FAQ

FAQ RESPONSES

The New Website

1. I had an account on the old website, where is it now?

When we moved to a completely new platform, we were able to import most of our former customer accounts. We were able to import email addresses and points balances, which we converted to a store credit. If your account has been successfully transferred to our new website, you will be able to login using your email address, but you will need to create a new password as it was not possible to transfer customer passwords for confidentiality reasons. If you have any questions regarding your old account, just let our customer service team know and we will do our best to assist you.

2. What happened to the rewards points I accumulated?

We are no longer offering the points program that was available on the previous website; however, we are absolutely honouring any points you have accumulated in the past. Your points should already appear as a store credit in your account information if you login with the email address that you were using with our former website. If you think you have points left on your account that do not appear as a store credit, just let our customer service team know and we will verify our complete points database to check if you have any available points to redeem.

Living Without Plastic

1. Is a life without plastic possible?

It totally depends on how much you are willing to change your lifestyle to decrease your plastic use. To rid your life of all plastic completely is a real challenge considering things we make regular use of like phones and computers contain plastic. We believe in a do your best approach and encourage everyone to reduce plastic where they can.

2. Tips for living with less plastic

So glad you asked! You bet we do! For more information, check out our blog here. Want to dive deeper? We published a book called 'Life Without Plastic: The Practical Step-by-Step Guide to Avoiding Plastic to Keep Your Family and the Planet Healthy'. This is the ultimate handbook for living a life with less plastic! Find it here.

3. If I need to use plastic, which ones are safer?

Excellent question. And we totally understand. While we firmly believe that all plastic leaches something - so in that sense no plastic is necessarily completely safe - we do understand that plastic currently plays some important roles in everyday life for many people, and is not going to disappear right away.

Feel free to browse our INFO section. In particular, we would point you first to our section on the Common Plastics #1 to #7, which will give you a solid overview of the most common plastics in everyday life - including which ones to seriously consider avoiding if at all possible.

Quality and Ethical Sourcing

1. How safe are your products and are they tested?

Product quality and safety are crucial to us. If we can't trust their quality and safety, how can you?

We choose products made of safe materials free of known toxins such as bisphenol A (BPA), phthalates, and lead. We build trust relationships with our suppliers. We ensure our products meet Canadian and U.S. government standards - they tend to far exceed them. This includes regulations set out in the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), which require us to have testing done on certain products for lead and phthalates in a third party accredited laboratory.

For more information on how we source our products to ensure they are safe, high quality, and ethically-manufactured, please take a look at our Ethical Sourcing section.

You can be confident that we use our products in our own everyday lives constantly - and that 'we' includes our 11-year old son, his friends, our families, our staff, our friends, our partners, our communities!

2. Life Without Plastic is Green America certified. What does that mean?

We have gone through a rigorous screening process and are one of the few certified businesses to be granted Green America's top tier Gold Seal of Approval. According to Green America, "Gold Certified Green Businesses go above and beyond our standards in every facet of their work. They are leaders in their industries that embed social responsibility into the DNA of their company. Businesses earn this seal after completing additional work beyond general certification. ". Read more about what this means here.

Green America is a not-for-profit organization with the mission of harnessing economic power - the strength of consumers, investors, businesses, and the marketplace - to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society.

3. What is ethical sourcing?

Ethical sourcing means ensuring that the products being sourced are created in safe facilities by workers who are treated well and paid fair wages to work legal hours. It also implies that the supplier is respecting the environment during the production and manufacture of the products.

This is an issue we take very seriously. We go to great lengths to ensure our products are ethically sourced, whether the product is one of our own Life Without Plastic or Sanctus Mundo products, or from another supplier. Some of the key details of our sourcing policies with respect to the environmental and labour criteria we consider when sourcing products are explained here in more detail. You could say that ethical sourcing is in our DNA.

For more information, please take a look at our Ethical Sourcing section.

4. Why do you source some products from China?

First off, it is important to note that just because a product is made in China does not mean it is a low quality product. China is home to some of the most advanced manufacturing facilities and expertise in the world, and some of the highest quality products in the world are made in China.

