Bags Instead of Boxes

Although we recycle all corrugated boxes, paperboard boxes, plastic bottles, cans, and mixed paper, not everyone lives in a municipality that makes it easy to do so. Many people are not able to recycle corrugated cardboard. And even if they can, many are not in the habit of reusing and recycling. So we decided to reduce in the first place. We ended up choosing Tyvek and recycled manila envelopes over boxes because of many reasons.

1. SleepPhones are soft and do not require padding for protection during shipping.
2. Boxes are too big for some mailboxes, like those for apartments.
3. Boxes are more easily lost because they are separated from the rest of the mail during delivery.
4. Envelopes take up less space in the landfill.
5. Envelopes weigh less than boxes. They are cheaper to ship.
6. Because they weigh less than boxes, it requires less gas to transport for the post office.
7. Tyvek envelopes can be recycled.
8. Manila envelopes that we use are already from recycled materials and can be further recycled in some places under mixed office paper.

When we started out, we used nice tuck mailer boxes to ship SleepPhones. There was a flap that could be tucked in to close the box, so it didn't require tape to be sealed. The thought was that if opened carefully, the boxes could be reused by the customer for various things. But after realizing that our reusable boxes were just being thrown out by most people, we figured that we would save landfill space by using minimal packaging instead.

If you place a large order from us, then we may ship your SleepPhones using a box. We often keep the nicer boxes we get from our suppliers for reuse in these situations. Therefore, you may get a box labeled Staples, Amazon, or some other company, but it is actually from us. Some people may think that we are being cheap, but we think we are practicing an ecologically sustainable concept. It takes our precious time and basement space to sort and store these boxes, but we do so because we want to reuse them. This type of conservation not only helps our bottom line (which helps our customers), but makes the world a slightly better place for future generations.