UK woman starts greeting card business using plastic waste from River Thames

During coronavirus lockdown, a south London resident, Flora Blathwayt, has set up a company that uses little tiny bits of plastic waste for card designs. According to Metro UK, the 34-year-old from Peckham started a greeting card business, Washed Up Cards, and her primary stock of materials are basically plastic waste collected from the River Thames. Flora revealed that after attending a beach clean up event for World Rivers Day, she was shocked to see the amount of rubbish in the river after which she was inspired to do more with the small pieces of discarded plastic. 

While speaking to the media outlet, Flora said that she was expecting to find lots of stuff like bottles and crisp packets and plastic bags, however, it was the smaller bits that caught her attention. The 34-year-old said that she picked up little bits of microplastic, which are less than a fingernail in length, stashed them and thought of doing something with them. She revealed that she picked some “really pretty” bits, which included sequins, buttons and tiny little pink pearl pieces. 

Further, Flora said that her first creation was a wedding card for her sister, which featured a getaway car with lots of colourful pieces of plastic as the cans. Following the success of the card, she then started to make some for other family members and friends. She said that once the lockdown began, her hobby then turned into a full-time business. 

Therapeutic during ‘time of negativity’ 

Flora, who worked in sustainability for almost four years before being redundant, said that being able to go to the River Thames and pick up litter and making cards out of it was therapeutic for her that too during a “time of negativity”. She added that her business gave her something to do amid a time when she felt “very spare”. Flora even said that the beach cleaning was also meditative for her and so is making cards. “To round it all off, it's doing something,” she said.  

Within a year, the 34-year-old has turned ‘Washed Up Cards’ into a brilliant independent business. She even has five-star review on Etsy. Moreover, Flora hopes that her creative cards will inspire people to get thinking about the environment. She also thinks that the pandemic could change people’s attitudes towards the environment, in general, and hopes her small business is doing its bit - even if it’s just reminding people of the issues we still face.

(Image: Twitter)