That said, we have made a conscious decision to be extremely careful about sourcing anything from China because the reality is that there are also a lot of low quality and unethically produced products coming from China.

This decision is based on safety, environmental, labour and human rights factors, and also for trust-related reasons flowing from previous experiences we have had with a former Chinese supplier and interactions with other Chinese suppliers.

Regarding the former supplier, we had ordered a particular type of food container made of 100% food grade, 304 stainless steel and when we tested the initial sample received it was fine. All seemed fine. When the actual shipment arrived and we began selling the containers, we started getting complaints from customers that the clips holding on the lid of the container were rusting. Clearly, the clips were not made of stainless steel – or at least not the same quality as the rest of the container. The company did send us replacements for one detachable part of the clip, but they never really acknowledged the problem or admitted any wrongdoing.

We have deep respect and admiration for the Chinese people and their rich culture and history. Our main problem is with the repressive dictatorship that is the Chinese government, and its sometimes questionable environmental, labour and human rights records. There are many examples to choose from to illustrate the problems, but a few big ones include the widespread ongoing use of coal-fired energy, the invasion of Tibet, the continuing oppression of the Tibetan people and the ongoing persecution of other minorities in China, such as the Uyghur people and practitioners of the Falun Gong/Falun Dafa belief system.

Life Without Plastic does sell some carefully chosen products made in China, such as the Klean Kanteen and Lunchbots. These products and the facilities where they are made are closely checked by the manufacturers (and from the safety perspective, we may test certain products ourselves for toxins, even if the manufacturer has done their own testing).

For more information, please take a look at our Ethical Sourcing section.

Products

1. Where are your products sourced from?

All over the world. Canada, United States, Germany, Italy, Thailand, Korea, India, China, Japan and we are sure to note the country of origin for each product on our site. We do our best to source our products as locally as possible, but for certain items, for example stainless steel items, this is simply not possible.

2. What materials are your products made of?

We try our best to source plastic-free alternatives made from natural and safe materials like wood, bamboo, cotton, khadi, jute, glass, stainless steel, ceramic, cellulose, various natural fibres (tampico, palmyra, coconut fibre), sustainably harvested animal hair (horse, boar, pig). Each product is different and you can find the specific materials in the product description.

3. Life Without Plastic sells some products with plastic parts. Why?

In a world so dependent on plastic, it is a challenge to find certain products with no plastic components. Therefore, a small number of our products do feature plastic parts, however in these cases, we ensure that these parts are made of high quality, stable plastics and will have little or no contact with your food or beverage.

We are always adding to our product line and we tend to focus on new products that are difficult to find in a non-plastic form. To us, it makes sense to offer an option that may not be perfect (i.e., plastic-free), but is a significant improvement over a typical plastic version of something. We work with our suppliers constantly to progressively develop new products with no plastic at all.

4. Why are there rust-like stains on my container?

What you are seeing is perfectly normal. These are heat stains caused by the high temperatures required to weld two pieces of steel together. This is not a problem with the stainless steel rusting because it is not corrosion-resistant.

For example, with a container with clasps, you will notice that the heat stain or discoloration has occurred only at the spot welds to attach the clasps to the container. This area is known in the industry as the "heat affected zone" (HAZ). This is the area on either side of the weld where the metal was almost but not quite heated to its melting point in order to attach the clasp.

What is occurring is that some of the metal components in the stainless steel alloy (which is primarily iron, chromium and nickel) want to melt and others don't, so you have something that is sort of partway between liquid and solid. As this cools, the metal atoms can move about and segregate themselves differently than the original evenly distributed arrangement they had before being heated. This can leave some surface oxide discoloration which can show up as a "heat stain" and/or over time excess oxidation (or rust). There is no health risk whatsoever and it is easy to remove.

Stainless steel is self-repairing through a process called passivation - essentially whenever there is a scratch on the stainless steel, the exposure to air creates a protective oxide coating, which prevents corrosion (rust).

