do not purchase shell beads or pendants for use in my work, as commercially produced shell products are often produced in a cruel and unsustainable way. I may occasionally use shell beads recycled from salvaged jewellery and will state clearly on individual product listings when this is the case.
