Cheeky Pants & Sustainability - Simple Reusables - Better for our planet!

At Team Cheeky we're on a mission to provide Simple Reusables, alternatives to disposable, single-use products which create mountains of landfill and burn through our planet's resources. That means that we work with trusted factories in Turkey, Pakistan and China to supply goods at a good value price point so that they are accessible to many rather than just the well-heeled few. But there's other ways that we try and work sustainably.

Firstly - Reduce

Our products help our customers massively reduce the amount of waste needing to be recycled. At our parent company, Cheeky Wipes, that's our cloth nappies or cloth wipes replacing disposable wipes and nappies.  For us at Cheeky Pants, our period pants and cloth period pads replace tampons and disposable sanitary and incontinence pads so by switching to reusable alternatives, you'll hugely reduce your landfill waste over time. Though that's not the only way that we work on reducing our waste…

Packaging

We're really vigilant on our packaging front, constantly looking for better ways to reduce our waste.  That covers three areas. There's packaging on the products themselves, mailing packaging and packaging for trade orders too. Helen our founder, is always challenging us "If this packaging is going to be binned as soon as it's received, what's the point? Can we make the packaging dual use in some way, maybe by making it mailable, or providing instructions on it?" 

Packaging is an area which is always innovating so if you see any super packaging that you think we should know about, please do get in touch!

Product Packaging
Our cloth menstrual pads and period pants are bulk shipped to us, meaning their carbon footprint is lower than if they are shipped in individual packaging.   We then just place them in a sturdy paper mailing bag along with a separate instructions leaflet, so no additional packaging is required.
We also don't use single use plastic hygiene strips in our period pants because they're actually not proved to be hygienic for a start! Our pants should be tried on OVER UNDERWEAR to check for fit and our team are always on hand to offer advice on size/style. Check out the details of our 90 day trial. 

Mailing Packaging
This is such a tricky area where you have to be really aware of 'greenwashing' and even we have got it wrong in the past. We used to use biodegradable plastic mailers, however we discovered that these were only biodegradable in a home composting situation, not landfill. We considered switching to bags with a high percentage of recycled material, but that meant bags which then couldn't be recycled themselves. So we were really happy to find sturdy paper mailers which we now use for all smaller items.  They're so robust that they can easily be reused which is great, often when we receive returned items back in them, we still can't tear into them and they have to be cut open! Larger items go in standard cardboard boxes, all easily recyclable.

Trade Packaging
As much as possible, the boxes that our products are shipped to us in, is used for shipping trade orders. Where bulk packaging is necessary, brown craft paper, also easily recyclable is used.
 

Energy & Wastage

Reducing energy consumption
At our warehouse, we also focus on reducing energy consumption with all our lighting being low energy LED lights. Our pick and pack area was positioned within the warehouse to take advantage of natural light and solar gain, which reduces energy consumption for heating. All our staff are encouraged to walk or cycle to work and cycle parking is available for everyone. Our partner factory in Pakistan has a fantastic solar energy bank which generates electricity to supply the factory.

Reduce product wastage
Saying that we really hate waste is an understatement. We really believe in our products too, which is why we offer a money back guarantee on all our products. This does mean that we sometimes have clean used items returned, or sometimes we have items which get a bit dirty in transit. These can't be resold, however we're really don't want to throw them out. Any items which fall into this category are saved and then forwarded to women's refuge charities or other charities which we support.   

We Reuse

Product Reuse
Jo, our customer experience manager uses her old mucky soaking box (well cleaned!) to store baked goods, but you could use them in the kids playroom, utility or wherever.  

That's not where the potential for operating sustainably comes in. We encourage all our warehouse and office staff to bring in packaging they receive which can be reused - so if you ever find some random packaging in an order from us, you'll know why! We also give away any large boxes that we don't need to a local house mover, so in houses across Seaford you'll find possessions stored in Cheeky Wipes / Cheeky Pants boxes!

…and we Recycle!

Lastly, when they reach the end of their life all of our textile products can be recycled in textile recycling. And our soaking boxes can be recycled in recycling group 5 (PP).