Plastic has made a significant impact on our lives; almost everything we use on a day-to-day basis is made out of plastic. And while some of these items can be recycled, most cannot due to the nature of many plastics. As a result, they end up in our landfills and our oceans. The rate of plastic entering our oceans is rapid and is predicted to rise 2.6 times by 2040 if it is not adequately monitored.
But what will happen to the legacy ocean plastic already in the oceans? One non-profit, the Ocean Legacy Foundation, has created a solution that uses the plastic that is recovered from ocean and beach cleanups and gives it an economic value that stimulates the plastic circular economy. The organization has created the first commercially available plastic pellet in North America called Ocean Legacy Plastic.
The pellet is made from 100% post-consumer plastics from recovered marine gear, including buoys, fishing ropes, oyster trays and other marine products. The sourced plastic materials are found along the Pacific Coast through Ocean Legacy depots, shoreline cleanups, and ocean recovery expeditions. All the materials collected are cleaned, segregated and processed using their own technology to ensure that the resins are high-quality for direct manufacturing applications.
Ocean Legacy Plastic Foundation has recently partnered with Full Circle Plastics from Nobelford, Alberta, to give these plastic items a new life and value. The plastic pellets are being used in commercial, industrial and residential construction. They are replacing traditional lumber in applications such as planter boxes, agriculture fence posts, outdoor decking construction, and a selection of outdoor furniture. Full Circle Plastics’ products require no maintenance, are waterproof, don’t rot and, importantly, keep plastic out of the environment, landfills and waterways.
The organization has also partnered with Origami Paddler to make paddleboards and kayaks, LUSH to make black product pots and containers, Whistler Performance Lubricants to make bio-based lubricant recyclable containers, and will soon see their plastic in certain models of Tideman Boats. Ocean Legacy Foundation also prides itself on the tracking and traceability of its plastics. Everything can be traced back to their shore cleanups, fishing and aquaculture operations and the ocean-recovered plastic waste.
The Ocean Legacy Plastic Foundation is committed to teaching people about the issues surrounding pollution in the water and helping them develop solutions. They combine their best-practice plastic management strategies with the needs of communities and the planet’s health. They advocate for better programs and practices around the world. They are also committed to helping countries acquire adequate infrastructure to manage waste. And finally, they are committed to action-based engagement, which involves cleaning up the oceans and restoring environments.
This non-profit is taking the necessary steps to help us get ocean legacy plastic out of the oceans and give unwanted items a new life. While the ultimate solution must be to avoid throwing plastic into the oceans, these are important tactics for cleaning up the water and contributing to a plastic circular economy.
Tomorrow Machine has designed GoneShells, a biodegradable juice bottle made from potato starch.
Most of the packaging we use today is single-use, meaning it’s meant to serve one purpose and then discarded after. On top of that, a lot of the packaging cannot be recycled due to the assortment of materials used to make them. Globally, we produce about 400 million tons of plastic waste yearly and the plastic containers we throw away take up to 450 years to degrade. A Swedish product design studio specializing in package, product and food concepts may have a sustainable solution to our wasteful plastic consumption.
The designers have created GoneShells, a biodegradable juice bottle. The bottle is made from a potato-starch material and coated in a bio-based water-resistant barrier on both the inside and outside to preserve the liquid it contains. The packaging can be home-composted, eaten or dissolved in water. The bottle is designed to be peeled into a spiral formation, similar to peeling an orange. Doing so breaks the barrier and immediately begins the material’s decomposition process. As long as the decomposition process isn’t activated, the packaging works similarly to a traditional plastic bottle.
The product was designed to tackle landfill waste and address the lack of recycling and industrial compositing facilities in some parts of the world. The designers also wanted to create packaging that would last the same amount of time as the contents inside. The designers are also using existing equipment designed to process fossil fuel-based thermoplastics. These methods and inexpensive raw materials will help bring GoneShells to markets. The only other thing the designers are working on to make this packaging 100% sustainable is the foiling letters that appear on the bottles. They are working on a printing solution that will follow the bottle concept.
