June 5th is World Environment Day. We should be looking after our planet every day, and making changes, but it's important to have a day to remind us to be conscious. So what is it all about and what can we all do to help? Here are a few tips from us.
World Environment Day is the United Nation's principle vehicle for encouraging awareness and action for the protection of our environment. It was first held in 1974 and has continued each year. It focuses on raising awareness on emerging environmental issues from marine pollution, plastic, human overpopulation, animal cruelty and more. It is now a global platform with over 143 countries participating annually.
What is World Environment Day 2018 Focused On?
This year the focus is plastic pollution and cleaning up our planet. Use the tag #BeatPlasticPollution to share what you’re doing and spread the word.
WED have teamed up with Litterati to create an app whereby you can record what you pick up gamifying rubbish collection so we can see the global impact of everyone teaming up with a common goal. Pretty cool and if gets people picking runnish up we're happy. You can create teams and join teams so people can work together making change together.
What Can I Do?
There are many things you can do, and start doing, this World Environment Day both individually, at home and as a team.
At work:
1) Chances are many of you will spend most of your day at work so help your whole team make change by organizing a clean up of your office and local area. Grab a backpack and hit the streets to pick up some rubbish. Use the Litterati app and record what you’ve collected.
2) If you haven’t already start living a reusable work life with reusable coffee cups, reusable straws, reusable water bottles, reusable cutlery and take your own takeaway containers.
3) Encourage recycling in your office and in your snack rooms. Terracycle boxes are great for this as you know the contents will actually get recycled. The ideal is to minimise and reduce waste completely but for that inevitable waste these are a great solution.
4) Hold education sessions or lunch time brain storms to share ideas of what you can do to be plastic free at work. Take half an hour and bring your team together. Don't wait for the boss to organise it.
5) Send out an email to everyone with tips and ideas. Maybe organise a 'swear jar' for those using dispoable coffee cups. :)
At home:
1) Take your family, housemates on a clean up walk and pick up rubbish. It gets you outside, gets you moving and spending time together as a family.
2) Think about what you use from the moment you get up and ask yourself if there is a better way to live your lives with minimal plastic. Track a day in the life of you!
3) Make a meal plan and shopping list before you shop to avoid over buying and wasting food.
4) Don’t buy food in pre-made plastic containers e.g. fruit and veg. Reward those stores where fruit and veg is loose and use your produce bags.
5) Re-use shopping bags. Even though plastic bags are being banned in more states shops are still selling plastic bags so just take your own. Leave them in your car or by the back door so you remember to take them.
6) Stop using plastic toothbrushes, plastic garbage bags and anything else disposable and single use. There are biodegradable options for many household products. Compost where you can.
7) Recycle plastic you use in your beauty products or your everyday washing products either with your local council or with us at Flora & Fauna and our recycling scheme. You earn $10 with us too and we take other brands.
8) Diarise your waste and see how you can reduce it.
9) Reuse! Before you throw something out does it have a second life as a dishcloth or a produce bag and can you use that toothbrush to clean your skink, clean the grout in your shower or something else? Give your things a second life.
These are just a few ideas but keep talking about waste, talking about plastic and talking about change. The more we can all be conscious the quicker we’ll make true change.
We have a huge plastic free section at F&F where you can look for ideas. A lot of the time you can make your own products like your own shopping bags, produce bags and even soap. We offer convenience but we always encourage you to reuse what you already have so there's less new.
