Our Sustainability Progress

We are always working to improve Miss Milly’s sustainability. Here’s some info on our progress and plans

Growing up wearing hand-me-downs from her older cousin and with a father who often asked why lights were on in unoccupied rooms, our founder, Sarah, has waste avoidance ingrained so the ongoing endeavour to make Miss Milly more sustainable is a positively accepted challenge.

We approach sustainability with a prioritised action list of reducing where we can, followed by reusing and finally, recycling. And we are sharing our actions with you in a format that shows what we have already introduced or actioned, what we are currently working on and, with full transparency, what we are struggling with.

In Spring 2022, Miss Milly proudly took part in the inaugural Small Business Britain ‘Sustainability Basics’ course working with Small99, Sustainable Pathways and Oxford Brookes University, and would heartily recommend it to all small businesses as a great resource and network for information and ideas.

We are proud and delighted to announce that as of July 2024 our fulfilment company, Tidal Fulfilment, has achieved B Corp certification and is one of the very first in the industry in the UK to do so. This prestigious recognition underscores Tidal’s commitment to the highest standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability, meeting rigorous standards in various areas, including employee welfare, environmental sustainability, community engagement and ethical business practices.

What have we done?

Reduce

We have reduced the number of manufacturers we work with in China to three and all of these are located in the same city so that we can consolidate logistics where possible.
We have halved the number of overseas trips we make by creating collections for two full seasons at once.
We import stock by sea rather than air whenever possible.
We have not used any polyester in our scarves for several years now.
We have moved to a new integrated website, ordering and bookkeeping system, which greatly reduces the amount of paper and ink we use.
Majority of plastic jewellery packaging and scarf packaging was compostable. Having learned that home composting is only possible with a high heat source unavailable to most households, we have switched back to packaging that can be recycled with soft plastics at larger supermarkets as we feel this is more likely to happen.
We are proud to work with a fulfilment house that has achieved B Corp certification.
Prioritise Royal Mail delivery over couriers in the UK for their lower emissions.
Replaced standard jiffy bags with FSC approved Jiffy Green ones.
Replaced standard grip seal bags with oxo-biodegradable ones.
Cycle to local meetings where possible instead of driving.
Office heating is turned down or off and extra layers encouraged.
Turning office sockets off at the wall overnight.
Calculated our digital footprint to help us see the impact of wasteful emails in particular.
All waste paper printed on one side is reused for notes.
All cardboard boxes are reused where possible.
Grip seal bags are reused until they are no longer fit for purpose.
The findings and chains from otherwise broken jewellery are kept to repair other broken pieces.
Some of our broken jewellery is returned to the supplier for repair or reuse.

Recycle

All paper and cardboard is recycled after being reused if possible.
All paper with confidential data is shredded and recycled.
We have changed gift packaging supplier to one that uses FSC certified paper with all products being recyclable after use.
We suggest that trade customers receiving faulty scarves (i.e., with a pull or snag) in their deliveries donate them to charity or sell cheaply rather than throwing them away.
Some broken jewellery is donated to our local primary school for art and craft projects.

What are we doing?

Reduce

Continuing to create two seasonal collections for every one visit overseas to visit suppliers.

Reuse

Dispatching all retail order jewellery in gift boxes with the hope that they will be kept for storing the jewellery and lengthening its life.

Recycle

Educating trade customers that most of our jewellery and scarf packaging is recyclable, and to use the soft plastic recycling scheme at some large supermarkets.

Miss Milly is currently in carbon debt and working with Make It Wild to calculate our carbon emissions and offset these by planting trees in Yorkshire. We have no intention of greenwashing and recognise that offsetting is not a solution in itself but is a positive step that we are able to make whilst working on emission reduction.

What are we struggling with?

Getting information from most of our UK and overseas suppliers about their practices and sustainability data, and encouraging them to work more sustainably.
Getting information on more sustainable materials for our products that can be sourced by our suppliers, and that is before we even consider the cost implications.
The realisation that home compostable packaging requires high heat to biodegrade and therefore isn’t a great solution. It can also contaminate recyclable materials if disposed of with them. So we feel we’re back to square one with the product packaging and will continue to look for a replacement for plastic sleeves whilst enocuraging trade customers to dispose of these via the soft plastics recycling scheme.
The balance between growth and environmental impact with the introduction of two new suppliers in India handcrafting bags for us.

Our Carbon Emissions footprint:

2021-22: 14.84 tonnes CO2 (COVID pandemic)
2022-23: 14.65 tonnes CO2 (still no overseas travel and warehouse overstocked due to closure of shops)
2023-24: 24.62 tonnes CO2 (back to business as usual)
2024-25: 20.66 tonnes CO2