Production process and Environmental impact
Our range of products is manufactured in Dhaka, Bangladesh the centre of the world's jute production. We promote labour-intensive production methods to produce our range of jute and paper products. The women making our products are marginalised for reasons more than poverty. We offer employment to women experiencing discrimination in other ways too: some are former prostitutes; others have been affected by wasting diseases; some may have been divorced or abandoned - each situation scars women with a stigma that reduces their chance of decent employment.
All Earth-Conscious products are hand-made using sustainable resources and produced with minimum harm to the environment.
Environmental Issues and how they are addressed
Earth-Conscious was set up specifically to work towards protecting the environment.
We are very serious about our responsibility to limit the ecological impact of Earth-Conscious at home and overseas. We are particularly concerned with certain issues :
The dangers of dyes to producers and their responsible disposal
All dyes both natural and synthetic can be hazardous to the producer and to the environment. We are concerned that producers should use the safest dyes and dispose of dye waste in a responsible manner with due respect to the environment and the local community. Consequently, we are working with our producers towards finding out how to best manage our dye waste.
We actively promote the use of natural dyes as they give our producers more control over their raw materials and production process and because natural dyes are possibly safer to use.
The sustainable use of wood
We believe in buying wood from sustainable sources. However, because of the difficulty in determining sustainable sources of wood, we at Earth-Conscious avoid stocking wood products from producers who are unable to provide us with sufficient proof.
The use of post-consumer and industrial waste
Earth-Conscious is keen to support the transformation of waste into functional goods, which might otherwise litter the environment. This also provides affordable and original raw material to our producers with which they can generate an income.
Prime example is the jute and paper waste used to produce the recycled paper, which is then made in to greeting cards.
The use of natural materials
Earth-Conscious actively supports the use of natural materials such as sea-grass, rushes , recycled waste material such as paper and jute waste which provide local communities with an abundant and inexpensive material with which to generate an income.