6 years ago, Tara, Amy and myself were working as Occupational Therapists, but were looking for a change and wanted to start a business that made a positive difference to the world. Our kids were all at school or kindy and we had all started to notice how much plastic wrap was in lunchboxes. One day we headed over to Tara's for a glass of wine and to discuss business ideas. Tara came out with a beeswax wrap her son had made in class and we thought it was amazing, and the perfect solution to the plastic problem we had become increasingly aware of. We researched how to make them, and got to work making beeswax wraps (honeywraps) in our kitchens. When we looked into inorganic versus organic we learnt that cotton is one of the most pestiside laden crops in the world and we didn't feel comfortable putting inorganic fabric on our food.

 

 

 

 

It was quite a challenge to come up with the perfect mix of beeswax, jojoba oil and tree resin – firstly sourcing the ingredients wasn't easy and then finding the right ratio was difficult too – a lot of trial and error went on in our kitchens (reminding us of 5th form science days). It wasn't long before we were struggling to keep up with demand, so we talked to a friend who was an engineer and he helped us work out a quicker way to wax the wrap. Today both our beeswax mix and production method are working really well.

 

 

 

 

The most memorable part of this journey has been the amazing people we have met. We have loved collaborating with some really great charities including Sustainable Coastlines, Project Jonah and Forest and Bird. These guys are really inspiring and we feel really grateful that we have had the opportunity to support them. Working with some really talented artists to create us some beautiful honeywrap fabric designs has been really memorable too.

 

 

 

 

We love being out in nature and are passionate about keeping it beautiful and not littered with plastic. Knowing that we are part of the solution to the plastic problem keeps up focused. We are proud that honeywraps are an easy first step for people to make on their plastic free journey. We often have people telling us that they started with honeywraps and now they are taking other steps in their life to minimse their plastic use. It makes us so happy to hear these stories from our customers!

 

 

 

 

Our goal has always been for every household in NZ to own a honeywrap and that is something we continue to work towards. There are opportunities for exporting that we are just starting to explore now too. We hope to continue to collaborate with like-minded charities and to do artist collaborations too.