Plantchester

Our Sustainability Framework

• Emissions & Key Environmental Issues

  What is your company doing to reduce your emissions or combat key environmental issues (e.g. waste (packaging, end of life product strategy or recycling), biodiversity, land use, water, chemical use, energy use, and natural resource use etc.)?

  Textile waste is an increasingly damaging process due to the complex supply chains required to create products in the modern market. Research has shown that if 75% of textile waste was prevented from entering landfill by it would save an estimated 15.8 trillion litres of water, enough for 27.8 million homes; it would prevent the production of 17 million tons of carbon dioxide, equivalent of taking 3.5 million cars off the road; and it would save 5.7 million cubic metres of space in landfill, which is nearly enough to fill the MCG 4 times. Plantchester aims to help alleviate this issue by creating products which can be a benefit rather than a burden by designing out their waste impact and turning into a net positive. Soils store more carbon than anything else on land, and they have been ignored for too long! Restoring organic matter in our soils is the key to climate change mitigation and for the resilience of the agriculture industry.

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• Materials

  How are the products your company offers made from environmentally friendly materials (e.g. recycled, organic materials)?

  All Plantchester products are made from 100% GOTS certified organic hemp and coloured using 100% Oeko-Tek certified organic plant dyes, all the stitching is certified organic cotton thread. Hemp is the oldest cultivated crop known on Earth; it's use dating back some 6,000 years. Hemp is an incredible resource that can be used for food, fibre, and medicine. The use of hemp fibre was widespread before the United States' war on drugs confused hemp with its psychoactive cousin Marijuana. Hemp fibre is naturally antimicrobial, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, hypoallergenic, and fire resistant. Hemp seeds contain more Omega fatty acids than any other food source, as well as being high in protein fibre. As a crop, hemp requires no pesticides, no herbicides, and a fraction of the water needed to grow crops like cotton. Hemp also draws down more carbon dioxide than any other commercial crop, making it one of the most sustainable plants to cultivate. We have invented a way to make our fitted sheets without elastic, so all Plantchester products are entirely plastic-free.

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• Service Offering

  How are the service/s you offer environmentally friendly?

  Plantchester products are environmentally friendly from beginning to end, only offering products we can guarantee are made from certified organic sources and are entirely plastic-free. We're not pledging or promising to do this, we're doing it from conception to consumer – and beyond. Our mailing boxes are sustainably sourced and recyclable. Our packing tape is plastic-free and compostable. We don't add any unnecessary cosmetic packaging to reduce waste. We ship our products via the sea to reduce freight emissions. Our items come in a self-fabric wash bag which can be used for protecting the bedding to increase their lifespan. Our fitted sheets contain no elastic, making them plastic-free. Our doonas contain no buttons or zips. We don't send copious emails to reduce the impact of servers. Our website is designed to have the smallest carbon footprint possible. Our mission is to demonstrate what is possible when the entire life cycle of a business is considered.

• Supply Chain

  Do you partner with ethical factories that meet international labor standards? What processes have you implemented to make your supply chain more sustainable?

  development and is committed to the same values as Plantchester. Alice and her team create certified organic hemp products and have created world class processes for dying using traditional methods on scale. We will always ensure our supply chain is responsible, respectful, and adhere to human rights protections for all workers. At Plantchester we believe to achieve a more equitable world the proletariat must be valued more than capital.

• Community Initiatives

  How does your company give back to the community (e.g. financial donations, volunteering, partnerships etc.)?

  For those who are unable, or do not wish to, compost their Plantchester bedding at home we offer our customers the ability to send the old bedding back to us and we will donate it to a native forest regeneration organisation called 15Trees who are able to utilise the fabric as weed matting for their planting projects. This not only prevents textile waste from entering landfill, but also avoids the use of other fabrics like old carpet which contains large amounts of microplastics which will eventually biodegrade into the soils. The biggest difference between something being compostable and biodegradable is only one leaves without a trace - composting is the transfer of organic matter from one form to another. Biodegrading is using environmental conditions to break up a product, not break down.

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• Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

  How has your company made a commitment to achieve and maintain inclusion & diversity (e.g. Gender / Race / Ethnicity / National Origin / Sexual Orientation / Religion / Disability / Age)?

  Plantchester is an extension of the people who contribute to its success. The era of faceless corporations is coming to an end, and with it the ability of people to hide behind the legal protection of corporate anonymity. Consumers expect the business they support to emulate the values which are expected when living within a community. For too long brands have maintained the status quo for fear of retribution and losses in revenue. Plantchester would rather go bankrupt than to contribute to division. We will forever and always be inclusive and strive to be a platform for the voice of those which need a platform. And above all, we recognise that we operate on unceded lands that were violently stolen from the First Nations people of Australia, we honour and respect all those who came before us and those who are yet to come; always was, always will be Aboriginal lands.

• Circular Models

  How does your circular model or circular initiative work?

  Circularity is what inspired the creation of Plantchester and is considered at every stage of the business. The ultimate dream of Plantchester is to grow, process, and manufacture hemp products domestically - selling sheets is the first step in this journey. The concept for compostable bedding comes from a passion and commitment to see the soils of Australia restored to their former spongey glory which have been degraded and destroyed by the impacts of colonisation and the industrialisation of the agriculture sector. Plantchester will eventually be an entirely circular business by reintegrating our waste stream (old bedding) and utilising the fabric as organic matter in the soils. The sheets can be used as a protective layer - like weed matting or broken down with other farm residues as compost which will offset the use of fertilisers and other agrochemicals.

• Sustainability Certifications

  Our certifications