What is Sustainability and why is it important?

Sustainability has become a core value to brands and consumers, who are wanting to shop more sustainably. More and more we hear the word sustainable on our tv’s, the radio and on social media, sustainability is a new buzzword that is essential to brands looking to be successful in today’s society. More and more advertisements are honing in on the fact their products and ethos need to evolve around sustainability to attract customers and also help the planet.

What is sustainability?
Sustainability is often defined as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. There are 3 key pillars to sustainability: economic, environmental and social. These 3 pillars are sometimes referred to as people, planet and profits.


Why is sustainability important now?
The planet has been under immense amounts of pressure over the recent years due to our human activities that are causing increasing environmental issues like climate change, global warming and rising pollution levels. This is why choosing sustainable methods are important to improving the quality of life of people. If the environment they live in has clean fresh air and water, people will live a healthier life. Alternatively, if we do not choose to live more sustainably, we will see thousands of animals become extinct. Plastic bags are a huge negative factor to the environment, which is why opting for a tote bag or a reusable bag to take shopping is more sustainable action to make. Thinking of different ways to add to your normal routine is an easy way to help create change.



How can sustainability lead to new sustainable innovation?
Thinking of ways to create sustainable can lead to new innovations by thinking outside of the box by limiting water usage and fabric waste. This way designers have more scope to use what would have been fabric waste to create designs that include as much of the fabric in different ways, or even using the fabric waste for something that already exists but doesn’t need a different material. Even creating designs around the use of fabric waste is an innovative idea that could become a core essential to the design team. There is also opportunity to work more locally within your community, this helps with the cutdown on pollution from travel and suppliers, if you completed some research you may realise there are more local suppliers than you ever knew existed.

What can I do to be more sustainable?
There are simple ways individuals can be more sustainable at home, one of the options is to install solar panels. Solar panels use power from the sun instead of electricity generated by power plants that use coal. There are also new technologies that you can buy to help reduce the water waste. For example, dishwashers and washing machines are now designed to reduce water usage. Plastic is also a problem, where we are encouraged to use less plastic and recycle the plastic you do use. Swapping things like plastic straws for papers straws, plastic bottles for reusable bottle are an easy and simple swap that benefits the environment.

What are some long-lasting plastic alternatives available right now?

There are a variety of different long lasting plastic alternatives available, some being: stainless steel, glass, premium silicone, beeswax coated cloth, natural fibre cloth, wood, bamboo, pottery and other ceramics. 

Can I live 100% sustainable?
You can live in a fully circular, sustainable life without waste while having energy efficiency. If you fully researched different swaps and options that already exist, but are also looking for future sustainable alternatives, you would be surprised with the changes you could make. The simplest actions to make everyday include, recycling, minimize single use-plastics, reduce water-usage, avoid food waste, grow your own produce and opt for environmentally conscious methods of transport. If you still want to find out more about sustainable lifestyles, there are a number of books available that explain zero waste, sustainable homes and how to give up plastic. 

Overall, being more sustainable is going to benefit you and your health, the environment and the climate change. By reducing your carbon footprint and the amount of toxins released into the environment, it will be a more safer place to live. From up-cycling your clothes to purchasing refillable cosmetics, shopping sustainably will continue to be a buzzword over the years to come. These changes to your routine will be engrained into our lifestyles by the end of this decade. People will become more judgmental of your business if it hasn’t converted to sustainable methods and techniques in recent years. There will only become more sustainable brands out there and more competitors who are using sustainable methods.