Friday, February 13, 2009

Fire Mountain Gems is Green


This is great news! Fire Mountain Gems is doing their part to reduce packaging and also uses recycled materials to produce their packaging. They even provide a page on their site with tips on how to reuse their packaging and further reduce waste!

Their boxes are made of recycled materials and can be reused to package gifts or as storage. I even used one once to send a care package to kid at summer camp, it was the perfect size.

The tissue paper in their packaging is also made of recycled materials can be reused as gift wrap. I've used it to make little packages for the jewelry I've sold and also in decoupage and scrapbooking projects.

For the baggies that the beads come in, their stickers are designed to be easily removed from the plastic bags. This allows you to reuse the labels and identify your products by item number for easy stocking and re-ordering. If you are a bead seller, you can also remove their label and place your own there (no need for re-packaging). I've removed labels and reused the baggies for packaging when I sell earings, rings and other small items. You can also store your beads and supplies in them.

Their catalogs are also printed on recycled paper. They are great for inspiration and I haven't met a beader yet that has thrown one of those out. :-)

8 comments:

Bea said...

*lol*

I still have my FMG catalogs back to 1996! Including all the little sales books on newspaper paper.

I know I probably _should_ get rid of them, but there's so much interesting stuff in there...

Dave Robertson said...

That's all right, Barbara, I know you Fire Mountain folks have a good research library...but...please promise me that you've recycled your Rings & Things catalogs! We always try to work clean because the bead business tends to be so un-green, so help us out. :)

Another great re-use idea for bead catalogs is to fold colorful pages up into pretty little jewelry boxes and lids. Some customers ♥ them dearly!

Thanks Amy M for this idea, and thanks to Avogana for a good blog post!

--Dave
at Rings & Things
☻☺

Unknown said...

Thanks Dave :). That's a great idea to make little boxes out of the pages. You'll be happy to know that I have also held onto all my Rings and Things catalogs. I should write more about you guys should't I. Rings & Things has the best customer service of any company I have ever dealt with, and that includes everyone outside of the world of beading as well. I actually prefer you to FMG because of both your awesome customer service and the quality of your stones.

Dave Robertson said...

Avogana,

Noooooooooooooooo! Put our old catalogs out in the recycling bin! :) (First cut out the jewelry designs that you want to save.)

You're really kind to compliment us so. I'm blushing on behalf of 85 people...

--Dave

Unknown said...

Another great new item on the market is the first eco-friendly beading wire by Soft Flex Company. It is pretty neat. You can learn more about it and the "green" practices of Soft Flex on our website.

Unknown said...

Thank you Softflexgirl. I am so happy that the beading world is finally turning towards being green.

Dave Robertson said...

I'm glad Sara (Softflexgirl) posted her comment...that eco-friendly Softflex wire is a great product idea and I've been looking forward to trying it out. As Avogana points out, we've got to make any steps we can toward greening the jewelry industry. (PS, just found out Rings & Things will be presented with green credentials by our city next Monday. I'm excited) :)

--Dave

Unknown said...

That's awesome Dave! Congrats. Let me know when you guys write it up and I'll anounce it in a post and link to you.