Eco-Friendly Subscription Boxes

Subscription boxes seem to have appeared out of nowhere in the last few years and have grown massively popular. You can get subscription boxes that include all sorts of things such as shaving kits, gin, beauty products and probably the most well known – weekly recipe boxes or vegetable boxes. But what is a subscription box exactly? And is there such a thing as an eco-friendly subscription box?

What is a subscription box?

“Subscription boxes are a recurring delivery of niche products as part of a marketing strategy and a method of product distribution.” – wikipedia

Originally subscription boxes provided a range of items from different brands. It was a way of sampling new things which you might not have heard of or thought about trying before. These days you’re likely to find individual brands creating their own subscription boxes as well.

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Pros and Cons of Subscription Boxes

Pros

The main pro about any subscription service (not necessarily vegetable boxes!) is that you can find out about products you might never have known about before. With eco-friendly subscription boxes you might find out about an environmentally alternative for something you didn’t know existed. The second biggest pro is that the contents of the box would normally cost you more if you were to buy the items individually.

There are certain types of subscription box that I think are a really good idea. These are some of the recipe boxes or vegetable boxes you can get. Getting a box full of seasonal vegetables from local suppliers delivered each week is fantastic. If your household is incredibly busy, or you just need some inspiration for new recipes to cook at home, having a recipe box delivered weekly can be very helpful. Of course if you’re trying to be more eco-friendly, make sure you choose a service that uses as little plastic and packaging as possible. (Check out which is the most eco-friendly recipe box.)

You can also have ready meals delivered. I actually used All Plants Ready Meals subscription when I was not looking after myself very well when I was going through a tough time. It meant I had at least 6 days when I had at least one good meal a day.

Cons

Unfortunately I think the majority of subscription boxes are just not great for the environment. With many subscription boxes you don’t know what you’re going to receive. It’s possible that you’ll receive something that doesn’t interest you in the slightest and that you have no use for. Many of the products also come in sample size. This is intentional as it’s just a way for you to try a new brand out without having to pay full price for it. Unfortunately samples mean more packaging. This is very true for things like beauty boxes where you might receive sachets of products or very small tubes or containers of foundations and moisturisers. And unless you’ve subscribed to a company that only includes local produce, the carbon footprint of the box could be really high.

Eco-Friendly Subscription Boxes UK

There are quite a few ‘eco-friendly’ subscription services available in the UK. If you have absolutely no choice in what you receive, or if you can’t skip a month then I think you need to really think twice about whether to sign up. If, on the other hand, the service allows you to choose what you want to receive this will reduce the potential for unwanted items.

It’s worth noting that almost all subscription services offer a discount for your first box, so keep an out for voucher codes on the websites.

In America? Check out the Life Without Plastic Box. For $55 you’ll get $100 worth of products, including personal care items, some treats or durable items.

Pictures included below are an example of previous monthly boxes customers have received from each company.

Green Future Box

• Price £19.99
• Value of Products – Minimum £25
• Monthly Subscription
• Can cancel at any time
• Can’t choose products (however you answer some questions that determine some of the products you might receive)

I’m not convinced by this subscription service as you don’t know what you’re receiving each month. Yes it is somewhat customised by the answers you give to their sign up questions, but you still might receive items that you don’t actually want or will use.

I’m also not sure that this service is still going as their website doesn’t seem very up to date (it’s still talking about signing up now to get your box before Christmas), so do a bit of additional research if you want to sign up to make sure they are still in business.

Between Green Boxes

• Price £20
• Value of Products – Doesn’t say
• Monthly Subscription
• Can cancel at any time
• Can’t choose products

This seems to be a very new subscription service so there aren’t any pictures of previous boxes and not much information available. They don’t provide any information about the value of the products included, but the items must be fairly small as each box can fit through the letterbox.

Loving Earth’s Oceans (L.E.O.)

• Price – Starter £20, Home £30
• Value of Products – Savings of $5 on Starter Box and £9 on Home Boxes
• Monthly Subscription or One Off Boxes Available
• Can cancel at any time
• Can’t choose products but can state what you don’t need

The starter box contains a minimum of 4 items and the larger box contains ‘full size items’. They don’t state that the smaller box contains miniatures, but that seems to be the implication. I do like this service more than some others, as you can at least tell them what you don’t need. As well as being able to cancel at any time, they donate to charity and plant trees with every box ordered.

Authentic House

• Price – Small £15.50, Medium £18.50, Large £26
• Value of Products – Savings of $5 on Starter Box and £9 on Home Boxes
• Monthly, Bi-Monthly or Seasonal (Every 1, 2 or 3 months available)
• Can cancel at any time
• Can’t choose products but can state what you don’t need

I do like that you can choose different size boxes and whether you want the boxes every month, 2 months or 3 months. They state that you can answer some questions to personalise the box, but I’m not sure how customised it can be. I suspect it’s just avoiding beeswax and going for a vegan friendly box. Every order from their shop or a subscription plants a tree!

Shore Box

• Price – £14.99 + £3 postage
• Value of Products – Doesn’t say
• Monthly Subscription
• Can cancel at any time
• Can choose 1 product out of the 4 received

You have the opportunity to choose 1 product (out of a selection of 2 products). The other 3 items included will be chosen for you. It is possible to find out what will be sent and cancel your order if you don’t want or need the boxed items. Additionally a tree is planted with every order.

TheVeganKind Lifestyle Box

• Price – From £8 a month plus P&P
• Value of Products – Doesn’t say
• Can pay every month, 3 months, 6 months or annually (it’s £10 per box +P&P if you pay monthly and £8 a box +P&P if you pay annually)
• Can cancel at any time
• Can’t choose products

TheVeganKind provides both lifestyle boxes and beauty boxes. As the prices and contents are so different I’ve listed them separately. TheVeganKind is a very popular subscription service. The lifestyle box contains a selection of all vegan treats (crisps, nuts, chocolate, drinks etc), as well as one ‘lifestyle’ product such as a bamboo toothbrush or even a cook book. They also include a recipe card for a vegan meal. The contents of the box aren’t plastic free, however the packaging appears to be. They’ve been included as an eco-friendly subscription service due to being mostly plastic free and vegan. They donate to a different animal charity every month.

TheVeganKind Beauty Box

• Price – From £12.75 a box plus P&P
• Value of Products – Doesn’t say
• Pay every 2 months, 6 months or annually
• Can cancel at any time
• Cant choose products

Unlike most subscription boxes, this one is sent every 2 months instead of every month. Again there’s no guarantee the contents of the beauty box will be plastic free, but everything is vegan and cruelty free. You could receive lip balms, moisturisers, make-up… You’ll never receive the same product twice, so this subscription service really is about introducing you to new products.

Is there such a thing as an eco-friendly subscription box?

In my opinion, with a few exceptions, the whole concept of a subscription box is not eco-friendly. To me it’s an oxymoron. However, the green movement is growing rapidly at the moment and that necessarily means that people are going to try and capitalise on it.

To be fair, an ‘eco-friendly’ version of the subscription service is better than most that are available. At least you’re unlikely to see plastic packaging or even plastic products included. Obviously the products included are also less harmful to the environment than other products. But… the most eco-friendly purchase is the one you don’t make. Buying something before you need to is wasteful. Throwing out something that is not that eco-friendly, like a plastic toothbrush, just because you have a bamboo toothbrush is pointless. You’re just sending something to landfill before you need to, and wasting your money.

Although it’s good to see eco-friendly products gaining more prominence, please think twice before signing up to an eco-friendly subscription service or choose one wisely.

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