Tomorrow Machine is also known for its This Too Shall Pass line, where the packaging is made with the same short life span as the food they contain. Their olive oil packaging is made out of caramelized sugar coated with wax. To use the contents inside, you crack it open like an egg. Once it is open, the wax no longer protects, and sugar and the package will melt when it comes in contact with water. Their smoothie packaging is made of agar-agar seaweed gel, and water is designed for drinks with a short life and needs refrigeration. It can be opened like a juice box by picking the top. Like the GoneShells, their packaging for Basmati Rice is wrapped in beeswax and can be opened by peeling the packaging.
Tomorrow Machine has a very innovative way to reduce single-use waste. By introducing GoneShells to markets worldwide, we can reduce the raw materials used to produce plastic and drastically minimize the waste that ends up in the landfill every year.
Aluminum is a silvery-white, soft, nonmagnetic metal. It has good electrical and thermal conductivity and is used in many products, from cars and airplanes to packaging, foil and cans. It is a highly versatile metal, but many people don’t realize that it’s also one of the most carbon-intensive metals to produce.
Because it is used in so many diverse applications, the aluminum industry has a big environmental footprint. Aluminum production emits about 1% of global man-made greenhouse gas emissions. Most of these emissions come from using fossil fuels to make aluminum oxide (alumina), which is then reduced to aluminum metal in smelters.
The aluminum industry is working on ways to reduce its emissions. One promising technology is “carbon-free” or “green” aluminum production. This process uses renewable electricity – instead of fossil fuels – to produce alumina, which can then be turned into aluminum metal using existing smelting technology.
Several companies are already using or testing this technology, including Rio Tinto, Alcoa, Hydro and China’s Chalco. These companies are betting that carbon-free aluminum will be in high demand from industries and consumers who want to reduce their emissions footprints.
Why is aluminum production carbon-intensive?
There are two main reasons why aluminum production is so carbon-intensive. First, alumina, the raw material used to produce aluminum, is derived from bauxite ore, typically found in tropical regions. The process of mining and refining bauxite ore releases large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Second, smelting alumina to produce aluminum metal emits significant amounts of carbon dioxide. Smelting is responsible for approximately two-thirds of the total emissions associated with aluminum production.
How will the industry decarbonize aluminum?
The most common method of producing aluminum involves the electrolysis of alumina in a high-carbon anode, which results in significant emissions of greenhouse gases. The industry is developing low-carbon technologies to reduce or eliminate these emissions.
Another promising technology is using renewable energy to power the electrolysis process. This would significantly reduce the carbon footprint of aluminum production. Solar, wind, and hydroelectric power can all power these processes while significantly reducing or eliminating emissions.
Recycled aluminum requires less energy to process and emits far less carbon dioxide than virgin alumina.
Each of these options comes with its challenges, but the aluminum industry is committed to finding ways to reduce its environmental impact. For example, Rio Tinto is investing in research into new smelting technologies that could significantly reduce emissions. Alcoa is working on a project to power its operations with renewable energy from forest biomass waste.
Will the quality of low-carbon aluminum be lower?
Decarbonized aluminum is made using low-carbon methods, which results in a lower carbon footprint. However, some worry that this type of aluminum will be of lower quality than regular aluminum.
No evidence suggests that decarbonized aluminum is any less strong or durable than regular aluminum. In fact, it may even be of higher quality due to the extra attention to the manufacturing process and modern innovations in the process. Low-carbon methods often result in a cleaner and more pure product.
A study by the International Aluminum Institute found that, when using best practices, there was no significant difference in the quality of low-carbon aluminum and regular aluminum. The study found that, in some cases, low-carbon aluminum had superior properties.
This is because environmental regulations are becoming more stringent, forcing producers to innovate and find ways to reduce their carbon footprint without compromising on quality.
Dubai, which has historically been largely focused on automobile transportation, is transforming into a human-powered transport city. The LOOP is a 93 km (nearly 58-mile) sustainable pathway for walking and cycling. A comfortable and climate-controlled area that promotes walking and cycling to promote healthy living among the inhabitants of Dubai.
