A London couple have revealed they are on a mission to reduce the estimated 40 million Christmas crackers that end up in the bin each year.
Lucy Ewles (36) from North London co-founded new business Kaneo alongside her husband, Jonny (35) to stop the unnecessary waste of plastic toys, glitter-coated cardboard and excessive plastic packaging that Christmas crackers contribute to landfill each year.
The primary school teacher and mum-of-one said: “Kaneo was born in 2019 after we used ‘fill-your-own’ crackers filled with personal gifts and cheeky challenges for our Christmas party. Everyone was delighted to find crackers with their names written in gold glitter, and it was a great event.
“However, the waste from these 22 crackers filled up two bin bags, and I was horrified to realise they couldn’t even go in the recycling. They had arrived in boxes with plastic windows and had ribbons stuck on with glue.
“I vowed to find some reusable crackers to buy for the following year, but the only ones I could find either didn’t have the luxury look I wanted or didn’t contain a snap- and I like things to go off with a bang!”
The teacher began looking into alternative solutions. During this time Lucy and her husband sadly suffered two miscarriages and developing ideas for the reusable crackers gave her a much needed outlet and distraction.
“I set about creating my own prototype with a unique sliding tube mechanism. I bought a sewing machine and taught myself to sew from YouTube videos.”
“Then COVID hit, I was in school working as a key worker plus organising home learning. Experimenting with designs for the crackers gave me an outlet and something else to focus on during the evenings and weekends of lockdown.
In June 2020, Lucy fell pregnant again and after an anxious nine months she and Jonny were delighted to welcome their healthy baby daughter.
Despite being on maternity leave, Lucy continued developing her unique invention and took the plunge to partner with a manufacturer and launch Kaneo alongside her husband Jonny – a strategist for a London-based advertising agency.
“We drew inspiration from different celebrity icons for the designs, from Dolly Parton to Noel Fielding. We wanted them to be classic and versatile but also a bit tongue in cheek.”
The name Kaneo comes from the church where the pair were married in 2018.
Kaneo offers a range of luxury velvet crackers that are designed to last.
Each pack of six bespoke designs (RRP £59.00) come with replaceable snaps to make sure they go off with a bang each time you use them.
The range can be personalised with name tags and are ready to be filled with bespoke gifts from eye masks to bottle openers. Instead of throwaway jokes, every nametag has a QR code on the reverse which can be scanned for ‘chuckles’ & ‘challenges’ guaranteed to get everyone in the party spirit.
They also aim to help those less fortunate at Christmas with 10 percent of all sales (not just profit) going to the Salvation Army.
“It was really important for us to partner with a charity and we reached out to The Salvation Army as they do so much great work in the community, especially during the festive period. “We felt that it was very much in the spirit of Christmas giving for a homeless person to receive a Christmas dinner at the same time as our customers are enjoying their party and crackers.
In recent years retailers have stepped up efforts to take plastic out of packaging for the festive season.
In 2020, John Lewis and Waitrose stopped selling Christmas crackers containing plastic toys as part of its plans to cut down on single-use plastic.
Meanwhile Sainsbury’s ditched all plastic packaging from its Christmas crackers and Tesco removed more than 20m pieces of single-use plastic from its Christmas range including crackers, lights, cards and the packaging for puddings – as part of a national drive to reduce pollution from single use plastics.
The industry move comes as retailers face a regulatory crackdown from 2022 with a new tax on plastic packaging that fails to meet a minimum threshold of at least 30% recycled content.
“We are so pleased to see other retailers beginning to banish plastic toys from their disposable crackers, however, we want to go further and encourage a culture of keeping. “Even with recyclable crackers there are still many hidden environmental costs of annual shipping, excessive packaging and recycling which have a negative impact.
Lucy hopes to appeal to the thoughtful host, who wants others to feel special.
“They are the perfect pre-Christmas gift for the host in your life, that person who is always thinking of everyone else, often the Mum of the family!”
“We believe crackers should be treasured. You wouldn’t throw away your tree ornaments so why throw away your crackers? Your granny was right; buy nice things and look after them.”
What makes them special:-
They go bang!
Unlike any other reusable fabric cracker on the market, our crackers have a two-part sliding tube mechanism with a sticky snap, so they do everything a cracker should do: go bang. We’ve even thrown in three parties’ worth of replaceable snaps.
Made to last using quality materials
We’ve designed our own bespoke prints on luxury supersoft upholstery velvet. There are six styles including vivid red cardinals with mistletoe, classic tartan, sophisticated art deco style, floral poinsettia, daring leopard print and seasonal green. Guaranteed to enhance your Christmas tablescape.
Personalisable with name tags
Names can be written on in chalk or for an extra touch of class use the gold letters included in the gift box. Easily changed so you can use for multiple occasions and different guests.
Ready to be filled with bespoke gifts
You won’t be adding to landfill with lots of packaging and plastic toys. Your friends and family will be thrilled with their own personalised cracker and gift. No plastic in our shop!
10% to Salvation Army to help less fortunate at Christmas
Feel good about helping someone less fortunate at Christmas. 10% of all sales (not profits) goes towards Christmas dinners for people experiencing homelessness, food parcel for families or gifts for children who may otherwise not get anything.
Chuckle or challenge QR code
Quirky ice breaker challenges as well as jokes to liven up the dinner table and get everyone in the mood to party.
A box of six bespoke reusable crackers and personalised gifts is available for RRP £59.00 or single crackers for RRP £14.00 at www.kaneo.co.ukor follow them on Instagram @kaneocrackers.
