Those of you who watch Dragons Den will have seen Rachel Watkyn and Christian Richardson receive backing from Peter Jones and Theo Paphitis. It was an interesting programme in that it brought up the Dragon’s feelings about the environment.
Earlier in the show Deborah Meaden had shown her thoughts on an ice cream box that she described as having unneccessary packaging and she was therefore out. None of the Dragons invested in the product.
Then up popped up the Tiny Box Company who make packaging from recycled materials. They felt they had discovered a niche market as there were no companies around soley dedicated to using 100% recycled materials (except for the glue apparently!) Duncan Banatyne was scathing about the boxes and accused Rachel of being on a ‘crusade.’ I think Duncan may have revealed his thoughts on the environment with that comment. In fact it would be fair to say that none of the Dragons were overly keen on investing into the company until they heard the background of the company directors. The upshot is that both Rachel and Christian had been delt a few blows and were using this business to try and get themselves back on track. Good on them!
So to the boxes! It was interesting to learn that there was not a company dedicated to recycled packaging. Tiny Box revealed that Google had in fact placed an order for boxes for coorporate gifts. Good on Google for doing their bit for the environment! The Tiny Box Company website is worth taking a look at. They have some statistics from www.wasteonline.com that show the following:
- In 2003/4 a thrid of UK waste was paper
- Making recycled paper uses up to 70% less energy than making normal paper
- Every tonne of paper recycled saves 3000 litres of water
Check out the websites for more information. Another great aspect of the company is that they are totally committed to the environment. They don’t have any gimmicks and haven’t gone in for overly flash designs or packaging. In fact when you place an order it will be delivered to you in a re-used box.
Next time you are giving a gift think about using the Tiny Box Company- it will help cut your carbon footprint. Alternatively why not save the packaging you get from gifts and re-use it (possibly don’t give it back to the person you got it from!!)
Darren said,
September 2, 2008 @ 10:49 pm
Hi,
In fairness to Duncan, I think he saw what the other Dragons saw in the company (before they’d heard the people story), that it wasn’t going to be big enough for their investment – and high return requirement. Duncan was making the point that someone who’s “on a crusade” to save the planet might not be focused on the business side, which is why I think he declared himself out. I think he, along with all the dragons warmed to the pair when they’d heard their story.
With what had already been said in the segment about packaging companies having a recycled packaging arm, and what Theo said as they were agreeing the investment, I’m sure they’re not going to be exclusively a recycled packaging company for long (their tinyboxcompany website might sell exclusively recycled products, but as a company I’m sure the Dragons are making them diversify).
I might be viewing this a little cynically, but the Dragons are in it for the investment first, not the planet.
remco said,
February 19, 2009 @ 1:16 pm
Hi Darren
I have to agree with you on the fact that the Dragons are in it solely for the money and this being a classic case of ‘greenwashing’
The following quote from Peter Jones is only 7 months old
‘I dont care about carbon footprints, money is money, I know that sounds bad, but if a product costs me £5.99 ill pay that not £8.99 for a friendly one’
http://www.jonnywilkinson.com/forums?func=view&id=3287&catid=18#3287