Should We Use Compostable Stickers?

I'm for no sticker. Between the source (y'all etee folks) and us consumers, there's virtually no likelihood of tampering. If the lip balms were sold in stores or somewhere that tampering was a concern, then the compostable stickers would be ideal. I'd venture to say that most places don't have commercial composting (especially more rural areas), so if the sticker isn't backyard compostable, skip it.

I go with no sticker or next choice would be the compostable stickers.

First, I did not know the sticker was compostable. Second, do we need a sticker? I have never had an issue with a loose lid. In fact, after some use, the lid can sometimes be hard to remove. How about ditching the sticker? Just a thought!

No sticker! Those things are annoying and unnecessary. And I don’t have access to commercial compost.

I would put it in the compost because that is what I do with everything you send me and I do have access to commercial composting. However, I think the sticker is unnecessary. I see the reason for them in stores but when they are going warehouse to me directly there is no need.

no plastic seal
explain why in email or give option at check out to customer ordering & factor it in to individual order
one cost with
one cost without

If possible, stop stickering, I personally would not mind receiving my products with a seal. But if you must seal, then use the compostable ones. I would prefer paying a little extra to get a truly plastic free product. Then keep telling people about the fact that it is compostable. From now on my stickers will go in the compost. Before they went in the garbage because I did not know.
Keep up the good work, the planet needs you.

If possible, stop stickering, I personally would not mind receiving my products with a seal. But if you must seal, then use the compostable ones. I would prefer paying a little extra to get a truly plastic free product. Then keep telling people about the fact that it is compostable. From now on my stickers will go in the compost. Before they went in the garbage because I did not know.
Keep up the good work, the planet needs you.

"No sticker" from me too! I do have access to curbside composting so I can compost the little sticker and I have a compost system in yard. I think the cap stays on fine too like others said.

I’m all for not using stickers at all. If you do, they definitely should at least be commercially compostable. I have a Lomi composter, which has a commercial composting cycle so I would run it with other commercially compostable things.

I say go stickerless. I think it’s EXTREMELY unlikely that they’d ever be tampered with.

I’m a bit suspicious of commercially compostable plastic. Can plastic ever be really compostable, or does it just break down into micro plastics?

As for the first question, whenever I pull a sticker off of anything, I put it in the garbage. I don’t want to ruin a batch of recycling but leaving something in that will spoil the whole batch.

I don't see why a sticker is needed. The caps stay on well it seems to me, and as you say, they're shipped directly from you to me.

I would throw it in the trash not knowing it was compostable and not having access to commercial compost anyway. I would stop stickering altogether. Those stickers always tend to leave sticky residue anyway and I think lip balm tampering would be very obvious since the new surface is perfectly smooth.

JUST DONT USE ANY STICKERS! No one cares abt the stickers, we just throw it out. As long as they are not tampered with who cares! Save the money save the planet!

JUST DONT USE ANY STICKERS! No one cares abt the stickers, we just throw it out. As long as they are not tampered with who cares! Save the money save the planet!

I would definitely stop stickering them altogether!! I love that you guys are asking for input. I hate dealing with little plastic bits like this, and would be so happy to start seeing more products without it at all.

I vote for the stop stickering altogether option. If it’s not necessary, then eliminate it.

Stop using stickers altogether gets my vote. If you can't, use the cheaper plastic ones instead bc the majority of people probably can't access a commercial compost system. A big part of going green is doing what's realistic sometimes.

The best solution would be to stop stickering altogether, if it’s not required by law. The product is not likely to be tampered with during shipping, and it is usually quite easy to tell if the surface on the top of the lip balm has been swiped on anything.

Using the compostable stickers is preferable to using the plastic ones. However, as I mentioned in your post on Instagram, even in my city of Los Angeles, the supposed Mecca of eco-friendliness in the United States, our waste facilities don’t have the capabilities of composting anything that’s like a bio plastic. I sure hope it’s different in Toronto.

A couple of ways you could make it more obvious that the sticker is compostable is to put it somewhere in big print on the product page itself on your website. Also, if you pack any kind of paper invoice when you ship products to people, you could put it prominently somewhere there as well.

I do not think this little thing is good for anything when it comes to upcycling, at least not that I know of, so, if I didn’t know it was compostable I would put it in the trash, and I personally would have to put it in the trash anyway because it doesn’t belong in our green bins.

I still applaud you for making the effort to even find a compostable lip balm seal, and for spending the money on it. The intention is admirable.

I'm quite disappointed in recycling these days because many of the things we carefully wash out and place in the recycle bin can't be recycled and just end up in the landfill anyway. So I vote NO, don't bother with the recyclable sticker, especially because it has to be commercially recycled.

I would not want you to go to non compostable stickers. Do you mail them yourselves? If so, can they be mailed in packaging like your soap powders? Would that be secure enough?

I would put it in the garbage.
Don't use stickers.

No sticker needed

1. If you removed a lip balm cap sticker what would you do with it? If I did not know it was compostable, it would go in the garbage (bc I know better). However, most home and body products I buy, I do lots of research, both on toxicity and on sustainability, so unless you didn't put that fact on your website, I'd probably already know since I sought out the product to have shipped to my home. I DO have access to commercial compost (yay!) and compost as much material as I can, so if i knew it was compostable, then it would go in compost 100%.

