Tony Hitchin, General Manager at Pro Carton:
Every year on 22 April, people around the world celebrate Earth Day to show their support for environmental protection, and the theme for 2021 is 'Restore Our Earth'. Basically, the message is that as the world slowly recovers from the coronavirus pandemic, we cannot go back to our usual ways of life if we want to preserve the planet and reverse the destruction caused by climate change.
For many years, the issue of sustainability has been treated with growing urgency in all sectors. This trend has accelerated over the past year as global lockdowns have drastically changed the way we live, work and consume. On a larger scale than ever before, humanity's activities and patterns of movement slowed almost instantaneously. The direct result was a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions and pollution, combined with an improvement in air and water quality[1]. For many, this revealed the true extent of the impact humans have on the health of the planet.
A combined approach is crucial for environmentally sound economic recovery. In addition to reforestation, climate change technology and regenerative agriculture, we need many smaller changes that we can implement ourselves in our everyday lives - from our grocery shopping to avoiding single-use packaging that cannot be recycled.
Packaging is essential to protect goods, but if it is not biodegradable, recyclable and renewable, it can pollute the environment and be an obstacle to our efforts to repair and regenerate the earth. For this reason, the packaging of the future must be largely made of forest-based materials such as cardboard, as this material is recyclable and can be produced sustainably. The European forest industry manages forests to ensure biodiversity conservation and healthy growth, which is why Europe's forests grew by 58,390 square kilometres from 2005 to 2020 - an area larger than Switzerland and equivalent to 1,500 football pitches of forest growth per day[2]. In our opinion, Europe's sustainable forestry is an example worth emulating for the rest of the world, because more trees mean more CO₂ reduction and a big step forward towards a true circular economy.
Undoubtedly, drastic changes will be needed in the future to repair the damage to the environment. Right now is the best time to help nature restore the earth's natural balance. In fact, many of us have developed a newfound appreciation for nature while engaging in common lockdown hobbies like jogging, walking and gardening. Now that we can't wait to get back to normal life, Earth Day is more relevant than ever.
