Ruche Beeswax wraps are a Whanganui-made alternative to plastic

Hannah Li's beeswax recipe took nine months to perfect. Photo / Mike Tweed

Hannah Li started Ruche Beeswax Products with a vision of sustainability, and that's been her modus operandi ever since.

The Whanganui business has now entered its third year in operation.

Li's main focus is wraps, but Ruche also offers candles, DIY kits, and larger pouches - for things like loaves of bread.

She said the idea came to her after having dinner with her mother and her mother's friends.

"A lady there was wrapping sandwiches with paper, and I thought that was a pretty good idea because I hate using cling wrap or something like that all the time," Li said.

"Then she told me you could also use beeswax wrap too. I was really stunned by that idea."

At the time Li was busy with two retail outlets - a dairy and a furniture shop - but her attention soon turned to beeswax when she moved away from them at the start of 2019.

"I had become a full-time mother and I wanted to pursue something I was really passionate about, and something eco-friendly," Li said.

"A lot of research followed, and it just so happened that the husband of one of my best friends was a beekeeper.

"That meant I could source the wax directly from locals."

It took around nine months of experimentation before she found the perfect wax recipe, Li said.

The mixture is made up of mānuka honey wax, coconut oil and pine rosin, but the key is to get the ratios of each ingredient just right.

"There are a lot of people who sell them (beeswax wraps), but the difference is the recipe," Li said.

"My wraps last for around 18 months and they're still good. Some people tell me they've been using them for two years.

"Then I wonder, 'Am I putting myself out of business?'"

Li, a former journalist and financial consultant, begins the process by sourcing fabric of different colours and designs, washing, drying, and ironing it, then cutting it into the correct size.

"That usually takes two or three days by itself," Li said.

"Every single piece gets stamped by hand, and after a couple of days my shoulder is very, very sore."

Beeswax arrives in 10-kilogram blocks, and gets turned into batches of Li's "three-in-one" recipe.

"From there I use a hot pot to melt the wax, before adding the fabric to it. The fabric gets hung up to dry, then I fold it in a very specific size and it gets packaged," Li said.

"From start to finish, a bigger batch takes 10 to 11 hours a day for five days to finish."

Li started by selling the wraps online, before setting up a stall at the Whanganui River Markets around a year ago.

"I'm starting to step up and do more shows, like A Winter's Day Out in Palmerston North, and I'll be doing the Wanganui Home & Lifestyle Show next month as well," Li said.

"It's a bit easier to give things away too. With the furniture, I couldn't just get a $2000 bed and say, 'Here, take one, take one.'"

"Selling my own product is also a rewarding feeling. I was sick of selling things that someone else had made."

Using a product like beeswax wraps was just one part of a changing attitude towards reusable items, Li said.

"It's about getting into a routine of using these kinds of products. Other examples are paper straws or plastic bags at the supermarket.

"Even places like McDonald's have started using wooden spoons instead of plastic. People are becoming quite aware."

As well as stocking retailers in Whanganui, Li said she had also shipped her products to China, Great Britain, Guam, Turkey, Canada, Norway, and the US.

"I used to sell beds, and it gave me so many white hairs just thinking about trying to ship them somewhere.

"When I started this business I wanted to be able to send the products anywhere in the world. I can easily put them in a small parcel and off they go."