So all you have to do is to use an abrasive liquid cleanser (e.g., baking soda in water) and scrub the area to remove this excess oxidation residue (which shows up as "rust" over time) to expose fresh metal underneath and the stainless steel will self-repair (the abrasion will not harm the stainless steel).

Ordering and Payment

1. How can I order your products?

There are several ways. Please use whichever works best for you.

WEBSITE: The quickest and easiest way to order all day any day of the year is through our ON-LINE STORE.

E-MAIL: You can send us an e-mail with all your order details (item numbers and quantities of products ordered, shipping and billing address), and we will request your credit card information to process the payment.

PHONE: You are most welcome to call us and have your order processed by one our customer service helpers during our office hours. Within North America you may call our toll free number 1.888.898.0369, or our local number 1.819.459.1459. Outside North America, please call our local number during office hours (+1.819.459.1459) and leave a message, we will call you back to place the order.

If you order by phone, you will be required to pay for your order by Visa or Mastercard. Your order will be charged in the currency of your residence (Canadian or US dollars) and the shipping and handling charges will be determined based on the shipping address. International orders are charged in US dollars.

E-MAIL, POSTAL MAIL, FAX: To order by e-mail (info@lifewithoutplastic.com), postal mail (see mailing addresses here), or facsimile (1.613.482.9372), simply e-mail, mail or fax us all the details of your order including name, billing and shipping addresses, products ordered and quantities (please include the SKU code for each product), applicable shipping and handling charge (see here), include applicable taxes if ordering from Canada (see here), payment by Visa, Mastercard, cheque or money order - please do not send cash.

2. What forms of payment do you accept?

For online orders, payment may be made by VISA, Mastercard, or American Express.

We also accept money orders, certified cheques/checks, and personal cheques/checks sent by postal mail to Mama Mundo Inc., 30 chemin Gendron, Wakefield, QC, Canada, J0X 3G0. These should be made payable to Mama Mundo Inc.. If paying with this method, please note that orders will not ship until the cheque/check has cleared.

Please do not send cash.

3. What currencies do you accept?

We currently only accept United States dollars however we are working on finding a solution for this to be able to accept Canadian dollars in the near future. For now, to place a Canadian order, select CAD, to go to the Canadian store and our website will autogenerate currency conversion estimations for that day. Once you add items to your cart and checkout, an estimation for the total Canadian amount based off of the U.S price will be provided and the amount will be converted at the banks credit card rate. In your statement you may see an international transaction fee.

4. Do you accept international order from beyond Canada and the United States?

Absolutely. We welcome orders from all over the world and can ship anywhere.

For international orders - outside Canada and the United States - we must charge actual shipping and handling rates. Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico are considered international orders.

If your order is shipping to an international destination, the shipping and handling charges will be presented to you when you checkout.

We have researched many methods of international shipping and the best we have found is United States Priority Mail International in terms of price, speed, and reliability (packages going to major centres receive a tracking number). Where possible, we require a shipping service that includes tracking. If the order is a very small package or going to a remote destination, tracking may not be available.

The shipping time is usually 7-20 days for most countries in the world. And the price is usually around 3-4 times our normal shipping rates, depending on the weight of the order and the destination of course.

Expedited international shipping is possible by Fedex International Economy service, and the charges associated with this service will be presented to you at checkout.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions about international orders.

5. Whatever happened to the points I accumulated under the points program with the former website?

Our points program is no longer available with our new website. In order to be able to finally launch a new website after many years of development, we had to make some difficult choices. We decided to discontinue our points program because it was complicated to manage. However, if you had earned points that you never cashed, please contact us and we will verify the balance of your points in your archive and give you a coupon code for the value of your points.

6. Why am I getting a PayFlow error message when I try to make a payment?

We have increased the security screening for payments made on our website. This rigorous screening process is done for both our protection and yours and may from time to time prevent legitimate orders. If you encounter a PayPal Payflow error message regarding your payment type or tender, please contact our customer service so we can help you with your order.

