Guest post from the Rocking the Daisies team.
If you look around you it’s astounding how much packaging is included with products which we inevitably end up throwing straight into the bin. Although packaging is necessary for storage and transport of products, it presents a double whammy when it comes to green concerns.
Firstly, the carbon emissions produced in the making of packaging, and secondly, the dumping of packaging in landfill sites.
To help navigate this maze, the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) has come up with a few suggestions:
* Choose tin, glass, paper or cardboard as these are all recyclable or bio-degradable.
* Choose plastic that has a recycle mark and number
* Avoid the following non-recyclable products
- clingwrap
- plastic without a recycle mark on it
- sweet wrappers and foil chip packets
- cellophane wrappers
- wax-coated cardboard boxes
- cardboard & plastic mix containers
Also take a look at Nokia’s packaging initiative trying to balance utility with the environmental impact. The company has used recyclable materials, reduced plastic and brought the packaging size right down. It is also investigating sustainable packaging such as flax, agricultural waste and bio-plastics.
Finally, closer to home, Carbon d’Afreeque produces shopping bags from recycled billboards – a good alternative to exacerbating the packaging situation by then putting all your groceries into a plastic carrier bag!
Rocking the Daisies, South Africa’s first carbon-neutral music festival, achieved carbon-neutral status for the first time and this year will do the same thanks to the use of environmentally friendly practices and products. The festival’s motto is: play hard, tread lightly.