2. If you were us would you?... As a company that seems to be pretty supportive of going plastic-free (which I appreciate as an earth-loving consumer), I don't think cheaping out on the sticker is the right move. If it were me, I would go all in on compostable stickers or just get rid of them. The extra $0.03/per tube isn't going to break budgets when you're shelling out $8 for lip balm anyway, nor will $0.03 impact my decision to choose your product over another product - though knowingly choosing a plastic sticker might! And as you mentioned, with these being direct to consumer, having no sticker doesn't seem that weird to me. Either way, stick to your ethos!! That ethos is why I was drawn to your brand in the first place!

Thanks for making thoughtful, earth and human friendly products!

1. put in garbage
2. stop stickering

Even if the seal wasn't composted, not purchasing plastic is a big win. You could add a paper note in the package.

No sticker..not necessary.

1. If you removed a lip balm cap sticker what would you do with it? If I didn't know it was compostable I would put it in the garbage. If I knew it was compostable I'd look to see if my local compost would accept it and put it in the compost if they did. If I knew it was compostable and I didn't remove the sticker (just cut it in half and opened the lip balm) I would keep it on the tube and put the whole thing in the compost.
2. If you were us would you? For only $0.03 per lip chap I'd get the compostable ones. If it was a lot more expensive I'd consider offering both options. Then if someone knows that their compost program wouldn't accept the stickers or doesn't have an industrial compost program they can get the regular sticker and for those that have a program that would accept it they could choose the higher price for the compostable sticker.

Stop stickering simple and effective

Stop buying lip balm with plastic stickers!!

We have a home composting system, so the cap sticker would end up in the garbage regardless. I vote stop stickering!

Although, I like the thought, the compostable stickers are probably not worth is as they are very small and right now there are too many catches on the compostables. I am hoping that will change. I would suggest wait for a plant based sticker.

If there were a sticker I would toss in garbage assuming it’s plastic. I don’t feel there is any need for the sticker as you said who would mess with it. If you had to have a sticker why not use a paper sticker.
A lot of products use a paper label.
Thanks for all that you do. It makes me feel like I am doing a little something for the planet every where I can.

1- I would stick it to something else that would later be thrown out or recycled. I think that anything that breaks down (a lot) faster than plastic is a step in the right decision.
2- the third choice is best for me. Maybe a thin piece of recycled wrapping paper around it?
Thanks for asking. Wish government could work this way. Cheers.

Don’t use stickers! End of problem.

Ideally the container AND seal would be BPI certified compostable. And this would be made clear to the customer. If not, not using plastic is second best— all plastic production is related to toxins and green house gases. Plastics must be removed from production whenever possible.

This is a hard one! I compost *everything* - mostly at home but we also have access to commercial compost. But since everything comes wrapped in plastic, my knee-jerk reaction for something so small would be to toss it in the trash.
Question: Is there no way to have a "this has not been tampered with" paper wrapping around the lip balm top? Or even the whole lip balm? Paper would be recyclable, and then people would feel safe knowing it hadn't been messed with.

I would either not sticker them or get the compostable stickers. I would end up throwing the sticker away, but is it better to throw away a compostable sticker than a plastic sticker? You could say in the description "THIS ITEM DOES NOT COME WITH A STICKER" and explain the reasons why. I feel like your customers would still buy this item, especially if it has less waste involved.

Honestly, I would throw the sticker into my household garbage. This kind of compostable material just doesn’t make sense. As you know, I’m sure, very little of it is actually composted. It feels a bit like greenwashing enablement.
Going stickerless seems okay to me. Your products don’t sit on a retail shelf, so I agree tampering is unlikely.

Compostable or no stickers

no safety stickers.

Rather than plastic, if you just need to show that a seal has been tampered with, why not use paper? I use "GloBold" toothpaste tablets and on the recyclable container (glass bottle, aluminum cap) they use a simple paper dumbbell-shaped sticker which you break in order to unscrew the lid. It's obvious that it's broken when the bottle is opened.

This is ridiculous! The only reason you’d use a clear plastic sticker would be to have the product look the same as other similar products on the store shelf!

A mucilage-glued paper strip wrapped around the join between cap and barrel can be easily and neatly scored by a fingernail and the cap then twisted off. It could be printed with a nice scrolling design or a repeating pattern such as your logo. No plastic! If it does not compost in our garden it is NOT really compostable.

1) If I knew it was compostable, I'd put it in the compost bin. We do have commercial composting through our city.
2) I like the third option of no stickering! But if that feels unsafe to people, I'd continue to pioneer the compostable stickers. It's worth it! Eventually the cost will come down as people get on board.

1) I would throw it in the trash.
2) To not use sticker at all I guess, the product still comes inside a package so it might not even be needed.

If I were you I would leave the sticker completely off and maybe place a paper seal glued on it.

I would use the compostable sticker but better yet, I purchased paper sticky paper from Life Without Plastic and all natural paste. If you paste the lid on with this stuff it would be easy to undo. If you use the sticky paper it would also be very easy to undo. I love this lip balm but also love the planet so I would pay for the best option. I think we need to get away from our addiction to cheap goods and buy stuff that is healthy for everyone and make it last. Just my humble opinion.