By Berni Beyhaut
For many years, founders Hayley Clarke and Karen Platt have turned to candles as a way of creating a welcoming home ambience as well as masking household smells from pets, the bathroom and kid’s smelly shoes! With everyone crowding the home during the pandemic they became frustrated with the number of empty containers creating clutter. When they discovered that most of the 4-million candles sold every year in Australia are made out of materials that can’t be reused or recycled, they knew it was time for a new approach.
CandleXchange began with Hayley hand-pouring candles and testing fragrances and containers through a pop-up store in Sydney’s Northern Beaches. With their refillable containers a sell-out success, they knew other candle enthusiasts were looking for a more sustainable solution too.
CandleXchange aim is to make reusable candles a part of daily life for everyone, making the luxury of home fragrances both better value and lighter on the planet. Through their unique ‘Burn & Swap’ system, their mission is to make the luxury of home fragrances more affordable, zero waste and accessible for everyone.
Every time you create a natural and luxurious home ambience with the CandleXchange ‘Burn & Swap’ range, you’re stopping up to 1KG of non-recyclable containers from entering landfill.
"We are seeing that corporate gifting is increasingly focused on products that are environment and support social enterprises. This is one of the reason why Lendlease and International Towers have not only chosen to buy our candles as gifts, but also commit to sponsoring the Upcycle for Good Program supporting domestic violence survivors and refugees with over 600 candles as they move into new homes." - Karen Platt, Founder.
CandleXchange has established partnerships with the Gidget Foundation and Northern Beaches Womens Shelter, creating them both a candle that they can sell to fundraise for the respective charities. These partners have also participated in CandleXchange candle making workshops to support wellbeing and skill development for domestic violence survivors.
"We are really excited about more circular businesses entering that market enabling reuse of precious materials rather than relying on recycling alone to reduce waste."
CandleXchange aims to prevent one million single-use home fragrance containers and 100 tonnes of packaging waste from entering landfill by 2030.
Their UpCandle program also helps us extend the life of containers which cannot be recycled. When you return your empathy candle containers from other brands, CandleXchange will refill them and donate them to survivors of domestic violence.
Karen's favourite product is the 1.5kg Australian Bush candle. "It's a real star! It brings the serenity of the Australian bush into your home, waste-free, the perfect size for larger open spaces and outdoor settings!"
Shop Karen's favourite and our whole CandleXchange range here.
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