Oxious consciously chooses sustainable paper and cardboard from PaperWise for packaging and brochures. By doing so, Oxious strengthens its sustainable ecological and social mission. The beautiful and also sustainable packaging of hamam towels is made from PaperWise’s agricultural waste. Oxious consciously chooses sustainable products and materials with a story. Thanks to the collaboration with PaperWise, an extra chapter has been added to this story.
Environmentally friendly
PaperWise is just like Oxious a trendsetter and thus a frontrunner when it comes to environmentally responsible entrepreneurship. Using agricultural waste as a raw material for quality paper is logical in itself, but also innovative. Even renowned (environmental) labels such as FSC and the EU Ecolabel, but also the WWF, do not yet recognize this raw material for paper and board as a possibility in their policies! PaperWise is therefore, just like Oxious, in the vanguard and is willing to talk to all parties to ensure that agricultural waste becomes the new standard for quality paper and (folding) board.
Socially responsible
Another parallel between PaperWise and Oxious is socially responsible business. Oxious works with women in a small village near Denizli, Turkey. They hand-knot the hamam towels and package them in a workshop in their own village. Previously, the women did this work from home and received a small amount of money for each cloth. Through Oxious, these women now work together under good working conditions. They receive more than the minimum wage, build up a pension and are insured against illness and disability. The women have more social contacts and are more independent.
With a similar approach, PaperWise in turn works together with paper factories in India and South America that take care of the agricultural workers there. Founded as a social enterprise, PaperWise guards the balance between people, planet and economy in all decisions. This means, for example, that local farmers also profit from the success. The mental switch has to be made. Our earth is suffering far too much. The ecosystem has been disrupted, raw materials are running out and worldwide more than three billion people live below the poverty line. PaperWise finds this unacceptable.
Too beautiful to waste?
Leftover textiles are used in recycled products at Oxious. Cloths with weaving faults are donated to charities or go to partners, who make new products such as surf ponchos from them. These efforts result in nearly 0% textile waste. At PaperWise, the focus on wasting valuable resources is equally important. The food portion of agricultural crops only makes up 20% of the plant on average. 80% of the plant is stem and leaf. In developing countries, the majority of agricultural waste is burned by farmers in the fields, resulting in environmental and air pollution. PaperWise, however, sees value and beauty in this ‘waste’ and turns it into high-quality paper and cardboard for Oxious packaging and printing. Together we prove that it is possible to deal with ‘waste’ in a more sensible way and that this can lead to a big victory for people and the environment.
Without compromising on quality or exorbitant costs
Oxious and PaperWise demonstrate that sustainability, environmental friendliness and social responsibility do not come at the expense of the quality of the end product or lead to unacceptably higher costs compared to conventional less sustainable solutions.
Customized projects for all companies and institutions
With love Oxious packages their Hamam towels, towels from re-used materials and towels from organic cotton in PaperWise. Through customization Oxious offers a representative business gift or unique promotional item for every company with a sustainable objective. In fact, all companies today can switch to a more sustainable, environmentally friendly and socially responsible way of operating. Together with our clients we look for the best suitable offer and design for each project or campaign. From healthcare institutions, banks, lotteries and webshops to campaigns for brands such as Suit Suit, Therme and Bio-Oil, Oxious provides hamam towels for a variety of clients and projects.
PaperWise supplies paper and cardboard for sustainable printing, eco stationery and environmentally friendly packaging to a variety of organizations from SMEs to large companies, as well as government and non-profit. From large organizations like Heineken, to cosmetics producers like Weleda, to festivals like Tomorrowland, to smaller clothing webshops. Small or large, business or consumer market, Oxious and PaperWise have been demonstrating for years that CSR is feasible in all areas imaginable.
Circularity
PaperWise believes, just like Oxious, in a circular economy where waste materials become raw materials again. This is taken into account during the design phase. PaperWise packaging complies with the EN 13432 standard, and is degradable within a few months. Both PaperWise and Oxious products are circular in their DNA, to the core.
In short, the common thread is the story of sustainable living. The story of stopping waste. The story of taking care of each other and equal opportunities for all. Because together we can change the world. After all, you can’t improve the world on your own. In the first place, it is important to set a good example yourself, in other words to lead by example. In addition, it is important to join forces with like-minded partners. At first glance, Oxious and PaperWise have little in common: paper and cardboard versus textiles. Printed matter, packaging and stationery versus hamam cloths. But they share the same intrinsic values. We hope that in this way more industry-wide symbiotic collaborations will flourish in the coming years.