Impact Page

Here at ABP, we believe that businesses need not be profit-hungry destruction machines, and can instead be environmentally and ethically responsible changemakers that strive to benefit society. We call this benefit our ‘impact’.

This is Anything But Plastic’s impact page. Here we show off all the good we’ve done together, (none of this would have happened without our amazing customers and supporters) and tell you about any current projects we are supporting. This page includes new initiatives, so it is a work in progress and will be updated regularly.

UPDATE - 25/11/2021

‘Green’ Friday 2021

For all products sold over the ‘Black Friday’ weekend, we will donate 50p per item to Surfers Against Sewage via Work For Good. Fill up your basket and help us raise some money for this well-deserving charity!

Surfers Against Sewage is a national conservation charity that campaigns to protect our marine areas and help the communities that live alongside our seas to act in protecting our favourite blue spaces. Some of the work they do includes campaigning against sewage dumping in the sea, organising beach cleans, and working with schools and communities to inspire plastic-free living.

Orders placed on Friday the 26th of November will additionally receive two handmade recycled Christmas gift tags for free with their purchase.* 😊

*While stocks last.

UPDATE - 14/10/2021

We are now a member of Work For Good.

WFG is a UK-based platform that helps small businesses set up legally compliant charity donation schemes. There is no minimum donation, so small businesses can give from the word go, and make every penny donated count towards a good cause.

Our new refer a friend scheme is up and running!

For every order placed using a refer a friend code that we receive, Anything But Plastic will donate £1.50 to the Marine Conservation Society.

UPDATE - 06/10/21

Changes to impact page –

We are changing the way ABP does its charitable giving. We will no longer be using B1G1 as our giving partner as of 06/10/10/21 and we are working towards switching to an alternative giving partner.
The main project we supported through B1G1 (beach cleaning via ROLE Foundation) is now fully funded, so we have temporarily suspended our ‘refer a friend’ donations until we find another project or charity to support. Any ‘refer a friend’ codes we receive during this time will be kept on hold, once we have found a new cause to support, any backlogged ‘refer a friend’ codes will be used to support the new project/charity.
Because we are moving away from B1G1, we also will be stopping our giving to the projects which were linked to the sales of these products:

Single-pack Large BeeBee Wrap – every wrap sold = 1kg of carbon emissions saved by rescuing food waste from landfills.
Ecoffee Cups – every reusable coffee cup sold = one day’s worth of access to clean water by a community created using solar power.
Lunch/Book Bags aka Mini Tote Bags – every bag sold = one day of education for a Dalit girl in India.

Again, any of these particular products that are sold while we make our switch will be noted and once our giving is back up and running, we will donate to new causes/charities for these products. We are likely to expand the list of products that support a charity/cause via their sale, so look out for these new initiatives coming soon!

what impact did we make as a business for good?

Pass it on to pick it up

We started a ‘Refer a friend’ scheme as of September 2020 called ‘Pass it on to pick it up’. When you refered a friend using this scheme, we ensured a kilo of coastal plastic pollution would be picked up on their behalf. You can see the total impact we created in the image which shows our giving impacts.

Our giving through Business for Good helped contribute towards furthering the global sustainable development goals

UPDATE - 30/11/20

Our ‘Green Friday’ weekend pledge (ABP's version of a positive alternative to Black Friday) means that thanks to you, our brilliant customers, we were able to sponsor the removal of 72kg of plastic pollution from beaches worldwide!

I’ve got a useful and/or innovative plastic free product I think you would be interested in. Do you take on new suppliers?

Yes! I would be thrilled to hear from you, the more the merrier. Please contact me if you have a product that you think is perfect for this website. Ridding the world of plastic pollution can only work as a cooperative effort after all!
I’ve got a plastic free product I think you would be interested in, but it is packaged in plastic. How strict are you on this?"

