The theme of World Earth Day this year is ‘invest in our planet’, so now is a good time to think about how we connect with our Earth and what pledges we might be able to make ahead of this summer. We might have plans for a busy few months ahead meeting friends and spending time outdoors…

But something we always see as the weather improves is that the bins in the parks and beauty spots are soon overflowing with waste, often drinks bottles, plastic packaging, and disposable coffee cups. The waste attracts insects and animals and can often harm them, either because they become trapped or they eat food that is unsuitable for them. Then there is the environmental impact of the rubbish going to landfills. 

Here at the Hub we are looking forward to summer days out over the coming months. We know it’s so easy to head out without bags, drink bottles, or coffee cups and then end up buying disposables, and worse, binning them because we are out and there is no recycling bin available. So, our pledge this year is that we are going to invest in some gorgeous eco-friendly reusable picnicware, cups, and bottles that we won’t ever want to leave at home! 

Then we can get out and explore our beautiful world, and literally leave no trace.

Living an eco-friendly lifestyle used to mean we recycled and reduced waste, but does that take it far enough now? Today, the answer is no, we need to be working towards circular living. But what does that mean?

We can work towards achieving circular living on both a personal level and as a society, nation, or even globally. To engage in circular living, we need a circular economy, which is:

“A model of production and consumption which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials as long as possible” (Source: Wikipedia)

It sounds great, and we most probably engage in some of this already, but wouldn’t it be great if we could live collectively like this? So many of the world’s problems would be addressed, from climate change to poverty.

To make a move towards more circular living we need to delve further into sustainability…..

Starting with social sustainability

What is this?  a good question, as there are plenty of different definitions floating about on the web. The definitions vary according to whether the social sustainability is being discussed in relation to the environment, economics, or society in particular.

In a nutshell, though, social sustainability is a reference to the social ‘well-being’ of people, and it is impossible to see that as a separate thing to economic and environmental factors. They are intertwined.
 A key aspect of social sustainability is that any decisions have to consider future impacts as well as the present. A good example are the various national parks and beauty spots around the world which are often closed to the public for some of the year. We may feel we would benefit from having full access to them but the impact of human visitors would be detrimental to the flora and fauna in the future.  You may have seen reports of wildflower fields in Siberia being destroyed by Instagrammers taking pictures, and Dutch flower farmers have had to fence off their tulips to stop them from being crushed by visitors.

It’s interesting to think about what makes us have a feeling of social well-being. For me, it’s feeling like I live in a safe and healthy environment, with access to clean water and fresh food, green spaces, people I know nearby, and availability of work and facilities. Further down the list comes luxuries such as nice places to eat and drink, interesting shops, opportunities to do activities and explore. Thinking about it makes me realise that where I live does, on the whole, give me a sense of social wellbeing. And it also makes me consider how many people in the world are sadly not anywhere close to this.

How do we live in a more socially sustainable world?

Essentially it’s about us making the needs of today and tomorrow equally important.

The infrastructure of the systems, organisations, and processes people need and use have to balance with the needs of the environment

Replenishing the resources we consume is vital because this helps lead to a circular economy, where we conserve resources mindfully by keeping them in circulation as long as possible – this means we make more resources available for others, protect the environment and reduce waste. 
For example, if we had towels we no longer wanted or needed but which weren’t good enough for the charity shop we could take them to the tip, where they would likely end up in landfill, or we could donate them to animal shelters, or use them for crafting or cut them up for cleaning cloths. 
Social sustainability makes us feel good, and when we feel good about something we want to extend that to all parts of our lives, our business, the manufacturers we buy from, and the environment we live in. This leads us naturally onto circular ecology.

Circular ecology

 To get a truly circular ecology, there has to be balance and harmony between three types of sustainability: social, economic, and environmental.

 Check out these definitions from circularecology.com

• Environmental Sustainability: means that we are living within the means of our natural resources. To live in true environmental sustainability, we need to ensure that we are consuming our natural resources, such as materials, energy fuels, land, water…etc, at a sustainable rate. Some resources are more abundant than others and therefore we need to consider material scarcity, the damage to the environment from the extraction of these materials, and if the resource can be kept within Circular Economy principles. We need to aspire to net-zero carbon and then move beyond it, to ultimately achieve climate-positive principles. Environmental sustainability should not be confused with full sustainability, which also need to balance economic and social factors.

• Economic Sustainability: Economic sustainability requires that a business or country uses its resources efficiently and responsibly so that it can operate in a sustainable manner to consistently produce an operational profit. Without an operational profit, a business cannot sustain its activities. Without acting responsibly and using its resources efficiently a company will not be able to sustain its activities in the long term.

• Social Sustainability: Social sustainability is the ability of society, or any social system, to persistently achieve a good social well-being. Achieving social sustainability ensures that the social well-being of a country, an organisation, or a community can be maintained in the long term.

There’s so much to think about here, and so much that is outside the scope of this short blog, but it’s clear to see that we need a harmonious balance of social, economic, and environmental sustainability for truly circular living. This is a great aspiration to live our daily lives by, both personally and in business, and as a member of society.

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The Circular Ecology webpage lists some great day-to-day tips for living a more circular life, check it out and see what changes you can make! 

https://circularecology.com/news/sustainability-tips

Can you imagine life without plastic? Always marketed as cheap and useful, as I sit writing this I’m tapping away on a plastic-cased laptop, next to me is a plastic pen, my phone with its multiple plastic components, and an in-progress covid test which I do regularly for my work. 

Casting my eye further around the room I can see CD cases, a lamp, a photo frame, and a plant pot to name just a few of the plastic products around our living area: I expect yours is much the same, and then moving into the kitchen there are many, many more. Plastic is an inextricable part of our lives.

