The end of the year is a wonderful time to relax, reflect, and take stock of what we accomplished. And then enjoy the holidays before doing even more in 2022!
The eCommerce world absolutely exploded in 2021. We’re so grateful for our amazing community of Sendlers, whose successes allowed us to continue our mission: Shipping that’s good for the world. Together, we’ve had such an impact on the planet, our communities, and the wonderful small businesses we all support.
Our impact
Your shipments have traveled 30 billion kilometers (18 billion miles) to get to your customers, and every journey has been 100% carbon neutral, since the beginning. That’s the equivalent of 197 trips to the sun! And, each one of the 1.2 MILLION (it’s a whopping 1,237,135 to be exact) compostable satchels/mailers you used across the world kept a plastic one out of landfill.
You may already know that the shipping industry as a whole account for 17% of greenhouse gas emissions annually. Another 8-10% comes from food waste, which is why we joined OzHarvest in spreading awareness of their Use It Up campaign to help teach people how to fight food waste at home. In the US, we’ve joined the Intuit Climate Action Marketplace so we can help even more small businesses greenify their operations.
Our commitment to Earth
Sendle is proud to be a certified B Corp, but we wanted to continually hold ourselves to the highest standard possible. That’s why we hired Veena Harbaugh, our first Director of Sustainability. She got to work right away on long-term company goals as well as this year’s Invest in the Earth campaign supporting four amazing projects: Darkwoods Forest Conservation, Tasmania Native Forest Protection, Mount Sandy Conservation, and Beidler Forest Conservation.
We’re loud about what we do for the environment because we want everyone to join in our efforts. That’s why we turned our logo green on our website and social media channels, so everything we did would be part of our message.
For Sendle, carbon-neutral shipping was an amazing starting point, but it’s not our ultimate goal. We’ve joined the Race to Zero campaign, the UN-backed campaign launched in 2020 ahead of COP26 in November 2021, the largest climate summit since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015. Net Zero Emissions means to remove all man-made greenhouse gas emissions from ever being released in the first place. In order to preserve the only home we have for ourselves and subsequent generations, every industry should try to achieve this goal as quickly as possible.
Whether you’re just starting your sustainability journey or are looking for ways to level up your green game, we’re with you every step of the way. It’s a lot of work, so be sure to take some time to relax and recharge.
Our community
Sendle wouldn’t be here without you, the incredible community of small businesses we’re so lucky to serve. Businesses you should get to know (because they’re doing amazing things) like Pali Baskets, who lift up communities in Myanmar by helping them sell their baskets worldwide. Eco Collective brings customers zero waste self-care products, while Madebox showcases regional Australian businesses and their unique products with curated gift boxes. Black Millennial Vegan is dedicated to busting stereotypes in the plant-based food and wellness industry. Yayyy.co creates amazing sustainable packaging – perfect for any business looking to give their brand a stylish, ecological upgrade.
(The list goes on and on, and on some more! Meet more Sendlers in our 2021 gift guide and blog roundup of Black-owned businesses.)
Our commitment to you
We’ll never stop improving your shipping experience with us. This year we rolled out improvements to our batch ordering processes and added bulk edit tools, giving you more control and tons of time back. Saving you money is always a top priority, which is why we launched Sendle Swift in the Western US, with more states on the way. We saved American Sendlers over $250,000 with our No Peak Surcharges promise this holiday season, and reduced Australian prices by 30% from 30 August through the end of the year with our Pandemic Relief Package.
And there’s so much more to look forward to in 2022! We’ll have express shipping in Australia and returns rolling out in both the US and AU. In the United States, the Sendle Swift zone is about to get even bigger, and we’re growing our connections and strategic partnerships to offer more ways for North Americans to access Sendle.
Thank you so much for being a part of the Sendle community in 2021, and for making it all the way through this post. There’s just so much to be thankful for and proud of. Can’t wait to see you in 2022!
