Page 38 - Daggabay Magazine Issue 10

SUSTAINABLE BRANDS
We are living in an age where life has
become fast paced and more efficient
and is progressing rapidly by the day.
You can get almost anything delivered to
your door at the touch of a button. And
then came the pandemic and with that e-
commerce took off like a wildfire in an
open veld in the middle of winter.
Nothing wrong with that!! Small business
flourished, entrepreneurs learnt quickly
to adapt and progress with time. And life
went on.
The other side of e-commerce
But there is a side to this, that hasn't
really been looked at or addressed. With
só many new e-commerce businesses
starting to operate, there is a sudden flux
in deliveries going out and couriers
delivering packages. The thing is not
about what is been delivered but what is
going out with those deliveries…
Whats in the box?
What about the product packaging, the
box filler that protects the package from
damage? What about all that waste that
is sent out with a parcel that will probably
be ripped off, thrown out the box, and
end up in the bin headed for the dump?
Think about it really. How many times
have you received a package via the
courier or post and when you opened up
the box there was loads of plastic filling
and product packaging that was going to
be discarded? I get loads of parcels and
I can honestly say that 90% of them
have waste plastic to fill the box which is
really of no use!! As of May 2021, there
are around 7.9 Billion people living on
this floating rock orbiting around that big
bright ball of burning gas in a vast
universe of nothing eles but stars and
planets.
That is 7.9 Billion consumers
creating waste on a daily basis. On
the ONLY planet we have in this
vast expanse. In the end that waste
has to go somewhere. And that is
your normal everyday living waste.
Not even the additional
unnecessary junk that we create.
So where do we start?
As a brand owner, I believe that it
should start with us. I send out a lot
of parcels. Now if I were to
package and add filler to every box
for every product I send out, I
would be putting out tons of junk
that would eventually end up in a
pile somewhere ultimately
damaging the environment. And
that is just me!! I am one of the
thousands of businesses that send
out parcels every day. And
remember it's not only small
businesses. The bigger the
business the bigger the impact. As
a brand there are a few small
changes that you can make to start
a ball rolling to a better impact on
the environment.