Currently, most of Dubai relies on cars and taxis to reach necessary locales. The LOOP aims to replace this with walking, running, and cycling. The footpath system is intended to reduce the number of vehicles on streets by 80% by 2040, giving rise to a traffic system that considers people first and that provides citizens with safer and healthier modes of transportation. This goes along with Dubai’s goal of improved social infrastructure and facilities for residents.
The indoor green space will integrate services with wellness and leisure facilities to be shared by neighbour hoods and allow human-powered access to all districts of the city. Pocket parks and gardening allotments will help promote social engagement bringing people together to forge a stronger sense of community.
It will be indoors in one of the hottest places on Earth, requiring climate control. How will it be considered sustainable, you ask? The Project will generate electricity through kinetic energy. The human footsteps will be transformed into renewable energy via kinetic paving. The specialty floors move to activate electromagnetic induction generators.
The LOOP in Dubai is an ambitious project that might be a glimpse of the future for humanity. While it would be preferential to have open-air green spaces, renewable-powered enclosed green spaces in hotter climates may be the only way to allow humans to get out of their cars.
The US-based footwear and apparel brand has not yet launched the shoe, called M0.0NSHOT, for purchase, but has provided key information on how design and material innovation have resulted in a net-zero shoe.
Some parts of the shoe’s lifecycle do emit carbon, such as transporting the components and the finished pair. However, as all of the key components are certified as carbon negative, Allbirds claims that the emissions which have been created are ‘inset’ across the lifecycle of the shoe.
The shoe’s upper is made using a carbon-negative merino wool from the New Zealand Merino Company, for example. The Company uses regenerative farming methods to enable the soil to draw down carbon. It has been certified as carbon-negative by Toitu Envirocare, a third-party carbon certification business, with carbon sequestration outweighing emissions.
Other carbon-negative elements of the shoe include bioplastic eyelets made using methane-based polymers and sugarcane-based foam midsoles. Allbirds has been using carbon-negative, sugarcane-based foam for soles since 2018 and calls this material SweetFoam. The new shoes include a next-generation version of this material, called .
Additionally, the shoes will be housed in sugarcane-derived, carbon-negative packaging which has been light-weighted to minimise emissions from transportation.
Allbirds’ co-founder and co-chief Tim Brown said: “Creating a net zero carbon shoe that is commercially viable and scalable is the culmination of our entire back catalogue of work. M0.0NSHOT isn’t a silver bullet for the climate crisis — it’s a proof-point that, when we take sustainability seriously and are laser-focused on carbon reduction, we can make incredible breakthroughs.”
The brand’s head of sustainability Hana Kajimura added: “We believe this will revolutionize the path to net zero, and act as rocket-fuel for the entire industry. We could spend decades debating the finer points of carbon sequestration, or we can innovate today with a common sense approach.”
Allbirds has not yet confirmed when the M0.0NSHOT shoes will go on sale and specifics like how many pairs will be available and the markets they will be sold in. However, it has pledged to open-source information relating to the design of the shoes and the carbon accounting methods used, in a bid to help other brands in the sector innovate to reduce emissions.
Allbirds’ director of materials innovation, Romesh Patel, was a guest on the edie podcast last year, discussing the brand’s ongoing work to scale lower-carbon and more circular materials. You can stream that episode here.
Fashion scorecard
The average pair of shoes comes with a life-cycle carbon footprint of 14kg of CO2e, and more than 20 billion pairs of new shoes are manufactured globally each year. Many shoe designs bear a high carbon footprint due to their use of leather and/or synthetic, fossil-based glues, foams and materials.
This week, a new scorecard from Stand.earth assessed 43 apparel and footwear companies on their work to descarbonise their value chains. None of the brands received a top grade, and two-thirds received one of the two lowest grades.
One key focus was the use of energy in supply chains, with the conclusion being that many big-name brands, despite publicly stating net-zero ambitions, are doing little to transition suppliers off of coal and on to clean energy. Stand.earth’s methodology also covered emissions from shipping, the use of low-carbon and more durable materials, and whether brands were advocating for renewable energy policies.
