It’s always great to hear from a friend with some hot eco-news, especially when it recognises their hard work and commitment to spreading the good, green word.
Today, I received a note from the lovely Judith Mathias, co-founder of Home Scents and Baby Scents up in Northumberland.
Alongside husband John, she produces a range of natural products that are, ‘kind to us and the planet and that keep your environment free of toxins‘.
They believe that totally pure products with honest labelling are the way forward; they’re against animal testing and do not use ingredients that have been tested on animals either.
Judith has been short-listed for the North East Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Awards for 2008 in the category of Rural Woman Entrepreneur, which is sponsored by Northumberland County Council. It’s a real tribute to her hard work, green skills and ‘never say die’ attitude!
She told me, ‘The green movement is getting bigger all the time as more people realise what suspect chemicals are doing to us and our planet. It’s very exciting to be a part of it.’
I asked Judith what drove them to setting up Home and Baby Scents. She told me:
John and I were concerned about the effects of chemicals in household cleaning products as our grand daughter had asthma, so I started developing replacements for the family. I already had a background in aromatherapy, I was working for an essential oil supplier and had experience of developing personal care products. The more we researched, the greater our concerns became.
We moved to Northumberland to be near our daughter and family and decided to turn our trial products into a business. We went down the route of Business Link, attended lots of courses and started testing and developing products in earnest and Home Scents was born. We do everything from R & D and producing the range, to labeling, packing & dispatching; it’s a real family concern!
Baby Scents originated because we felt there wasn’t a safe product dedicated to cleaning surfaces around babies and toddlers. We were concerned about what mums did when they were ‘out and about’ using public changing mats and restaurant highchairs, so we developed a travel sized range too.
What’s your stance on offering refills and what are your general green protocols for the company?
We would love to offer a refill service but this is a problem due to postage costs of returning empties etc but soon we’ll be launching a money-back refund on our bottles & containers for our local customers. We have a strong commitment to being green and encourage everyone to recycle their containers. Our electricity comes from certified sustainable sources; the printers are up to date HP & Lexmark, all committed to reducing their environmental impact across all aspects of business. We recycle boxes and packaging and use eco-fill, a vegetable derived product and we also use recycled paper. All of our products are biodegradable, our soy wax is GM and pesticide free AND we switch off our printers and computers every night!
If you’re looking for a Great British product from a company that really cares, you’ll do well to hop onto their website and check out their range!
For more information visit www.homescents.co.uk or call 01434 607722.
Rubbishly yours,
TSx