7. How can I get my shopping cart to change currency?

We are back to offering both currencies! Your checkout currency will reflect the currency of the first item you put in your basket. Please be sure to select your currency before you start adding items to you cart to ensure that you checkout in your preferred currency.

8. Why is there an "international processing fee" or "international POS fee" on my card statement?

Please note that if you are paying with a debit or credit card from some U.S. banks you may incur what appears on your card statement as an "international processing fee or "international POS fee". This is a discretionary fee (generally from 1-3% of the value of the transaction) charged by your bank for the use of your card on our site. It seems to happen with just a few U.S. banks, not the majority, and even though the transaction is done completely in U.S. dollars and our account is a U.S. dollar account it seems to be because our head office is located in Canada and the card is from a U.S. bank. Please let us know if this happens and we will refund it to you if you provide us with proof of the fee (screen shot or scan of your bank statement showing the fee).

Packaging

1. Do any of your products contain plastic packaging?

Very few of our products may have some plastic packaging in them that comes from the original manufacturer, not from us.

We work closely with our suppliers to minimize and eliminate such plastic packaging, and to use recycled packaging as much as possible. This is an ongoing task.

We do our best to indicate in the description of any plastic packaging.

2. Do you use any plastic packing and shipping materials?

All new materials used to pack your order are made of non-plastic packing materials that are primarily paper-based like packing paper, cardboard, even gum paper tape! We also sometimes use cellulose tape or filling or cornstarch packing peanuts which are reusable and compostable but not recyclable.

We encourage you to give the packing materials another life by reusing them for your own packing needs, or as a last resort, recycling them.

Shipping

1. How do you ship orders, and how much does shipping cost?

Like most people, we are not fans of shipping charges, which is why we offer flat rate shipping to North American destinations. The flat rates as well as all shipping and handling details are clearly laid out in our Shipping and Handling section.

All orders currently ship in a batch every Tuesday & Friday by Chitchats service and generally take 5 days to 2 weeks depending on the destination and when the order was placed. During periods of high volume (holiday season, back-to-school), orders may ship on other days of the week.

US orders ship daily by United States Postal Service (USPS) partnered with Chitchats.

Please note that shipments going to U.S. Postal Boxes (PO), Army Post Office (APO), Fleet Post Office (FPO), Diplomatic Post Office (DPO) addresses must be and will be sent using USPS.

For international orders - outside Canada and the United States - we must charge higher shipping and handling rates. Some U.S. territories may be considered international orders. If your order is shipping to an international destination, we offer a flat rate on shipping and handling charges which can be found in our Shipping and Handling section.

2. How long will it take to get my parcel?

We do our best to ship as fast as we can - generally within 24-96 hours - but when we are experiencing high volume or a product is backordered, shipping might take longer. We also do our best to keep you in the loop and let you know by e-mail or phone about any delays that may occur.

Please note that Canadian orders currently ship in a batch every Thursday. Orders must be submitted by Wednesday at 5 pm to be included in the batch for that week. During periods of high volume, Canadian orders may ship on Tuesdays and Thursdays of each week.

Estimated Canadian Delivery Time: 3 days to 2 weeks from when the order was placed, depending on the destination and when the order was placed.

Estimated US Delivery Time: 1 to 2 weeks from when the order was placed, depending on the destination and when the order was placed.

3. Is there tracking?

Whenever possible we use shipping methods that include tracking. If you ordered on-line, once your order has shipped, the tracking information for your order will be e-mailed to you.

4. What happens if I gave the wrong address when I ordered?

If your order is returned to us because the address you gave us is wrong, we will contact you in order to get your new address. We will then require that you pay the full cost of shipping the products to you at the correct address.

In trying to keep our prices low for your benefit, we cannot afford to pay shipping fees twice. The prices you pay for shipping are generally already significantly lower than our actual shipping and handling costs.

Thank you for understanding.

5. Do you ship internationally?

Absolutely. We welcome orders from all over the world and can ship anywhere.

