Here's The Real Meaning of “Eco-friendly”

2018 has been a great year for our environment. The call for reducing plastic usage has gotten louder as the plight of our suffering nature gets a brighter spotlight in the past few months. News of various big corporations taking the lead to reduce plastic usage is an encouraging sign of the times too. It was also a hot topic for debate at last month’s parliamentary session. But as consumers and fellow Earthlings, what does it really mean to be ‘eco-friendly’?

Here at Rally Rally, as we take baby steps towards a plastic-free and zero-waste lifestyle, we realise that it is not about the number or variety of eco-friendly, reusable items that we own; it is the way we use them that makes them truly ‘eco-friendly’. For example, for a KeepCup to be truly saving the environment from drowning in plastic, it has to be used at least 20 times. This is because the plastic needed to make each small KeepCup is as much as that in 20 disposable plastic cups. Similarly, due to the environmental impact in the harvesting of cotton and production of cotton reusable bags, a cotton bag needs to be reused 173 times in order to be truly eco-friendly.

Citing this piece of statistic in parliament last month, Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State for the Environment and Water Resources, ruled out the implementation of charging for single-use plastic bags as “marine pollution is caused by improper disposal of plastic waste, and not the use of plastics per se.” (See our response to Dr Khor on Instagram)

There is no foolproof solution to this global epidemic of plastic pollution. Rally Rally advocates to refuse and reduce plastic usage whenever possible. We champion for everyone to bring your own reusable bag (we now carry a standard size and baby size BAGGU wherever we go!). According to a NUS study, using a reusable bag over a one-year period can help save about 125 plastic bags.

However, it will be naive to think that it is enough if we swap out single-use, disposable plastic items for reusable ones. What we really need to do is to reuse these items as many times as possible, so as to neutralize the environmental impact resulted from its production. In addition, we should also reduce the number of disposable items as much as possible.

We hope that this will inspire you to cultivate a truly eco-friendly lifestyle, by planning and making time and space for your reusable cups and bags in your daily lives, preferably those bought from our online store! :D

Sources:
KeepCups Official Website
Stuff NZ 
Today Online
Channel Newsasia