Sustainability
Sustainability with Slime
Tenet One
Source Local
Any slime supplies I can buy locally I do; this includes glues, essential oils, beads, charms, etc. By not buying the cheapest versions of these products from oversees, I drastically cut down on my carbon footprint. While many of the more popular slime charms and add ins are more easily available through services like Temu and AliExpress, I choose not to use them, and find my supplies closer to Colorado.
Tenet Two
DIM (Do It Myself)
I love creating unique charms for my slimes. This includes hand sculpted molds for clay toppers, polymer clay creations, and shrink plastic charms. One of the most unique aspects of my shop are the book charms I design for each new slime that enters the Library. For this, I invested in a 3D printer. If you have ever worked with 3D printing, you know there is a lot of wasted plastic, from generating supports to misprints. Because of this, I only use PETG filament - PETG is currently the only widely available filament that is recyclable. In addition to the book charms, having the 3D printer means I can print (almost) any charm I can think of!
Tenet Three
Reuse and Recycle
While slime itself must be disposed of in the trash, every other piece of your order is composed of recyclable materials, and/or reused ones. Both the six and two ounce jars are glass with metal lids; currently the one and half ounce jars are plastic, but once they are used up I will be switching to glass and metal, respectively. Any baggies included in your order are made of cotton fabric, save for if the order includes a side of glitter, which I package in a sealed plastic baggie to avoid a mess. Clay pieces come in polypropylene 8 and 16 ounce containers, which are not only recyclable, but are great for storing slime. The slime activator comes in 1oz amber glass bottles. Packing supplies include recycled tissue paper and expanding cardboard sleeves. As the glass jars always come shipped with a mountain of Styrofoam peanuts, I reuse them as box filler to keep the jars safe.
List of businesses I source from
Rebecca's Herbal Apothecary
Rebecca's is a sustainable, women owned apothecary that has been in Boulder, CO since 2004. I love going to the back where the essential oils are and testing out combinations before buying.
Little Herbal Apothecary
Another amazing local apothecary that hand crafts every single one of their essential oils.
EcoEnclose
I am so lucky that this sustainable packaging company is right down the road from me! I source my tissue paper from them, as well as these amazing flexible expanding cardboard sleeves that I use to protect the glass jars.
The BumbleBead Company
This woman run business out of Tennessee has an incredible selection of beads. I have been so impressed with every order from them!
Benzie Design
Another amazing woman run business, I sourced my pom poms for the Very Slimy Caterpillar from this Illinois based shop.
NurtureSoap
The majority of the artificial scents used in my slime come from this amazing company. I spent a lot of time researching where I wanted to source my artificial oils from, and NurtureSoap ticks all the boxes - they are vegan, cruelty free, and ethically sourced - they even have a full ethics statement on their website!