Having recently learnt that paper coffee cups can't be recycled due to the protective lining inside the cup, the recent news from McDonald's stating their paper straws may not be able to be recycled either shouldn't have come as a surprise.
The rise in popularity of eco-friendly products has been staggering but lost its way a little bit as companies jumped on the eco-bandwagon, and in their hurry chosen unsuitable alternatives and creating new problems. As a nation, we could be accused of forgetting the intention behind swap and instead focused on the positive PR and attention our brands will receive.
This is a really interesting topic and one of which we're sure will affect many more companies - especially in the food and leisure industries.
If we look back to the actual intention of being 'eco-friendly', the focus is around reducing waste going into landfills - products which are taking hundreds or thousands of years to break down. To solve this problem we should be looking at using reusable and recycled products rather than new items that will be disposed of.
As quoted in this BBC article on the topic, Friends of the Earth's Julian Kirby said: "For too long the debate has been stuck on recycling and how to deal with waste once it is created. We should be thinking about how to avoid waste creation."
There are some truly innovative products available today that solve this problem such as pens made from recycled plastic bottles and notepads made from recycled from apple pulp, till receipts and coffee cups - which look no different than your conventional products!
You can get reusable metal straws instead of disposable straws, and coffee cups made from sugar cane and bamboo which break down quickly once they've come to the end of their life. For a full list of environmentally friendly product switches,
click here to view the full brochure.
The recent BBC documentary 'War on Plastic', further highlighted the problem we're creating as a society and we couldn't help but feel so saddened to see the amount of plastic we consume and wonder how we could change it.
The bottle pictured is 100% compostable with a bamboo lid and features a full wrap around print - perfect for promoting your brand responsibly! We love the concept of a fully degradable bottle, and hope it will inspire more people to refill instead of buy new.
So we're asking the questions: What changes can you make within your business to change this? What can we all do to help?
If you want to look at how your business can reduce its carbon footprint and make a switch to recycled and truly eco-friendly products, we'd be delighted to speak to you and offer tips and advice on the latest promotional products available.
