South Australia led the nation by phasing out lightweight, checkout-style plastic bags in 2009, an initiative that has seen almost 400 million fewer plastic bags in the state according to the Environmental Protection Authority of SA (EPA).
It’s no wonder then that the state is also home to a business producing plastic food wrap replacements for customers worldwide. Shop South Australia vendor WRAPPA uses a combination of beeswax, organic cotton, tree resin and jojoba oil to create its reusable alternative, which can be found in more than 100 stores across Australia and 20 countries globally.
Cheryl Sanders, the maker behind WRAPPA, says she believes her beeswax wraps were the first of their kind available commercially in the state.
“Rather than having a convenient product that you use once and then throw away; these are something that you can reuse over and over again,” she says.
“It’s a really small and simple thing that every family can do to reduce their (plastic) use.”
The wraps provide a sustainable alternative to single-use plastic food coverings and can be used in much the same way – from packaging lunchtime sandwiches to preserving avocados in the fridge.
“If you added up the amount of plastic wrap just one street in your neighbourhood would use, that’s a phenomenal amount of plastic and most of that would end up in the ocean,” Cheryl says.
A discussion paper released by Environment Minister David Speirs earlier this month – seeking feedback on a proposition to ban single-use plastic including cutlery and straws within the state – reports global plastic production has risen from 15 million tonnes in 1964 to 311 million tonnes in 2014, an amount that equals almost the weight of the entire human population and is expected to double within 20 years.
Cheryl’s own frustration with single-use plastic led her to create the products, which feature graphic designs including fruit, vegetables, plants and wildlife in a bid to encourage more people to purchase the wraps in place of single-use plastic.
“These wraps weren’t mainstream at all when we started and there was nothing really funky and attractive on the market, which is why we started doing designs to make them more appealing,” she says.
“We were lucky to come into the market at the right time.”
Cheryl says increased environmental awareness has increased competition in the once niché market but says WRAPPA products continue to stand out due to their high-quality ingredients and innovative crafting process.
“As far as we know, the way we make them is different to what everyone else does. There are lots of processes out there that I don’t think produce the optimal wrap and the way we do is why ours are very thin,” Cheryl says.
When WRAPPA was founded in 2016 Cheryl handcrafted each wrap in her home, a task that has now shifted into the hands of four trusted employees in SA, while the business also has an admin team and graphic designer.
“I remember going out and buying 1.1m of fabric and my first kilo of beeswax… now, we buy fabric thousands of metres long and beeswax by the hundreds of kilos,” she says.
The environmentally friendly wraps are made from beeswax sourced from Kangaroo Island, while a vegan variety made from plant-based wax is also available.
“We were the first ones to create a vegan wrap; there was nothing on the market, so we developed everything from scratch and now we sell those worldwide,” Cheryl says.
WRAPPA is available on Brand South Australia’s online marketplace Shop South Australia, a website dedicated to the makers and producers of SA.
Shop South Australia is home to a unique collection of over 300 South Australian gifts and goods from more than 70 local makers and producers. Choose local and Shop South Australia.
