It’s become a bit of a buzz word in recent times, but sustainability is so important in today’s day and age. The actual word means an ability to be maintained at a certain level, but it’s generally used in environmental terms. Whether you believe the threats of climate change or not, it’s important to consider your impact on the environment.
Nobody wants to live on a planet with more landfill plastic than animals. Nor would we want the ocean to swallow up any more of our low-lying islands – house prices are getting high enough as it is! So, here’s a few ways you can lessen your impact on the environment, choosing eco-friendly packaging and sustainable products, to prevent those worst-case scenarios.
Re-use and recycle
We all know it’s better to recycle wherever possible and to avoid single use plastics in favour of items you can use over and over again. But, how often are you actively choosing recyclable cartons and packaging over their, sometimes much cheaper, friends?
Did you know that the vast majority of Forever’s product packaging is recyclable? In 2018, we also launched tetra pak packaging for our Forever Aloe Vera Gel, Forever Aloe Berry Nectar and Forever Aloe Peaches products. This packaging is made from six layers of 100% recyclable materials, so you know you’re making a sustainable decision. You can even find out where to recycle the packaging on their website.
Use your car less
It’s often a convenient choice to just jump in the car and pop to the shops but consider whether you actually needed to drive that journey. Perhaps there’s a shop you could walk to in order to get what you need, or maybe you could tie it in with another journey that takes you past the supermarket. Many of us join the gym to keep fit and healthy, but have you considered that you might save on cash and your carbon footprint if you ditched the car more and just walked? It may not always make sense to walk your journey, but it’s always worth some consideration before you head out.
Whether its’s something small, like turning off the tap while you’re brushing your teeth, or something bigger, like switching to a reduced-water shower head, there are so many ways that you can conserve water.
You can also look for products from companies that are actively trying to save water in their manufacturing process. For instance, the water used for washing aloe leaves on Forever’s plantations is re-used three times before it is pumped to a holding pond or reservoir where it can be used to irrigate the aloe fields. With this and many other new processes we’ve put in place, we’ve managed to reduce water usage by 90% at our plantations.
Save the trees (and aloe plants)
If you’ve done any research into sustainable living and sustainable products recently, you will have come across articles about sustainable forestry. Vast forests and jungles are being destroyed to keep up with the demand for wood and paper-based products, but a sustainable forest is carefully planned to plant trees as they are felled.
Most people know that trees are important to the environment, because they turn C02 into oxygen, but were you aware that twenty aloe plants can covert the same amount of C02 into oxygen as a tree? With 50 million aloe plants, Forever’s aloe crops are able to cleanse the earth of hundreds of millions of tons of CO2 every single year.
Protect the bees
Without bees, an estimated three-quarters of plants that produce 90% of food crops would go unpollinated. That’s an awful lot of food that wouldn’t exist without bees and where would we be without it? That’s why it’s important when you’re buying bee products to make sure the produce is collected in a sustainable way.
Bees produce many substances, but one of the most important to the hive is royal jelly. This is fed to the queen bee, helping her to produce thousands of eggs daily, but it’s also given to larvae in their first few days. Royal jelly is collected in cups by worker bees. In order to make Forever Royal Jelly, Forever creates imitation ‘queen cups’ in a small colony of young bees; these bees will then instinctively fill the cups with royal jelly. The process requires close attention and precise timekeeping, but it allows us to harvest this amazing substance without harming any bees.
Put on a jumper
Getting a bit chilly now the temperature is turning? Invest in a couple of warm, woolly jumpers and some thick socks and try to keep your hand away from that thermostat dial. The less you can use your central heating, the better for the environment.
Give your money to companies that give back
As a consumer, one of the best ways to be sustainable is to look for companies that give back. Whether that’s using sustainable products, eco-friendly packaging or promoting the idea of sustainable living. Many companies do this through their manufacturing processes, but more still are starting to give back in other ways. For instance, some toilet roll companies plant a tree when a certain number of packs have been bought to replace the trees they’ve used in their manufacturing process. This is a great way to know that by purchasing your weekly groceries, you are committing to being sustainable and helping the environment.
There’s never going to be an exhaustive list of all the ways you can embrace a sustainable life, but these are starting points. Every little thing you do will make a difference, so anywhere is a good place to start!
How will you become a more conscious shopper? Let us know in the comments!