A new brand at Dexam, we have been super excited to start distributing this forward thinking and ingenious brand. Here to change the way that we prepare and transport food, food can remain fresher for longer with Beeswax Wraps, the reusable food wrap alternative. An organic form of packaging, Beeswax can help you to reduce the amount of cling film that you use in your kitchen allowing
Made from 100% cotton, organic jojoba oil, pine resin and local beeswax, this form of natural packaging, is revolutionary, changing the way many package their food. The future is looking bright for these reusable food wraps!
Designed and created in the Cotswolds, we took time out of Fran, one of the co-owners of this expanding British company to discuss the reasoning, ideas and the future plans of Beeswax Wraps.
How long have Carly and yourself known each other and where did you meet?
Carly and I have know each other for about 4 years now, we met at a mutual friends clothes swap in Bristol. We immediately hit it off as we had so much in common, we started making all sorts of things, Carly volunteered at a local charity shop and would collect loads of old music books, we would then turn them into Christmas bags and boxes, we tried to sell these at markets but they weren’t a big seller!
What inspired you and gave you both the inspiration to create the reusable food wrap ‘Beeswax Wraps’?
In our separate ways we both had come to the conclusion that we wanted to try and live as plastic free as possible, I was worried about the chemicals from plastic that were leaching into my food and Carly was becoming more and more aware of the plastic waste problem. We found most things quite easy to change, we would go to our local health shop to get refills for our washing up-liquid, hand wash, shampoos etc. We were volunteering at a local community allotment so we got a lot of our veg from there and would take our own containers to the butcher. The biggest problem we had was replacing clingfilm, we needed something to wrap our lunches in and keep food from drying out when we wrapped it in the fridge but there was no viable alternative. Carly had seen beeswax wraps in Australia so suggested that we give making them a go to see if they would work. We picked up some wax from our local farmers market in Stroud and started to make them, quite quickly we had friends and family asking us to make them some and it has grown from there. When Blue Plant 2 came out at the end of last year our little business really took off and suddenly there were a lot more people like us looking for a good plastic free alternative to cling film and sandwich bags. And we could provide the perfect solution with our reusable food wraps!
Since the beginning what has been the hardest challenge that you have had to face for your reusable food wraps?
Keeping up! We have had such an overwhelming response to our beeswax wraps, because they are such a simple swap and we try and source all our ingredients as ethically as possible our customers have really taken us under their wings and become huge champions of our company. Every Friday we say that next week we will start stock piling, but we’ve been saying that since January!
Your reusable food wraps use bees wax, where do you source your beeswax?
We source all of our Beeswax from the UK, we started off getting our bees wax from Keith our local beekeeper here in The Cotswold’s, due to the demand for our wraps we now source from a beekeeper in Devon and are working with a local beekeeper to start sourcing from more small beekeepers across the UK. We always wanted our company to support our local community as much as possible, so we will always source our Beeswax purely from the UK.
For those thinking of purchasing Beeswax Wraps for a reusable food wrap to replace clingfilm, what can they use it for?
It is such a simple swap, you can use it to cover leftovers, wrap sandwiches, wrap cheese, bread, half avocados, your soap when you go on holiday. I use mine when i am rolling out pastry to make it easy to flip onto the flan dish, I also use them as piping bags. They really are so versatile, we make pouches out of them to take with us to the local refill store, it saves us have to carry round heavy jars. We have lots of tutorials on our website showing you how to use them. The one piece of feedback we always get from our customers is how much fresher their food stays compared to wrapping in cling film.
What has been the biggest highlight since going plastic free and launching the Beeswax Wrap?
There have genuinely been so many, but I think our over arching highlight has been building a company that now employs 8 women that can work flexibly around their children and lives. Carly has just had her first baby Flo and it was our aim to make sure we built a company that would enrich those who worked for it. We pay more than the minimum living wage and we allow flexibly working hours to ensure that we have healthy and happy team, they do so much for us and we would never want to take that for granted.
Along with replacing clingfilm, how else can people reduce their plastic waste?
Our main message is don’t try and do it all at once, pick one thing at a time and start off simple. Switch to a bamboo toothbrush or find your local refill shop on our Plastic Free shopping map and start refilling your washing up liquid bottle. Buy a drinking bottle so you don’t have to buy water in a plastic bottle when you go out. As soon as you start making small changes you will be surprised how easy it is to make the bigger changes like using Soapnuts instead of laundry liquid, taking your own container to the butcher or shopping at your local grocer rather than at a supermarket.
How can consumers look after their wraps, making the most out of them in the years to come?
Our wraps are really easy to look after, in between uses just wash with cool soapy water and every few months when they start to lose their oomph pop them in the oven at 80 degrees on a piece of baking paper for 3 minutes to re settle the wax.
How has your lives changed since Beeswax Wraps?
Carly and I were chatting about this the other day, we never thought last May that we would be running such an amazing company surrounded by fantastic ladies who work with us. It has been really lovely to action things like flexible working and creating something useful that really does help people cutdown on their plastic use. I think we both like that fact that we are just being useful and making our on small positive impact on our community.
Where do you see the future of Beeswax Wraps?
We are constantly refining our process to make sure we make the best reusable food wraps available, we are working with some wonderful local designers and will have new fabric designs launching every 3 months, 2 new children’s designs will be available from January.
We also really want to help as many people as possible to make plastic free changes in their lives, we have just launched a plastic free shopping map, a milk vending machine map and a plastic free lesson plan. We are hoping we can be a really useful resource for anyone dipping their toe into going plastic free.
If you like the sound of Beeswax Wraps and you are inspired to make a step, changing the way you store food while lowering the amount of plastic that you waste, visit our website today.
At Dexam, we are currently selling 3 different pack sizes. From the large pack, medium pack to the essential lunch pack, banish the cling film from your kitchen and start using Beeswax Wraps today!