Did you know that the way you shop can have a direct impact on our environment? It’s true! Each day, we are facing new environmental challenges, but as consumers, we can help improve our environment, and decrease our carbon footprint, by simply making minor adjustments to our shopping behaviors.
Buy Local:Whenever it is feasible, try to buy local. Purchasing your goods from a local market or business has many benefits. Not only are you helping to support your local community, but you are also buying products that don’t have to travel across the country to get to you. By buying products that were made or harvested locally, you are reducing the number of toxic pollutants that are released in the air through shipping.
You know those plastic bags they provide at the grocery stores? Yeah, it’s time to ditch those. Using reusable bags is a great way to shop sustainably.
Plastic bags not only damage the environment by filling up landfills (did you know it takes 1,000 years for a plastic bag to degrade in a landfill?), but they also endanger wildlife.
The Center for Biological Diversity reports that the American people use 100 billion plastic bags each year. This alarming number requires 12 million barrels of oil to manufacture, and of those bags, more than 87% of them are not recycled.
Plastic bags are also attributed to the harm of 267 different species in the oceans, including the leatherback sea turtle (one out of every three is found with plastic in its stomach).
Another way you can shop sustainably is by shopping online. Try to buy items online that you wouldn’t normally purchase in a brick-and-mortar store. If you are buying the same items online and in the store, you are doubling the environmental impact; you are using a vehicle to drive to the store, and relying on a delivery truck to deliver your items to your home which increases the greenhouse gases being emitted.
Grouping your purchases can also contribute to being a sustainable shopper. If you can order multiple items at the same time, it’s more likely that they will be delivered in the same truck, and possibly in the same box.
If possible, try to avoid expedited shipping. By choosing slower shipping options, you are allowing ecommerce stores to consolidate their packages. Look at it this way- one truck delivering 50 packages is much more efficient than 50 people driving their personal vehicles to the store.
Buy in Bulk:There are many items that you know you will be using on a daily basis such as toilet paper, laundry detergent, and personal hygiene products. When possible, try to buy these items in bulk.
Buying in bulk eliminates the need for excess packaging and also decreases the number of times you have to go to the store, or order, these products.
Shopping sustainably also means knowing the company. Before purchasing an item, do some research on the company you are buying from. Here are some things to look for when doing your research:
Is the company transparent and ethical about how they source the materials for their products?
Are their manufacturing processes environmentally conscious?
Is their packaging conscious of waste?
Are there shipping options?
At Laura’s Mercantile, we strive to be as sustainable as possible. We grow our organic hemp for our products at our Mt. Folly Farm. We utilize our local supply chain to create health and soil conscious products as much as possible. Almost all of our products travel 25 miles or less to go from flower, extraction, formulation, to finished product. 
While we do offer expedited shipping, the majority of our orders are shipped through standard shipping methods, which allows us to consolidate orders and ship less often.
When we ship your order it comes in a recyclable box with paper shipping tape with water-based adhesive. The larger orders are packed in biodegradable plant-based packing peanuts.
During the summer when shipping our temperature sensitive products, we use recyclable box insulation (brown paper filled with flat form fitted biodegradable plant-based peanuts with reusable Nordic Ice packs. We also team up with other local businesses to redistribute and reuse paper-based packing materials to use for another shipment.