Brands to have scored one of the two lowest grades include Walmart, Target, Primark, Amazon, Under Armour, Armani, Guess, Chanel, Prada, Boohoo, Shein and Uniqlo’s parent company Fast Retailing.
Allbirds only managed to secure a ‘D+ grade. It scored highly for its clean energy procurement and commitments but lost marks elsewhere. The top-scoring company overall was H&M Group, closely followed by Levi’s and Puma.
“Failure by brands to support the transition to renewables, while at the same time increasing energy consumption, will further entrench fossil fuel infrastructure in the Global South where their supply chains are focused, and lock in harmful health and climate impacts for decades to come,” warned Stand.earth campaigner Seema Joshi.
“Brands need to transition to renewable energy in their supply chains, and be more transparent about who their suppliers are and where they are located. The fashion industry has a responsibility to show progress engaging with suppliers to support a just energy transition, including through financing and training, and advocating to governments to meet the increased demand for renewable energy.”
The fabrics currently used to make tents are engineered to block out winds and water to help keep their inhabitants dry and comfortable, but they tend to work both ways, preventing hot air from escaping from the tent. The tent can feel sweltering, even with plenty of ventilation.
You can always pack a portable air conditioner to drop the temperature inside your tent, but those require an ingredient that is often in short supply at rural campsites: electricity. Running a portable AC unit or even a simple fan on a solar panel for an extended period is impossible, and you do not want to carry batteries in your backpack.
Al Kasani, a researcher at the University of Connecticut’s Center For Clean Energy Engineering, drew inspiration from the way plants wick water from the ground and then sweat to cool themselves. Subsequently, he designed a self-cooling tent fabric that retains its thin and lightweight nature; with an added twist – it is fortified with titanium nanoparticles that absorb moisture from reservoirs at the base of the tent. This releases water across its surface, rapidly evaporating, resulting in a cooling effect that reduces internal temperature by up to 20 degrees.
Using either water sourced from a faucet at a campsite or water drawn from a stream in a rural setting, Kasani estimates that a gallon of water can keep a tent cool for up to 24 hours. You don’t need purified, clean water, evaporative cooling works with any water.
This upgraded fabric won’t be available in camping gear for a while—the material is still in the research phase—but according to the university, “industry interest has been high in Kasani’s technology.”
It will be interesting to see this type of product enter the mainstream. Any success with a passive cooling system like this will have spinoffs that can help in other ways. Suppose you can cool a camping tent by 20 degrees. In that case, you could also provide cooling shelters to protect vulnerable people living on the streets without access to air conditioning. A similar protection could be created for refugees or hospitals in hotter regions. Advances in technology might even find a way to use it to cool traditional buildings and reduce energy costs in warehouses. The potential is almost endless.
The farm Amazon is investing in is the first-ever commercial-scale seaweed farm situated between existing offshore wind turbines. The experimental project, known as North Sea Farm 1, is being established off the Dutch coast and aims to advance seaweed farming practices and study its ability to sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
The project can expand seaweed cultivation in the otherwise heavily used North Sea by locating the farm in previously empty space between turbines. Seaweed farming could reduce millions of tonnes of CO2 each year if it were to occupy the entire space occupied by wind farms by 2040, estimated to be approximately 1 million hectares.
Seaweed has been identified as a potential method of reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and is already farmed on a limited scale in Europe. Non-profit North Sea Farmers (NSF) is heading up a project monitored by researchers and industry specialists. This venture will provide an example of worldwide offshore seaweed farming.
The investment will provide the funds needed to build a 10-hectare seaweed farm that will produce at least 6,000kg of fresh seaweed in its first year. The Dutch government wants to build 21 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2030 and has set aside hundreds of thousands of hectares (acres) of the Dutch North Sea for wind parks. There are also plans to operate floating solar panels between the turbines in other projects.