For international orders - outside Canada and the United States - we must charge actual shipping and handling rates. Some U.S. territories may be considered international orders. There may be additional customs or duties for international orders which are the responsibility of the customer.

6. Can my international order be marked as a sample or gift to minimize custom duties and import taxes?

No, unless that is what it is (i.e, a gift or sample from us to you). As long as the transaction between us is a sale of goods, we must indicate the actual sale value of the merchandise on the customs form.

Life Without Plastic is not responsible for any customs, duty, import or domestic charges (e.g., VAT) on international shipments. Charges (if any) are determined by customs officials once the shipment has arrived in the country to which it is being shipped. This process may delay delivery of your order, and is beyond our control. If you have questions or concerns about such charges, please contact the customs agency of your country to inquire on regulations and costs.

Please note that all orders shipped to Canada or the USA are not subject to customs duties, brokerage fees or other cross border-related charges.

7. Will I have to pay any custom duties and brokerage?

Not if you are shipping a product to Canada or the USA. All orders shipped to Canada or the USA are not subject to customs duties, brokerage fees or other cross border-related charges.

If the order is being shipped to an international destination (outside Canada and the US), customs or import duties may apply. Life Without Plastic is not responsible for any customs, duty, import or domestic charges (e.g., VAT) on international shipments. Charges (if any) are determined by customs officials once the shipment has arrived in the country to which it is being shipped. This process may delay delivery of your order, and is beyond our control. If you have questions or concerns about such charges, please contact the customs agency of your country to inquire on regulations and costs.

8. What precautions are you taking relating to the COVID-19 situation?

The news of COVID-19 has spread widely, and we can imagine its impacts are being felt by all. We at Life Without Plastic will continue to be here for you, providing a level of comfort and normalcy in these difficult times. We want to assure you that we are taking precautionary safety measures to support the well-being of our team and our customers around the world.

Our packing and handling team at the warehouse are doing their best to keep a clean area and will be washing their hands more frequently and thoroughly alongside wearing cotton gloves when touching products and packing parcels.

We understand and respect your concerns and want you to feel safe with our products. We will continue to do our best in responding to this ever-changing situation, and will continue to keep you informed along the way.

Returns and Warranties

1. Do your products have warranties?

Yes. All Life Without Plastic branded products have a one year warranty against manufacturing defects. The one year is calculated from the date our records indicate you have successfully received your order. Normal wear and tear, such as scratches and dents, are not covered under the Life Without Plastic warranty.

Some products may have a longer warranty with the original supplier and this will be indicated in the specific product description.

If you have a warrantly claim, please see the Warranty and Returns section for details on how to proceed.

2. What is your return policy?

Our return policy is simple.

Because we want you to be happy with each and every purchase, you may return any item you purchased from Life Without Plastic for a refund of applicable charges within 30 days of the date our records indicate you successfully received your purchase, provided the items are in original new condition with all materials, original packaging, paperwork, and accessories intact.

Items that are used, washed or damaged may not be returned.

Please note that shipping charges are not refundable, unless we sent you the wrong item or the item you received has a manufacturer’s defect.

All returns require a Return Authorization Number. Please e-mail us at info@lifewithoutplastic.com and we will promptly issue you one along with directions on where to send the return.

Please inspect your order as soon as you receive it. Any defective or missing items should be reported to Life Without Plastic immediately.

We always purchase shipping insurance so if you think your order was damaged during shipping, please let us know.

See our Warranty and Returns section for more detail.

3. How do I return a product?

1. Notify us by e-mail at info@lifewithoutplastic.com of your intention to return an item, and the reason for the return. If you suspect a manufacturer's defect, please send a photo of the defect by e-mail. Include your name, order number, proof of purchase, and indicate if you would prefer a refund or store credit in the form of a gift card/certificate.

2. We will then issue you a Return Authorization Number and provide instructions by e-mail on how and where to return the product. The return location may differ depending on the product and where you are located.

3. Return shipping fees are the responsibility of the buyer unless we made a mistake with your order or there is a manufacturer’s defect.

