Do you remember the excitement of unwrapping a gift when you were a little child?
Those colourful packages that held a surprise or some toy you really wanted. Unwrapping a gift is almost everyone's favourite part of getting a gift.
So essential is it to gifting that wrapping creates an estimated 4 million tons of trash each year in America alone. According to the Wall Street Journal, gift wrapping sales in the U.S. in 2010 totaled $9.36 billion (more than the combined GDP of Africa’s 9 poorest countries).
Adding to the money spent and the trash generated, is the issue of trees being cut to make paper. But all this does not mean that you can never wrap a gift again.
Unwrapping a toy is one of the most joyful experiences for a child. Living in a sustainable way and raising children who are sensitive to the environment and ecological needs of today, just means that we have to look at more eco-friendly options.
Imagine if your favourite old scarf or a favourite childhood dress could transform into a permanent gift wrapping for a child to open. There are some clothes that we want to preserve and pass on to the next in line.
But what of the other clothes that get discarded? Just like wrapping material, textiles and fabric waste often end up in landfills. But what if there could be a win-win situation – you could wrap a gift, not create trash and not let textile waste end up in a landfill?
That is the idea behind Chindi, a social enterprise working with under-privileged women in India and recycling textile waste into beautiful, one-of-a-kind reusable items.
A toy is a tool for creating lovely memories. What if you could un-wrap a toy every time you wanted to play with it? At Shumee we know that children love their toys and a pretty wrapping adds to the excitement of a toy.
Keeping in tune with our litter-free sustainable policy, shumees come in beautiful hand-crafted cloth wrap bags. These unique Chindi bags are home to your shumees and can be reused over and over to create that freshly wrapped feeling.
Your child gets a one-of-a-kind cloth bag that can be used to store your beloved Shumee. You can use these pouches to travel, to carry the Shumee for play-dates or just to the day-care and back and even to store away for a while.
They keep the toys clean and safe and every time you bring out the Shumee it is like un-wrapping a gift!
These permanent gift pouches are made from left over textile waste by Chindi, and by purchasing a Shumee, you are also helping support Chindi and its cause to reduce waste and empower women.
So the next time you adopt a Shumee, you are also
- Saving a tree by not using paper
- Reducing wrapping paper trash
- Reducing textile waste
- Giving gainful employment to a marginalized section of society
- Getting yourself a bag that can be reused for storing a favourite toy.
- Helping the planet.
Now is that not many more reasons to get one soon?