This particular round of funding will support North Sea Farmers by assisting them in evaluating their production and allowing researchers to examine the potential for seaweed farms to reduce atmospheric carbon. The organization aims to use these discoveries to expedite industry growth. Furthermore, North Sea Farm 1 and others like it will generate work opportunities by cultivating and fabricating seaweed-based items.
With a consortium of organizations involved in the entire seaweed production supply chain, North Sea Farmers (NSF) will lead the project. The non-profit has championed the seaweed sector in Europe since 2014. Researchers at Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Deltares and Silvestrum Climate Associates are among the participants, as are seaweed extract manufacturers Algaia and marine contractors Van Oord.
Replicas of North Sea Farm 1 across the North Sea, repurposing the space between wind farms, could create up to 85,000 full-time jobs in the European seaweed industry, according to Eef Brouwers, NSF Manager of Farming and Technology. In addition to the farming process, these jobs would be in producing and selling seaweed products.”
Amazon has invested in European communities through the Right Now Climate Fund, supporting nature and wildlife restoration programmes in France, Italy and Germany, and a rewilding and forestry project in the UK. Amazon is also providing funds for the conservation and restoration of forests in the Appalachian Mountains of the US, an Agroforestry Accelerator programme in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest, and is a key member of the LEAF Coalition, a global public-private organization aiming to raise $1 billion to protect tropical rainforests around the world.
As we progress through the 21st century, one of the most important issues of our time is carbon. We create much of it by burning fossil fuels, extracting natural resources, or simply by living our day-to-day lives; we create carbon.
We create much more of it than we should, and the research into climate change backs this up. Many of us have devised innovative ways to counteract and slow down our carbon output, while good solutions are ultimately artificial. As it turns out, nature is our most important ally in fighting the devastating effects of climate change.
According to Frontiers in Forests and Global Change research, old-growth large-diameter trees are the most important carbon sinks we have and are significantly more effective at removing and storing carbon from our atmosphere than any other technology we have available in the present day.
Oregon, USA, and the Blue Mountains Complex region, in particular, has been world-renowned for its natural beauty and resources for hundreds of years. The timber industry makes up much of the natural resource extraction sector. However, despite this fact, this area significantly lacks protections guaranteeing the safety of its natural beauty from those who would profit from taking what is there until there is nothing left.
One of the central issues for those living in Oregon is wildfires, which destroy land and towns and devastate those living there. Thus, “chainsaw medicine,” as it’s called in the region, is implemented to reduce the number of trees that can be burned to safeguard their communities from destruction and to turn a profit at the same time. However, recent developments in research in forestry have concluded that this might actually be accelerating the problem and making it worse, not better.
Large-diameter trees comprise only 7% of the total number of trees in the Blue Mountains Complex, yet they sequester 50% of the carbon emitted in the region into their bodies. These trees are incredibly carbon-dense and eat up the carbon in the atmosphere cleaning the air and providing important stability to the soil that prevents landslides.
On top of that, trees that are standing or dead actually prevent wildfires due to wind and humidity. The two main contributors to massive wildfires that spiral out of control are dry, windy conditions that lead sparks that would otherwise be contained and extinguished to engulf an entire forest. The forestry industry cuts down large swaths of the forest leading to large open areas with no shade to regulate the temperature and no obstructions to the wind that blows through freely.
And while global climate change does make historic wildfires much worse than they otherwise would be, indigenous peoples for hundreds of years used controlled burns in order to modify their landscape and regenerate the soil that benefits from ash in the dirt.
This new research has the capability to seriously challenge the conventional view on wildfires, as legislation is currently being introduced that can protect the pristine forests of Oregon from the industry that seeks to extract the trees and release all that carbon that otherwise would be contained in the bark.
As the world changes and new technologies are being developed and implemented in order to address our climate crisis, mother nature once again proves to us that often the right choice is to use what we already have. We like to believe that we are the most ingenious and intelligent life on the planet, but ultimately we come from the dirt and will return to it.
It only makes sense that we should begin respecting the solutions that come from the ground and dig our roots deeper to protect what is already here. New legislation that can bring about what is good for the environment has to be of top priority because, at the end of the day, we are not defending nature; we are nature defending itself.