4. For your protection, please purchase insurance for the value of the item returned, or choose an insured shipping method that provides a tracking number and delivery confirmation. Keep a copy of these numbers for your records. We are not responsible for lost returns, nor will we provide a refund/credit for lost items.

5. We will notify you by e-mail of your refund/credit once we have received and processed the returned item. The refund will be made by crediting your original form of payment.

If you wish to return a product in exchange for another product, this must be done as two separate transactions. Please go through the return process, and then go ahead and order the other product at your convenience on our website.

We sincerely want you to be happy with the items you purchase at Life Without Plastic each and every time, but hey, life happens. So if you have any problems with your order, please do not hesitate to contact us at any time.

See our Warranty and Returns section for more detail.

4. How will I receive my refund?

We provide refunds by crediting the original form of payment.

If you paid for your order with Paypal, we will issue a Paypal refund to your account within 5 business days of receipt of the returned merchandise.

If you purchased by credit card, your card will be credited for the full applicable amount within 10 business days of receipt of the returned merchandise.

If you paid by cheque/check or money order, you will receive a cheque/check from Life Without Plastic for the full applicable amount (after currency conversion) of the return by postal mail approximately 2-4 weeks after the returned product has been received.

If you prefer a store credit in the form of a gift card/certificate, please let us know and we will issue one immediately once the merchandise has been returned and verified.

Subscription Box

1. What is the content of the box?

We only disclose about half of the items in the box to keep it fun and exciting. When you calculate the value of the items we disclose, you will quickly find out that you already have your money's worth. So with the added mystery items, you get great value for your money. We choose the mystery items based on the novelty and excitement factor!

2. Are the products in the box all vegan? All plastic-free?

They are not vegan, but they are all absolutely plastic-free including the packaging. We choose our suppliers carefully to ensure they are ethically sourced, healthy, high quality and will either leave no trace at the end of their life cycle or have the potential to be 100% recycled or be reinserted as component in another product (circular design).

3. If I don't like one item in the box, can I return it?

Unfortunately not, unless it is damaged in which case we will happily replace it. It is part of the fun and risk of the box. An item you don't love could however be donated to someone who would absolutely love it.

4. How long does it take for the box to arrive?

We take 2 to 3 week to pack and ship our boxes after the closing date.

5. Can I buy just one box as a gift without doing the subscription?

Yes, absolutely. Just get the one-time purchase box. It is a bit more expensive than the subscription boxes, but you still get more value than what you pay for. If we have extra stock of previous boxes, you may also get one of those.

6. How do I cancel my subscription?

You may cancel anytime by logging into your account and selecting the cancel option. If you are on a quarterly subscription, you must cancel before the next bill date and there is no cancellation fee. For annual subscription, you may cancel online before before the next yearly billing cycle. If you want to cancel an annual subscription before its end, you must contact our customer service team and we will first charge you all the boxes you've already received (or that are on their way) at the one-time purchase cost then deduct this amount from the remaining balance. If you've already received 3 boxes, it is not worth cancelling.

7. How does billing work? When and how?

We ship boxes every season. You can opt for a quarterly or annual subscription. When you sign up, you get billed right away and are put on the queue for the next box shipment. If you are on an quarterly subscription, we will bill you all future boxes on the 15th of the seasonal month (March, June, September and December).

If you are on an annual subscription, we will bill you on the anniversary date of your first payment.

8. Can I add more things from the LWP website to my box to save on shipping?

Unfortunately not. There would not be enough space in the subscription box for more items.

Getting in Touch

1. How can I contact you?

We look forward to hearing from you! You can get a hold of us in so many ways, check out our contact us page here. Or contact us by email.

2. How can I receive a copy of your e-mail newsletter?

Every couple of weeks we send out a newsletter with new plastic-free living tips and news stories. You can sign up by entering your e-mail here. Don't worry we won't flood you with anything you didn't ask for and we would never share your email.

3. How can I see a full catalog of your products?

Our catalog comes out sporadically and lists all the products you can find on our website.

It is available by PDF online by clicking here.