Sustainability

Beautiful lighting doesn't need a beautiful box.

At Elan Living, we believe considered design should extend beyond the piece itself.

That includes how our lighting is packed, protected and delivered to your home.

We favour a simpler, more considered approach to packaging, using what is needed to protect each piece while avoiding unnecessary presentation materials where practical.

The result may not always be a perfectly branded box. We think what is inside matters more.

Less packaging. More purpose.

Packaging has an important job. It needs to protect your order throughout its journey.

Beyond that, we question what is really necessary.

Elaborate presentation boxes, additional sleeves and decorative layers may create a more polished unboxing experience, but they also require more material for something that often has a very short life.

Where practical, we favour simpler packaging and paper or cardboard-based protection, including recycled or recyclable materials where these are used within our fulfilment network.

Our approach is straightforward:

Use what is needed. Avoid what isn't. Protect the piece.

Why isn't my packaging Elan branded?

Not every Elan order needs another box simply to carry our name.

Our pieces can travel through different fulfilment routes, and packaging requirements vary according to the size, material and fragility of each design.

Where suitable packaging already provides the protection a piece requires, we may avoid adding an additional branded outer layer purely for presentation.

This means your order may arrive in plain, neutral or minimally branded packaging. Some packaging may contain supplier markings or labels rather than Elan branding.

For us, being more conscious about packaging is not about making the box look sustainable. It is about questioning whether another layer of packaging needs to exist at all.

Less branding. Less unnecessary material. The same Elan piece inside.

Packaging in perspective

Packaging is a much bigger issue than any single parcel.

UK Government statistics estimate that 10.8 million tonnes of packaging waste arose in the UK during 2024 under its newer reporting methodology. Around 8.15 million tonnes were recycled, giving a provisional recycling rate of approximately 75.2%.

10.8 million tonnes

Packaging waste reported as arising in the UK in 2024.*

75.2%

Provisional UK packaging recycling rate under the newer reporting methodology.*

86.4%

Provisional recycling rate for paper and cardboard packaging.*

53.7%

Provisional recycling rate for plastic packaging.*

Source: UK Government, UK Statistics on Waste, 2024 methodology 2. These figures relate to UK packaging as a whole and are not Elan Living-specific statistics. Figures under methodology 2 are provisional.

Reduce before recycle

Recycling matters, but there is a simpler question to ask first.

Does this material need to be there at all?

A recyclable additional box is still an additional box. The same applies to a decorative sleeve, insert or layer of packaging added purely for presentation.

This thinking is increasingly reflected in the way packaging is being approached across the UK.

The UK's Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging scheme shifts the cost of managing household packaging waste towards packaging producers. From 2026/27, disposal fees are also being adjusted according to recyclability, with more recyclable packaging receiving lower fees and less recyclable packaging receiving higher fees. The aim is to encourage better packaging design and greater use of recyclable materials.

We think the principle makes sense.

Before thinking about how something will be disposed of, it is worth considering whether it needs to be produced in the first place.

Protection still comes first

Less packaging does not mean inadequate packaging.

Lighting can contain glass, stone, metal finishes, delicate electrical components and other materials that need proper protection during transport.

A damaged product that needs replacing can mean another journey, another parcel and more materials.

Our aim is therefore not to use the least packaging possible at any cost. It is to use packaging more thoughtfully, keeping the protection that serves a genuine purpose while avoiding unnecessary presentation where practical.

The journey may leave a mark

The outer box is there to take the journey so your lighting doesn't have to.

For that reason, your packaging may occasionally arrive with minor scuffs, creases, tape or other cosmetic signs of transit.

We don't believe a functional shipping box needs replacing or covering with another layer simply because it isn't cosmetically perfect.

What matters is that the piece inside arrives safely.

If your actual product has been damaged during delivery, our Customer Care team is always here to help.

A box doesn't define what is inside

There is a longstanding idea that a premium product should arrive inside equally elaborate packaging.

We see things differently.

We would rather put the emphasis on the design, materials and atmosphere a piece brings to your home than on a box that may be discarded shortly after delivery.

This is why an Elan order may sometimes look understated when it arrives.

Plain packaging does not mean less care has been taken with your order.

Sometimes, it simply means the packaging is doing the job it was made to do.

Give it another life

Once your order has arrived safely, we encourage you to reuse packaging where useful and recycle suitable materials where they are accepted locally.

Cardboard boxes can be flattened before recycling. Different materials should be separated where possible, and your local authority's guidance is the best place to check if you are unsure about a particular component.

Paper and cardboard already have relatively strong recycling outcomes in the UK. Under the Government's newer provisional methodology, the recycling rate for paper and cardboard packaging was 86.4% in 2024, although recycling performance varies by material and reporting methodology.

Recycling, however, is not an excuse to use more material than necessary.

Our preference remains simple.

Less unnecessary packaging in. Less unnecessary packaging out.

Considered, not perfect.

We don't want to present sustainability as a badge or make claims that suggest there is no environmental impact involved in producing and delivering physical products.

There is.

Packaging requirements also vary between products and fulfilment routes, which means we cannot promise that every component used to deliver every Elan order will be recycled, recyclable, plastic-free or made from a particular material.

What we can do is make more considered choices where practical.

That means questioning unnecessary presentation packaging, accepting that a functional shipping box does not need to look perfect, making use of simpler packaging solutions where appropriate and continuing to review how our pieces reach your home.

We would rather be clear about where we are than make promises we cannot stand behind.

Designed to stay

Our approach does not end with packaging.

We choose pieces for their ability to live comfortably within a home beyond a single season. Simple forms, natural materials, warm finishes and considered proportions are at the heart of the Elan collection.

Trends change quickly. A well-chosen piece does not have to.

We believe one of the most considered relationships we can have with the things we bring into our homes is also one of the simplest:

Choose carefully. Look after them. Keep them for longer.

The box is temporary. The piece inside isn't.

Our focus will always be on what becomes part of your home, while continuing to make more considered choices about everything that surrounds it.

So if your Elan order arrives in a plain box, with minimal branding or a few signs of its journey, there is no need for that packaging to pretend to be something it isn't.

It has one job.

To get your piece home safely.

Sources

UK packaging waste and recycling statistics: UK Government, UK Statistics on Waste

Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging and recycling obligations: UK Government, EPR for Packaging Guidance

Information on packaging recyclability and modulated producer fees: PackUK, Modulated Disposal Fees