After a tough year, we are all looking to find the perfect gift for our friends and family. We’ve picked out 10 eco-conscious gifts that are perfect for loved ones wanting to make the world a greener place.
From plantable pencils to cork yoga mats, there really is a sustainable gift for everyone.
- For the artist: Sprout plantable pencils (£9)
Perfect for the artists in your life, Sprout’s pencils are actually plantable. When they get too short to use, you can just plant the stubs and watch them sprout.
All the seeds have been selected because they are easy to germinate. So you can enjoy vibrant flowers, fragrant herbs or fresh vegetables.
- For the coffee lover: Frank Green reusable cup (£26)
Frank Green is one of the most stylish and innovative reusable coffee cup brands out there. Made from stainless steel, it’s a great alternative for those looking to cut down on plastic and single-use items.
Using one of these convenient cups as little as 15 times will begin to offset the environmental impact of manufacturing the product itself.
Sadly, COVID-19 means you can’t use them at takeaway coffee shops right now. But they can still be used to take a hot drink on a walk, and hopefully it won’t be long until they can be used at your favourite coffee shop again.
- For the chef: The Zero Waste Cookbook (£16)
Treat your favourite chef to this innovative cookbook which is all about making your food stretch further in order to reduce waste.
Giovanna Torrico and Amelia Wasiliev cover over 100 simple and creative recipes. From using a husk of corn to make a vegetable stock, to using lemon zest to infuse vodka, there are some really inventive ideas.
And if you follow the link below, you can get it through BookShop, a great initiative to support local bookstores.
- For the home lover: Eym. natural candle (£39)
UK brand Eym., was created when co-founder Poppy was pregnant and looking for natural alternatives to synthetic candles. Made from soy wax and scented only with pure essential oils, it’s a real treat for the senses.
It burns for 50 hours and arrives in sustainably sourced packaging. Every candle in the collection has a delicious scent, but we especially love “soul”, which is linked below.
- For the yogi: CorkYogis yoga mat (£52)
Whether you’re buying for a seasoned yogi or someone who has just started practising in lockdown 2.0, this cork yoga mat is a great gift. Unlike your typical yoga mat, it is made of oak tree bark, which grows back when harvested sustainably.
A centered design allows users to try out new hands and feet alignment and discover more challenging poses. And it’s really stable, allowing you to do extreme poses without having to worry about sliding.
- For the writer: Decomposition 100% Post-Consumer-Waste Notebook (£7)
Journaling is good for you, and with a notebook made out of post-consumer-waste recycled paper, it’s good for the Earth too.
This beautiful notebook is spiral-bound and printed with soy ink, featuring all the beautiful wildlife worth fighting for on the cover.
- For the athlete: Wild natural deodorant (£25)
Many of us are looking to make the move to a more active and eco-friendly lifestyle in the new year, so a natural deodorant can make for a great stocking filler.
You can select a stylish case colour from Aqua, Coral, Purple or Silver and then pick your scent, from the likes of rose, bergamot and mint. You can also sign up to a subscription, so that you never run the risk of running out of your favourite scent.
And what makes this gift even better is that Wild contributes a percentage of sales to climate charity On A Mission to support their incredible reforestation projects.
- For the rum lover: Hattiers rum (£42)
If you’re working hard to save the planet, you deserve to sit back and relax with a nice drink. Hattiers is sourced from the very best rums across the world and blended with soft water from Dartmoor, Devon.
They were plastic-free from day one and have helped to mitigate their carbon footprint by planting their own woodland. They’ve also become the first British rum label to secure B-Corp certification, an accreditation that proves a company is run in a sustainable and ethically-conscious way.
- For the beauty queen: EcoTools makeup brushes (£10)
If animal cruelty is a concern when shopping for beauty products, this one is for you.
All of EcoTools’ products are 100% cruelty-free and vegan. Their makeup brush handles are made of renewable bamboo, and the packaging is made of 20% cotton and 80% bamboo fibers.
The high-quality brushes are also incredibly soft, and are easy to clean using warm water and a drop of gentle shampoo or cleanser, so you can keep them and your face germ and bacteria-free.
10. For the phone addict: PELA phone case (£18)
With the company-wide mission of keeping 1 billion pounds of plastic from ever being made, PELA focuses on sustainable, compostable cases.
They’re created with a sustainable plastic alternative called Flaxstic, which combines recycled materials and plant-based biopolymers. They also contain flax straw waste which creates the cute little flecks that make the cases so unique.
We hope this list has given you some inspiration for sustainable gifting. These feel-good presents won’t cost the earth, they’re just beautiful items made in a sustainable way.