Sustainable Materials

It’s almost that time of year again when friends and families come together to share in the joyful season, exchange gifts, enjoy holiday festivities and food, and cherish moments spent with the ones you love. It’s a time to show the ones you love how much you appreciate them. However, as the holidays become more about gift-giving rather than being with friends and family, the demand for online shopping rapidly increases adding to further consumerism. Though the convenience, speed, and lower prices of e-commerce make last-minute shopping easier, it’s the environment that ultimately bears the cost of these consumer choices.

Online shopping, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, has rapidly grown and is driven by giants such as Amazon and Walmart. These companies have completely transformed e-commerce and monopolized on consumers’ expectations of fast, convenient, and free shipping. In June 2020, global e-commerce sales reached a new peak of 22 billion monthly visits, equating to $26.7 trillion in sales. This new peak of online shopping perfectly describes the effects of speed, competitive pricing, and convenience on consumer demand.

However, to meet these expectations created by big corporations, the environment must bear the cost. The packaging and shipping of goods heavily contributes to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and plastic waste. In 2020, the transportation and return of products accounted for 37% of total GHG emissions in the e-commerce sector.

The packaging that is used is a major component of these emissions. The majority of items that you order online are wrapped in multiple layers of plastic and cardboard to ensure a safe delivery to your doorstep. The forest conservation group Canopy reports that approximately 3 billion trees are pulped each year to produce 241 million tons of shipping cartons. This scale of deforestation depletes natural carbon sinks and creates an enormous amount of waste. Also, less than 15% of this packaging is recycled! This means that it directly ends up in landfills adding to an already pressing issue for the environment.

So, what can you do as an individual consumer? You can start by consolidating online orders into a single order, get ahead of the holiday season, and order gifts early and through slower shipping methods instead of same-day delivery. You can also limit the amount of returns as this contributes significantly to GHG emissions. Or, you can support local stores. Lastly, when you are all done using the cardboard boxes, come by Recycle Utah to recycle your boxes. Recycle Utah also re-sells moving boxes and packaging materials (cardboard boxes, packing peanuts, and bubble wrap). By making mindful choices this holiday season, you can celebrate sustainably, reducing your environmental impact while still spreading joy to those you love.

By Elly Swartz

We crave the flavor and aroma. The taste brings us joy and for some, relief. Yet, there’s a story behind the 146 billion cups of coffee a year that Americans often celebrate in our morning routine. Just how sustainable is the bean that goes into that daily cup of joe? How and where did it grow, get harvested, processed, and roasted? Coffee is now grown in more than 50 countries, with Brazil being the world’s largest producer. Our desire to caffeinate involves many steps before it lands in our mug; the coffee industry, like any other, has environmental and social impacts.

First, how was the crop managed? Was the soil protected with minimal water use? Was it “shade-grown” on a farm featuring an array of native trees creating a canopy over the coffee bushes? This boosts biodiversity, decreases soil erosion, and acts as a carbon sink. Was the bean waste composted and used as a fertilizer?

Second, how are the farmers treated? Is social justice instilled to promote fair wages, humane conditions for employees, gender equality, and education access for children?

Third, is the coffee organic? USDA Organic certification bans the use of synthetic pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers, in addition to requiring farmers to use methods that prevent soil erosion.

Look for the following certifications when purchasing coffee: Fair Trade or Rainforest Alliance, B Corp, Shade Grown, Carbon Neutral, or Organic. Beyond the bean itself, other sustainable tidbits include:

1. Is the coffee light, medium, or dark roasted? Current research reveals that because light-roasted beans are roasted at lower temperatures and for less time, they are a better environmental choice (and may also contain more caffeine!)
2. How is your coffee packaged? Is the packaging reusable, recyclable, or compostable?
3. If you use pods, are they reusable vs. single-serve? The same goes for sugar and cream.
4. Are you composting your grounds and filters, if used?
5. How sustainable (and healthy) are your add-ins? Locally sourced? Organic? Dairy-free?

I hope these guidelines help to enrich your next cup of joe to complete satisfaction.

By Mary Closser

Plastic is everywhere, revolutionizing our lives with its convenience and durability. Yet, its
environmental cost is steep. Most people don’t fully grasp its long-term impact on the planet.
Plastics take between 20 and 500 years to break down, depending on the type of material and
its exposure to sunlight. Plastics never biodegrade; instead, they photodegrade when exposed
to UV radiation, breaking down into smaller and smaller plastics. Therefore, plastics buried in
landfills or deep in the ocean can last for centuries, or even millennia.

Plastic bags, made from HDPE, LDPE, or LLDPE, take about 20 years to decompose. Despite
this relatively short time, the massive volume of plastic bags used globally creates significant
pollution. Plastic bottles, primarily made from PET, take around 450 years to decompose. While recyclable, many bottles end up in landfills and oceans, breaking down into microplastics. These microplastics infiltrate ecosystems and human bodies, posing unknown health risks.

Because of plastic’s durability, almost every piece of plastic ever made still exists. Scientists
have found microplastics in every ecosystem on the planet. Plastic waste harms wildlife,
ecosystems, and human health. Much of the plastic problem is hidden, with microplastics
shedding from synthetic clothing and car tires, complicating pollution control.
Addressing the plastic crisis requires actions from governments, corporations, and individuals.

You may have heard of the 3 R’s: reduce, reuse, recycle. Responding to the plastic crisis begins
before you buy. Start by refusing single-use plastics. Reduce your consumption of products in
plastic packaging. Reuse containers and bags when you can. Repair your items to extend their
lifespan. Recycle all plastics! Hard plastics can be recycled in your curbside bin, and soft
plastics can be recycled at Smith’s, Walmart, or Recycle Utah.

Recycling alone isn’t enough; most plastic can only be recycled once or twice. We need to
reduce plastic use and find sustainable alternatives. Plastic has changed our world but
demands action to address its long-term impacts. By making small changes, we can help create a future with less plastic waste and a healthier planet.

By Chelsea Hafer