Packaged With Love & Reused Materials

While there may be plastic in your parcel, we only reuse packaging we receive in our own deliveries. Please consider doing the same, or donating them to a business that might use them again. We will always welcome back any bubble wrap or packaging, and we’ll do our best to reuse it again and again. Any packing peanuts (or pop starch) will be biodegradeable, or can be dissolved in water and added to your compost.

Is there pop starch in your packaging?

It's always a downer when your exciting new purchase turns up full of polystyrene packaging. Polystyrene can't be recycled in New Zealand so your only option, other than to reuse it, is to put it in the rubbish. Not a great option for our environment we agree, which is why we recycle the Pop Starch we get from our supplier deliveries.

Pop Starch looks a lot like polystyrene (except it's creamier in colour) which is why we thought we needed to point out the difference.

Pop Starch is 100% compostable and biodegradable. Made from expanded starch, these pellets are used to ensure the contents of your box arrive safe and sound but once that's done, you can dispose of them simply by dissolving them in water or adding them to your compost bin.

In fact there are a loads of disposal options for Pop Starch. You can throw them on the garden or lawn, basically anywhere they'll be exposed to bacteria and moisture, above or below ground. They can be composted with any food waste to produce fertile humus in just a few weeks. They almost completely dissolve in water within hours and the small residue is completely biodegradable. They are nontoxic in the marine environment, can be recycled along with your cardboard and paper or burnt without producing toxic fumes or metallic residues.

Pop Starch is not meant to end its life in landfill, in fact just about anywhere else is better for the environment. However if it ends up there then it will completely degrade within 60 days

Made in New Zealand from sustainable renewable materials, pop starch is a great option for Bestow. It's much more expensive than polystyrene but growth at any cost is not an option for us. We need to consider the environment, the health of the planet and the wellbeing of future generations.

So when your next order arrives, get creative about the disposal of your Pop Starch!