Sustainability

The EPIC Gift Shop is on a journey to become more sustainable and minimise our impact on the planet.

· The products in our shop are sourced from local and international retailers that share our vision for sustainability and a better, greener future.

· 87% of our suppliers are Irish businesses. We are lucky that Ireland has many creative local artists and makers who we are delighted to stock in our shop. Many of these suppliers manufacture their products in Ireland with plastic free packaging. While nurturing local talent this also reduces the need for transport and our carbon footprint.

· Within the shop we reuse any packaging that comes from our suppliers to minimise our overall waste levels.

· All orders sent out from our online shop are packaged with recycled packaging.

· We offer our customers the option to print their receipt or not. This decreases our non-recyclable waste.

· We use digital screens in the store that display our products and deals. This reduces the need to print advertising materials.

· We are following the Sustainable Irish Retail Action Guide, an initiative from Retail Excellence, to guide our retail sustainability journey.

· When creating our own clothing range, we have partnered with a young Irish designer to illustrate our t-shirts and tote bags.

· For every item sold from our Mary Robinson collection we donate a portion of the proceeds to The Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice which works to secure global justice for the people most vulnerable to the impact of climate change.

· Our partnership with sustainable, Irish manufacturer Hairy Baby means that our own clothing ranges, mentioned above, are printed in Cork, Ireland, with materials certified under Oeko-Tex Confidence in Textiles Standard 100, Organic Content Standard (OCS) & Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS). The ink used is water-based, non-hazardous, non-toxic, and eco-friendly NeoPigment™ inks that produce no waste, toxic fumes, or harmful effluent.

We will continue to adapt our ways of working to prioritise sustainable practices and share our progress as we go.

We Plan To…

· Stock water, in paper-based, plastic free cartons.

· Adapt our main entrance and exit doors to automatically open and close which will retain heat and reduce our energy use while still being accessible to all visitors.

· Continue to focus on sourcing sustainably and move away from single-use plastics across all product areas to reduce our ecological impact.

· Communicate to our visitors what actions we are taking and highlight the sustainable products we have in store.