There are some obvious ways that we at Pollen are more eco-friendly than most.  The biggies are:

1. Working with locally grown flowers as much as possible.
2. Not using floral foam.
3. Our in-house flower donation program, ReBloom.
4. Composting our leaves, stems, and other organic materials with the help of Collective Resource.

One of our eco-friendly efforts that we don’t talk about much is that we hand-pour our own soy wax votives. Why do we do this?

We gave up traditional paraffin votives for a few reasons.  First, like floral foam, they’re derived from a petroleum product, so they come from a non-renewable resource. Second, they’re a pain in the a$$ to clean for reuse, which is why most florists, venues, and caterers treat them as disposable, using them once and then throwing the whole thing out, glass holder and all.

We switched to soy wax because soy is a renewable resource.  Also, it’s MUCH easier to clean than paraffin wax, so we can clean and reuse the holders again and again.

If you’re a florist, caterer, venue, or restaurant that would love to use soy votives, but you don’t want to fuss with pouring your own, check out Bright Endeavors.  Bright Endeavors is a social enterprise that provides job skills training for women through candle production.  They offer a votive rental program, where you can have their hand-poured soy wax votive candles delivered to you and switched out after each use.

Below, get a behind-the-scenes look at a recent votive production day at our studio.