Our Ethics
We have 3 golden rules for everything we do:
1. Everything we sell must be Fair Trade
2. We should always strive to have as little environmental impact as possible
3. We should make a positive social impact wherever we can.
1. Our Commitment to Fair Trade
We’re proud to uphold the principles of Fair Trade, valuing our producers’ skills, traditions, and their communities.
We only work with producers we know personally and visit them as often as we can. This means we’re able to guarantee that all aspects of our business follow the guidelines as set out by the World Fair Trade Organisation (WFTO) and the British Association for Fair Trade Shops (BAFTS). We’ve seen for ourselves the positive impact Fair Trade has, and we’re determined to support this as much as possible through our business.
What does it mean to be Fair Trade?
Fair Trade is a system that ensures a certain set of standards are met when products or ingredients are produced. Providing rights for workers, safer working conditions, and a fair standard of pay, it means that the incredible people who make our products are treated as well as they should be.
What’s different about the way we work with our producers?
- We always pay at least 50% upfront for all of our orders, send extra when it’s needed, and pay the full remaining balance as soon as we’ve received the order.
- We work collaboratively with our producers on the development of new products to respect the traditional designs and techniques they use.
- Wherever possible we ensure our producers are using local, traditionally made materials in order to cut the carbon footprint and keep work within the local community.
- We aim to visit our producers at least once a year to exchange feedback, discuss future improvements, plans, and products, and to keep our relationship strong.
2. Reducing Our Environmental Impact
Products
All our products are created with planet-friendly materials wherever possible. For example:
- You’ll find paper made from cotton rags salvaged from the waste of the Indian garment industry
- Photo frames crafted from recycled newspaper
- Christmas baubles blown from recycled glass
- Decorative signs cast in recycled metal
- We also use sustainable materials like merino wool, Lokta shrub, Munja grass and mango wood.
Most importantly, we choose quality materials that last well to live long, happy lives in your homes. Check out our Care Guide for some tips on looking after your Paper High products.
Our commitments
We’re committed to becoming fully plastic-free with all our product packaging, and we’re working with our producers to reduce this.
We never throw products away; sometimes we receive products from our suppliers that are not quite up to our high standards. As part of our ethos, we never send anything back to our suppliers, withhold payment or dispose products. Instead, we list them on eBay at a heavily reduced price to ensure they still find a home. Check out our eBay shop here.
Paper High HQ
Here in the UK we hold true to these values too:
- All of our postal packaging is fully recyclable – even the bubble wrap!
- We reuse the boxes from our suppliers to pack our wholesale orders and you might notice your box is filled with shredded junk mail and wastepaper
- We minimize our carbon footprint by importing goods by sea rather than air whenever possible
- We’re sure to offset our carbon emissions every time we visit our producers
- Our website is Net-Zero which means we automatically compensate all the CO2 emissions it generates
- Every month, we plant 200 trees with Tree Nation, and 50 trees with Treefo
Sustainable staff travel
Our commitment doesn’t stop after 5pm. The way our staff travel to and from work is just as important as the sustainability of our products.
Our HQ in Lewes, East Sussex is well connected to local bus routes and train services. We also offer sustainable travel incentives to all our members of staff including the national cycle to work scheme and car sharing initiatives.
3. Making a Positive Social Impact
We carefully select our producers with the goal of building long-term partnerships. Our hope is that our business not only supports their livelihoods but also strengthens their families and the local economy. By growing together in a mutually beneficial way, we can plan confidently for the future.
We’re equally committed to giving back closer to home. Whenever possible, we support local charities – over the years this has included donations to the Brighton Food Bank and stationery to nearby primary schools.
Our work with Get Paper Industries
We’re always looking for other ways to help out, whether that’s financially or otherwise. Our fantastic gift wrap producer Get Paper Industries are involved in a whole host of charity work that supports their community, including establishing the Anita Milan International Academy, a school for disadvantaged children in Kathmandu. We’re proud to sponsor 17 girls, a number we’ve increased over the years thanks to our Fair Trade Fortnight events each year.
Although they don’t use trees to make their paper, they’ve been committed to planting them since 1995. Each year, they set a bold reforestation goal based on their exports – planting 17 trees for every ton of paper they ship abroad (the number of trees that would be required to produce one ton of machine-made paper). Their planting site sits near their Kathmandu factory, where producers and local community members gather each year to plant side-by-side. Since 2011, when they first began officially tracking their efforts, an impressive 36,109 trees have taken root in the area.
In 2025, their mission expanded even further when six partner schools and key material suppliers joined the tree-planting initiative. When they discovered that there weren’t enough saplings available to meet demand, Get Paper Industries took action – launching their own on-site nursery to supply saplings and ultimately double the number of trees planted each year. The moment was marked by the British Ambassador to Nepal, who officially inaugurated the nursery.
During our 2025 Fair Trade Fortnight, we donated 10% of our retail sales to Get Paper Industries to support this sapling project.
Anita Milan International Academy, a school established by Get Paper Industries.
British Ambassador to Nepal, Rob Fenn, inaugurating the new sapling nursery with Milan from Get Paper Industries in 2025.