We know that our community of Refillas are passionate about increasing their wider impact, so we wanted to move our referral scheme away from discounts and offers and towards a project that was more directly environmentally focused.

We also wanted to be able to provide something tangible that our community could build together. So, we decided to plant a forest! How it works is simple: for every friend that a Refilla refers, a tree will be planted on their behalf 🌱 The friend that was referred will also get 25% off our array of powerful eco cleaning Things (as an added bonus) - makes sense!

Whilst planting trees can have hugely positive environmental benefits by removing CO2 from the environment, improving soil quality, and encouraging wildlife, a lot of schemes aren't as green as they may appear - and we're not fans of performative activism here at Homethings.

Lots of these massive organisations only plant one type of tree. This includes those planted as part of The Bonn Challenge, which aims to bring 150 million hectares of degraded land into restoration, but is currently 80% monoculture plantations or a small number of trees used for fruit and rubber production. Some also use heavy machinery to plant trees in large numbers, which can damage soil and produce a lot of greenhouse gases in the process. It's also hard to check up on these projects, as many of them are overseas and don't provide easy ways to keep an eye on things (whereas we'd like to be able to pop by to say hi).

That's why we were pretty damn chuffed to discover Creating Tomorrow's Forests! These heroes base their tree planting methods solely on ecologically sound methods (thanks to their in-house ecologist/superstar Dr Simone Webber). 🌳

They create forests here in the UK using the Miyawaki Method, a technique that is effective at creating forest cover quickly, even on degraded land. Trees planted using this process grow up to 10 times faster, meaning that carbon is captured more quickly, and studies show that they have higher biodiversity. 🌍

The Creating Tomorrow's Forests' Planters not only plant native trees by hand, but also are committed to filling the space around them with shrubs, wildflowers, bat boxes, bird boxes, bee hotels, reptile homes, and ponds. So it's not only a win for the climate crisis, but also the biodiversity crisis. 🙏 Once these amazing ecosystems are in place, this team of environmental champions also work to keep these havens healthy and happy for hundreds of years to come. They make sure the space isn't used for any other purpose by owning the land that they plant on, so that they have complete control. They also make sure that the trees are well looked after (by giving the forest a trim when needs be, to let some light in).

One added bonus (that certainly piqued our interest) is that they will let our community be an active part of the project, giving us regular updates on how the forest is developing and letting us visit the Homethings Forest in person (perhaps even let us roll up our sleeves and plant a few of your trees ourselves). The GPS coordinates of each tree will also be recorded so, fingers crossed, we'll eventually be able to match each referrer to the tree/trees that they planted - pretty awesome. 🥳

So there you have it, Refillas! Our new referral scheme is up and running. For every friend that you refer, we'll plant a tree on your behalf. As an added bonus, they'll also get 25% off their first order with us. The more people you refer, the more trees we'll plant, the more our forest will grow, and the greater your impact with be. So, let’s get planting. Makes sense. 🌳