Giving away wooden toys, sharing experiences and using newspaper or fabric wrappers are some of the ideas that Sustainability specialists stood out to have a responsible celebration with the environment in the next parties, which are characterized by “being a time where consumption is much more encouraged.”
Is it possible to celebrate in an environmentally friendly way? Are gifts compatible with responsible consumption? These may be common questions these days, about which the General Director of the Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina, Manuel Jaramillo, and social and environmental activists in networks Dafna Nudelman (@lalocadeltaper) Y Agustina Legasa (@blondaverde) assured Télam that it is necessary to look for alternatives to acquire products without having a negative impact on the planet.
“Let’s think about how we can do to enjoy these parties being responsible and that the consumption we have is on a planetary scale, that it can be recovered and produced for the planet, “said Jaramillo, who is a forestry engineer.
Among the options with less impact, he stressed choosing gifts that are made from recycled materials or in the case of paper and wood, certified with FSC labels, which guarantees that they come from responsibly managed forests.
“A wooden toy is always less shocking than a plastic toy produced through fossil fuels,” he pointed out, underlining that there are plastics that last up to 500 years.
For this reason, he indicated that “we must review what we buy and why we buy it” and warned that the best thing is that “they are gifts that can be repaired, that have a longer life time so that those resources that were taken from the planet really justify their end “.
Other ideas are playing as an invisible friend to avoid excessive gifts, restoring furniture, giving experiences that reduce the demand for physical resources, or supporting NGO initiatives, such as the campaign “Donate a native tree” of Vida Silvestre. It is carried out every year and already accumulates 120,000 seedlings of 40 species in the missionary jungle.
For the activist Dafna Nudelman, creator of the @lalocadeltaper account, which is followed by more than 80 thousand users on Instagram, “the holidays are especially a time where consumption is encouraged much more”, so “it is very important to measure ourselves and try to put a more environmental and social look “.
Nudelman promotes the slogan on the networks “consume less and better” and explained to Télam that “year after year there is more awarenessBut it’s still not quite massive. “
“The best waste is the one that is not generated”Agustina Legasa
In Argentina, the average daily generation of waste per person is 1.15 kilos, which represents about 49,300 tons per day, and around 18 million tons per year., figures that show “one of the most pressing management problems due to lack of technical and financial means”, according to the 2020 State of the Environment Report prepared by the Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development of the Nation.
Agustina Legasa, another social and environmental awareness worker in networks through her account @blondaverde, stressed to Télam the importance of “rethinking the way we celebrate to celebrate without dirtying or polluting“.
“The best waste is the one that is not generated,” said the young economist, who asked to reduce gift wrapping for these holidays.
Legasa indicated that “metallized plastic papers are not recycled, they end up being garbage because they last two minutes in the hand of the person who receives the gift and it is not worth it.”
In that sense, he gave advice for more sustainable packaging: “we can use newspaper, magazine paper, or reuse fabrics that look nice“.
Along the same lines, Jaramillo considered that “sometimes we associate the sumptuousness or affection that a gift transmits in a more shiny packaging. That is also important to modify it”.
“The gift has to convey what we feel for the person to whom we give it and that does not necessarily have to be linked to more color, which are generally materials with a greater environmental impact,” he added and stated: “How much more interesting can a Simple kraft paper (wood) with a good dedication or a little drawing “.
The activists consulted agreed that the festivities are “a good opportunity to rethink what type of consumption we are going to choose and what type of projects we are going to promote” and they recommended choosing local “triple impact” ventures, that is, those that generate a positive environmental, economic and social effect.
The Liviano project, founded by Mariana Meller, manufactures sustainable toys such as kites, balls and dolls with paper cloth and washable paper, which are reusable and recyclable.
“Paper fabric has a long useful life, since its manufacture was intended for intensive use in heavier industries, such as construction or in medical laboratories,” he explained to Télam Meller.
The entrepreneur, who seeks that the games “have more than one use”, explained that Liviano was thought “to be a triple impact undertaking”, since the confection is carried out by textile workshops of the Cosiendo Redes Foundation and the Pilar Seamstress Network, which integrate people in vulnerable situations, while in the final assembly young people with intellectual disabilities from the Idel Foundation work.
Something similar poses Silvina López, industrial designer and owner of the Alarte toy store located in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Núñez, which does not sell plastic products and works with suppliers that use environmentally friendly materials.
Among cloth dolls with natural dyes, wooden cars and musical instruments made with bamboo cane, López remarked that these toys “are eternal” and allow children “to grow together with the product, reducing the environmental impact.”
Another sustainable proposal are products made from milk sachets and snack packages manufactured in the Labor Association for adults with intellectual disabilities (Alpad).
“We promote responsible, ethical and social consumption from our actions and from the creation of useful objects”Laura Pelagatti Rey
In the workshop located in the Saavedra neighborhood, fourteen people work making placemats for the table with milk sachets in a process that goes from cleaning to sewing the fabrics and takes two and a half hours of work.
They also produce wooden napkin holders from the remains of pallets and soy wax candles, among other products. President of Alpad, Laura Pelagatti Rey.
“We promote responsible, ethical and social consumption from our actions and from the creation of useful objects in terms of their daily use without this meaning more damage than we have already caused to the environment,” said Pelagatti Rey.
