Did you know it can take 50 to 80 years for the rubber sole of a shoe to decompose!
Up to 80 years, 80 YEARS! That is a very long time but obviously no where near as long as it takes plastics, depending on the type that takes anywhere from 100 to a 1000 years to decompose.
Knowing this we have always tried to be as responsible with our waste as we can and as today is International Mother Earth day we thought we would take a few moments to explain some of the things that we do at Godemiche to try to limit our waste and be a zero landfill waste operation
From time to time we make mistakes when pouring our toys and when a mistake happens with silicone there is no reversing the process. Mistakes mean we have a silicone toy that, for whatever reason, is imperfect.
We have never thrown away these mistakes but instead we collect them all together in to a box and once there is a few of them we list them on the website in the WTF sale (What The Flop) section for at a reduced price. That way they don’t end up going to landfill and someone gets themselves a super bargain.
Our molds are made of silicone, a newly made mold will give products a glass finish but over time the mold starts to get small imperfections which eventually effects the finish of the toys. Once a mold becomes too old we replace it. However that meant that we were building up a box of old molds which we were reluctant to throw away.
Then one day we had the idea to use these unused molds to create candles and so using a eco soy wax and the old molds we started making out cock candles. 3 years later we have only had to dispose of 1 candle mold because that one ripped.
When mixing silicone you need mixing sticks and mixing pots. We made the decision to purchase reusable mixing pots over popular plastic, one use, disposable beakers. We also have our own hardwood, reusable mixing sticks made for us by a local wood yard.
The initial cost of mixing post and custom made mixing sticks was more expensive than using disposable ones and they require cleaning, but we don’t ever have to throw them and over time they will actually save us money.
Packaging has always been a concern of ours. We have never personally kept the packing for any of the sex toys we have purchased, always just putting it in the bin and so we wanted to keep our packaging to a minimum. However people like packaging and shops like packaging so we had to find a middle ground where our products were packaged but in the greenest way possible.
This is why we chose the foil lined recyclable pouches so which tick the box when it comes to packaging but can be disposed off in an Eco-friendly way or are strong enough to be used to store your toy in or anything else that fits.
As much as we try to prevent it there is always going to be waste silicone, from silicone peeled out of pots and stick, paper, boxes, packaging and any other over looked waste like food packaging or drinks cans.
This is where we have a ‘Zero Landfill’ contract with Enva who collect all of our waste. Things such as paper and card are recycled, where items that are not recyclable such as silicone are turned in to green energy. The silicone is sent over to Germany were it is incinerated to produce green energy. To remove any bad toxins the incinerators have layers of filters result in only green gasses being emitted
We are very lucky that our offices have large skylights that let in lots of daylight, even in winter. As a result we don’t often use lights in the office. On the occasions that we need the lights on or when working nights we have A rated LED lighting panels fitted throughout to be as energy efficient as possible.
All plugs are switched off at the wall at the end of the day and everything is powered down. No laptops, to printers, no lights, everything is OFF meaning when we are not there the office is not using any energy at all.
What we do could have a much larger negative impact on the environment and as we grow that potential impact has the potential to grow but it is something that we are very mindful of and will always work very hard to mitigate as much as possible. We are very proud that to this point we have made sure that Godemiche has the smallest environmental impact possible and feel that today, International Mother Earth Day was a great time to tell this story and explain what goes on behind the scenes with the goal of keeping us 100% green!
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