Synthetic costumes. Plastic decorations. Candy wrappers. Methane-emitting jack-o-lanterns. Like all holidays driven by consumerism, Halloween is a sustainability nightmare. While the environmental impacts of Halloween are not widely researched, some estimates indicate that up to 83% of Halloween costumes from big-box stores are made from synthetic, oil-based fabrics that are nearly impossible to recycle and wind up in landfills. In the U.S.…
Disposable vapes look set to be banned in the UK, due to concerns backed by the Local Government Association about teenage addiction, fire risk, and plastic pollution. Whilst factors such as the health risks and addictiveness of vaping are bad enough, the environmental impacts must also be considered. The scale of the waste they produce is staggering, with eight disposable vapes being…
Festival season is in full swing in the UK and Europe, with over one million people attending live music events in London alone, in the first week of July. Glastonbury festival in Somerset, UK attracted a crowd of around 210,000 people. Tomorrowland, Belgium is set to double even that total in a few days time.
There are many ways of reducing your environmental footprint when attending these events, and you still get to still dance to great music in a big field with a drink in your hand. Here are our top four “do’s and don’ts” for more sustainable festival-ing.
We live in an age of mass consumption, fuelled by increasing production. We now have an ever-growing ‘anthroposphere’ – a term that encompasses everything that humans have created from raw materials, and how they subsequently interact with the planet. Such demand obviously puts significant strain on natural resources, but nowhere is this issue more profound than with the critical minerals which underpin…
What’s going on here? If only all our waste problems were solved by dropping things in the recycling bin and saying, “that’ll do” and then walking away thinking we’ve done something good today. This (very) common behaviour is known as wishcycling. It refers to the act of putting incorrect items into the recycling waste stream in the hope that they will end…
We all know a plant-based diet is good for the planet – in fact it’s one of the most impactful actions you can take as an individual (alongside greening your finances, and cutting out flying). BUT true veganism is more than just a diet.
For some areas of our lives this is easy – maybe you even already buy vegan cleaning products, and cruelty-free cosmetics. However, did you know you might be using animal products without even knowing about it? Read on to find out more…
It turns out, animal products are used in everything from Aviation to Zinfandel! (Yep, sorry to be the one to break it to you, but that glass of wine you’re drinking probably isn’t vegan…)
Many of us know that fast fashion is harming the planet – we have previously written about the environmental impact of clothing manufacturing and the amount of plastics in clothing. But fast fashion also has a huge social cost, impacting the garment workers who manufacture our clothing and the communities that get left to clean up our discarded items. However, dealing with…
What’s going on here? The UK based department store John Lewis reports that sales of its craft and repair items are up by 61% compared to last year. An increase in environmentally conscious behaviour, as well as the cost of living crisis, are thought to be behind it. What does this mean? The John Lewis haberdashery section is a favourite among avid…
What’s going on here? The UK government has set out plans to ban the sale of certain single-use plastics. This includes items such as plastic cutlery, plates, and polystyrene trays. The ban is set to come into effect by October 2023. What does this mean? The environmental impact of plastic pollution is well understood. Plastic pollution is so pervasive that it has…