Our oceans are in a detrimental state that could be rectified if action is taken to resurrect the natural life that lives beneath the surface.
Many conversations are happening around deforestation and the loss of biodiversity on the land, but life in the ocean is beyond what is imaginable by those who live on that land. It’s also known that coral reefs and other ocean organisms cease to support our climate if not cared for properly.
Talking of this thought process—the conversation around the environmental impact of land versus the sea—is the critical step to be taken by the sustainable garment producer, tentree.
Its mission is simple on paper, to motivate and encourage environmental stewardship through earth-first apparel. In fact, all tentree products are inspired by the natural environments that the company so desperately works to preserve. The uniqueness of the tentree journey comes from its strategy to plant ten trees for every garment purchased—the name of the brand being an incredible commitment to doing just that.
“Over the past decade, our goal has been to create a business that wasn’t content with just doing “less bad”, but rather, was focused on doing “more good”. For every product we sell, we plant trees all across the globe. We have planted over 100 million trees to date and we connect the customer at every step of the journey with the impact their own purchase has made,” says Derrick Emsley, tentree’s CEO and Co-Founder.
As a result, tentree is aiming for a significant milestone of one billion trees planted by the year 2030, which is currently on track, having planted 100 million of those already.
Planting trees is not enough to be sustainable.
Looking at the staggering figures the company has reached over the past 11 years of business, tentree is certainly likely to exceed its target for tree planting, which wasn’t enough of a challenge.
On the 7th March 2023, the company launched its latest initiative that will account for the outstanding 70% of the Earth’s coverage—its oceans.
Marking the latest range of clothing from the brand known to the consumer as the Ocean Collection, this product line will tackle a separate yet not-so-distant issue.
The strategy behind the Ocean Collection being to regenerate sea life alongside partners. These projects will include kelp planting, coral restoration, and mangroves.
Partnering with Ocean Wise, tentree will support the planting of bull, sugar and giant kelp off the coast of British Columbia, Canada. tentree’s support makes it possible for Ocean Wise to research best practices for ‘seaforestation’—a critical step in its goal to restore, cultivate and protect at least 5,000 ha of kelp globally.
Alongside Plant a Million Corals tentree is supporting coral reef restoration and protection. They’ll be supporting important habitats for fish species throughout Florida and the greater Caribbean ecosystem.
tentree will continue to plant mangrove trees across Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar and Brazil. Nearly 50% of the world’s mangrove forests have disappeared over the last 50 years, and these ecosystems are crucial carbon sinks and nursery grounds for key species.
“By expanding our tree-planting efforts into the ocean, we are able to support a critical ecosystem that supports an incredible number of animals, can serve as a massive carbon sink, and is, to-date, very under-funded due to the challenges of managing and monitoring underwater work,” says Emsley.
“At the same time, the upside and benefits of these projects is massive – no risk of forest fires, rapid growth cycles leading to continued carbon removal year after year, and byproducts that can be used in a variety of ways to reduce carbon emissions elsewhere (ie. bioplastic, animal feed, and more).”
How to make sustainable products and champion circularity.Understanding the mission of tentree it seems apt to delve deeper into what makes the company sustainable. Having spoken to Emsley on the topic, he divulges the company’s approach to circularity and how the sustainability mission has evolved over the years.
Tell us more about tentree’s USP and the journey it has taken as a result.
“At tentree, we view ourselves not as an apparel brand that plants trees, but rather, as a tree-planting company that sells apparel. That being said, we also make phenomenal clothing that aims to be the comfiest, softest, and most sustainable product you’ll ever own.
“Our clothes serve first, as a vehicle to help us fund our global reforestation efforts, second, to provide an individual with the opportunity to make a difference and “wear their impact”, and third, to push the fashion industry towards more sustainable practices through circularity programmes, net-zero ambitions, and more.”
How does tentree manage its own impact on the planet in the process of supporting that of consumers?