There is no need for me to say that we need to reduce our plastic waste, particularly single-use plastic. We all know that. However, I think because we know we need to reduce our plastic waste there is an element of resignation about the effect on the environment, the sense of shock at what is actually happening to the planet has been tempered by the sheer scale of the problem. 
It can get to the point where because we know the problem is so big, it’s hard to bring that thought down to the level of the single piece of plastic wrapper we are putting in the bin.

So, how do we get motivated to really do our bit?
It’s worth revisiting the situation we are in at the moment with global plastic waste.

Plastic Problems

A truckload of plastic enters the ocean every single minute and UK supermarkets produce 800,000 tonnes every year.* The reality of this is really hard to absorb. The plastic harms wildlife, the ecosystem, and people, especially those who live nearby – the UK sends great amounts of plastic waste abroad, with a seeming disregard for how those countries are equipped to process it. Investigators from Greenpeace discovered plastic waste from Britain being dumped and burned in Turkey among other countries.*

Recycling and Bioplastics have been hailed as solutions to plastic pollution. Recycling is of course a good thing, but there are limitations. Plastic can only be recycled a finite number of times and any recycling takes energy. Many types of plastic cannot be recycled, such as bioplastics, blister packaging, and cling film. Bioplastics themselves, (plastics that biodegrade or that are made of organic biomass sources such as vegetable oils) are an improvement on single-use plastics, but as mentioned above, cannot be recycled and can still end up in the seas or in landfills because they can not be composted at home, instead needing industrial composting conditions.

Sustainable Solutions

Sustainable means we can do something now, and continue to do it for generations to come. A long-term answer. Clearly, a sustainable solution to the plastic problem needs to be achievable for everyone in their own unique lives. Sometimes packaging is necessary. Pre-chopped fruit and veg are vital for people who are unable to chop or prepare them themselves. But if we are using it just for convenience, then it is not necessary.
The vast majority of plastic isn’t necessary. 

If we produce less plastic it will mean that there’s less of it in circulation. We collectively need to think of plastic in a different way – not a cheap commodity but one which we use very carefully, and only dispose of when we really have to.
We need to change the way we view plastics and the place they have in our world. 

On an individual level what we can do before we put a plastic item in the bin is think if it can be refilled or repurposed.
There are refill shops and stations springing up around the country, almost every household cleaning product, toiletries, and many dry food containers can be refilled time and time again. Not only is this better for the environment but usually cheaper too as we are not paying for a new container each time.

The less plastic we buy, the less demand there is for manufacturers to make new plastic. So, although the manufacturers seem to hold the power, in reality, it is us, the consumer. But we need to be working on this as a collective. Single-use plastics can be available for those who need them, and for essentials such as PPE and medical needs, but if we are in a position where we don’t need to use single-use plastic, then we should really try not to.

Easy Plastic Swaps

Use a reusable coffee cup

Use a reusable water bottle

Carry shopping bags

Refill toiletries, cleaning products, and loose dry foods

Choose pet food in tins or bags rather than pouches, which are difficult to recycle

Buy a large bag of crisps and decant rather than multipacks

Buy a large tub of yoghurt and decant as needed

Refill glass milk bottles  – either through the milk delivery or at a refill station

Try to buy loose fruit and veg, and loose tea

Swap chewing gum for  plastic-free confectionery

Swap cling film for paper bags, beeswax wraps, or foil

If you need a straw, use paper ones. Avoid plastic stirrers and plastic cutlery, use bamboo or metal instead.

Swap to solid soap, shampoo, and conditioner bars

Try toothpaste tabs or powder rather than tubes, and swap to a bamboo toothbrush

Swap washing up sponges for bamboo handled brushes or coconut husk scrubby

Avoid glitter for craft activities, use paper confetti, hole punch leaves or buy biodegradable sparkles for those artistic projects. 

Re-purpose wherever you can too! There are some fabulous ideas to be found online, from soda bottle greenhouses to bird feeders.  Every change we make, however small it seems, is one less piece of plastic potentially ending up in the ocean or in a landfill. Saving lives and helping the planet.

Every little piece of plastic can be treated thoughtfully and just by making just a few small changes we can have a big impact on the amount of plastic we use on a day-to-day basis.

What changes can you make today?

Check out some fabulous sustainable bamboo cups, soap bars, and other plastic-free goodies at the Harmonious Hub.

Earth Day is marked every year on April 22nd, and the theme this year is ‘Restore our Earth’. The intention behind this theme is to encourage us all to consider whether we can really go back to the ‘old normal’ once the coronavirus restrictions are lifted, with respect to our consumer habits and lifestyle choices.

Every living being has the right to live in a clean and healthy environment, and it is up to us, as humans, to make this happen. We know humans have plundered the earth and its natural resources for so long now and there needs to be a turning point. Earth Day this year is a challenge to us to not only stop harming the earth but to proactively help restore it. If we don’t want to return to the ‘old normal’ of single-use plastics, tonnes of waste going to landfill, food waste, and pollution, we can make personal resolutions for positive change by being more thoughtful in what we buy, think about if we really need it, where we buy it from and how we will dispose of it.

We can also find ways to “give back” to the Earth, such as planting trees and pollinating flowers, providing homes for the animals who share the space with us, perhaps leaving part of our garden wild, making bug hotels, nesting boxes for birds and bats. Maybe we can litter pick or help rewild areas near our home.

Let’s make 2021 the year we didn’t return to normal habits and really start to restore our beautiful planet.

Photo by Noah Buscher on Unsplash