Hmmm… this is a tricky one. To start with, I wanted to be as purist as possible and have absolutely no plastic in my supply chain, but this is proving difficult. So, I am working on a case by case basis to try and eliminate as much plastic from my supply chain as possible. Most suppliers don’t specify that their packaging be plastic free so there will be some accidental smothering with plastic until an understanding of the problems this causes is reached. I’ve had some promising correspondence with my suppliers so far, some have been very open to replacing plastic in their packaging already. To my surprise, I am clearly doing some good with this. If you are a supplier who would be willing to work with me on getting rid of the plastic in your packaging, please get in touch! Eventually I hope Anything But Plastic can live up to its name, but until then, we’ve got a lot of work to do. I promise, until that day comes, I shall chronicle all the plastic sins that occur in my supply chains so that you can see how I’m getting on. Berate me if you think I’m not working hard enough, I can take it.
How do I know that you’re not just taking the plastic packaging off your products and pretending that they are plastic free?

How dare you question my honour! I’m offended you would question my integrity so. To be fair, it would be easy to pull off such cheap tricks, but that would kinda go against my ethics and my whole reason for doing this, so no, I am not pulling any such devious trickery. I solemnly swear I am up to some good! First and foremost, I am attempting to cut down reliance on plastic as a material for everyday use. So, while I sell plastic free products, that does not mean that my supply chain will always be 100% plastic free, which I had naively believed could be to start with. I am working with my suppliers individually to cut down on plastic in the supply chain, and I will always let you know where there is any plastic. Plastic pollution is a growing issue, and as more people become aware of the problem and ask what they themselves can do about it, the more progress we will achieve. Small changes like switching from plastic to paper tape in your packaging can collectively make a big difference. (It’s always bloody Sellotape that trips me up!) There are alternatives to plastic out there, we just need to promote them and make them more available. Are you reassured as to my intentions yet? Good. Don’t you dare question my honour again…
When will my order arrive?

How long is a piece of string? Royal Mail assures its customers that it takes around 1-3 days for first class and 2-5 days for 2nd class delivery. Nothing in this world is certain however so I cannot guarantee this. I uncertainty believe that it should take no more than just over a week to receive your order once it is in the post. But...if it is a particularly busy time over here at Anything But Plastic and we are backlogged with orders, it can take us a while to post your order out. The aim is to get them out as soon as possible, but when it's busy it can take us over a week to pack up your order if there is a large queue. Please be patient with us! Anything But Plastic is still a small business and we are trying our best to get orders out as quickly as we can. (I'm still dumbfounded by the demand!) Hope that was helpful. It probably wasn't.
My order hasn’t arrived, what should I do?"

PANIC!! No please don’t. It’s not the end of the world I’m sure. (If it is what are you complaining about?) Email us at hello@anthingbutplastic.co.uk and let me know what the problem is. I shall do everything within my power to sort this out for you. It’ll be ok, I promise.* *As far as locating or replacing lost or missing parcels are concerned anyway. I can’t solve all your problems; my powers are limited.
How can I return stuff?

You don’t. Kidding. You have 3 weeks to look at your order and think ‘I must take that back to the post office’ to then dash to the post office 5 minutes before closing on the 21st day of your time limit. If I may be so bold, I would encourage you to think carefully before you buy anything, as I am trying to promote sustainable buying practices and it doesn’t help anyone to impulse buy. If you are not sure if a product is right for you, ask me your questions to see if it will work for you. If not, no problem. I would rather you decide before you buy rather than after your order has been posted. Carbon footprint and all that lark. The buyer (you) must pay return postage I’m afraid. Business is just starting so I can’t subsidise everyone’s shopaholic tendencies right now I’m sorry! I hope you can understand, it’s a small business problem. Maybe one day I shall be able to offer that service, who knows? If your item is faulty, please get in touch and let me know what the problem is. (Remember, nothing is perfect, mistakes happen and most importantly, it is not my fault, it’s the product’s fault.) Once you have returned the item and I have checked it for the fault, I will refund your postage and either send a replacement or refund your order depending on the issue.