“We’ve approached the creation of tentree with some principles that we hold very close:
1. We plant trees.
2. We work to reduce the negative impact of any product we create as much as possible.
3. Anything we cannot reduce, we offset. For each of these principles, we have built a number of ways to verify & validate our efforts.
“When it comes to tree planting, our approach to monitoring, reporting, and verification has evolved dramatically over the past decade. Historically, we have been challenged to measure our impact globally but, in the past three years, have built a technology focused on solving for the challenges of managing, verifying, and monitoring large-scale global reforestation efforts – this system is called veritree.
“Regarding the sustainability of our product, we use only the most sustainable fibre options—such as TENCEL™ lyocell, organic cotton or REPREVE® recycled polyester. As a result of this, we are able to cut back on the waste water and emissions that are created by typical apparel manufacturing. We also launched our new take-back program called “Circularity by tentree” in 2022 that helps keep well-worn tentree clothing out of landfills. “Finally, we are also one of the top B-Corps globally in the apparel category and have shown significant improvement with each recertification.”
How does the Ocean Collection fit into tentree’s mission?
“Our mission at tentree has always been to make saving the planet simple. We do that, by giving everyone of our customers the ability to make an incredible impact through their purchase. What it means to make an impact continues to evolve every year and, with it, so too does our business.
“When we started tentree, our focus was solely on planting trees. At the time, we didn’t know what it meant to make clothing “sustainably”. Upon realising the need to manufacture our product using more sustainable materials, we quickly made this change. Our focus was now on making products that did less harm, while planting as many trees as possible.
“Last year, we launched a circularity program to make sure that the product we created could also be returned to ensure there was no waste. This led to another evolution. Creating products without waste, that does no harm, and plants as many trees as possible.”
In recent years, we have had the opportunity to ponder our relationship with the environment. Consequently, we have come to recognize the importance of being more conscientious about our decisions, whether in our own homes or on holiday. To begin with, selecting an eco-friendly and sustainable accommodation is a good place to start when vacationing. If you want to learn more about how to do this, here are a few questions to consider asking.
What Are The Criteria’s To Qualify As An Eco-Friendly Hotel?
Certification for a hotel requires meeting specific standards in areas such as energy efficiency, water consumption, waste management policies, construction materials, design, community awareness, and sustainable site development. The most well-known certification in the hospitality industry is LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). Other certificates, including EarthCheck, Green Key, Green Growth 2050, Forest Stewardship Council, The Rainforest Alliance, and Global Sustainable Tourism Council, are available.
Are Their Any Sustainability Reports?
Typically, these reports can be found on the company’s website. To determine how well the property was integrated into its environment, check for information on the amount of recycled or sustainable materials used in construction, such as certified wood, and whether the building is bioclimatic and outfitted with upcycled materials. You can also read about their carbon offset programs, staff training, community impact, energy consumption, linen reuse, recycling and waste management efforts, use of single-use plastics, and use of environmentally friendly cleaning products, among other things.
Is There A Waste Management And Recycling Plan In Place?
o ensure sustainability, it’s crucial to have a robust waste management system. Verify if the property composts food waste and learn about its efforts to reduce it. Inquire about their recycling practices, particularly their approach to plastic waste and how they manage any plastic waste generated.
What Is Their Plastic Policy?
Sustainable hotels opt for greener practices such as replacing plastic water bottles with reusable glass ones, some even having their bottling plant on-site. They are also transitioning from single-use shower toiletries to larger, refillable ones. Plastic straws and stirrers are being eliminated. When searching for eco-friendly accommodations, these are some factors to consider.
Do They Source Their Food Locally?
Check whether the hotel has a kitchen garden and follow a farm-to-table dining approach. Do they obtain their meat and eggs ethically? Is their menu created using seasonal produce? Lastly, do they adhere to sustainable seafood guidelines in their kitchen?
How Do They Save Water And Energy?
Inquire whether the establishment has adopted sustainable and energy-efficient measures, such as employing solar energy, LED lighting, and low-energy bulbs. Investigate the energy efficiency of their Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning Systems (HVAC) system and other construction methods like insulation to decrease the demand for air conditioning, resulting in lower energy usage.
