Nicole Golland, former chef and mother of three, found she was sending envelope after envelope to school filled with notes and money and wanted a more sustainable solution. So what’s an enterprising mum to do? Start her own business of course, making reusable envelopes from organic cotton produced through a fair trade organisation in India. After sending her children to school with the new product, the requests for more starting flooding in, and Lopees Envelopes took off.
The business has grown steadily, gathering many awards along the way, including winning the Australian Business Awards 2009 Best Eco–Friendly Product, Australian Business Awards 2010 Best Environmental Sustainability and being placed as a finalist in the Keep Australia Beautiful Awards. Nicole loves that her products are teaching children that “small changes in our life can make a positive change to the environment.” Over the past three years, the company has developed ten different sizes and styles of envelopes which are now used in many schools and also as an internal mail system in businesses. Library book bags, CD bags and custom-made reusable shopping bags have also been added to the Lopees range. Stationery and sustainability? We like.