We purchased two of these cute, useful swabs - the makeup one for cleaning up our kids after facepainting, and a standard one for me (dad!) to try out for ear cleaning, in lieu of cotton swabs. They came in very minimalist, recyclable cardstock packaging. The plastic cases are apparently plant-based. We are very happy with them and plan to get more so everyone in the family will have their own for ear cleaning - it feels good to keep the cotton swabs out of the waste stream, and to buy less cotton overall since we hear its production is pretty problematic. We were also happy to be able to support an independent shop while we try to reduce our impact.