Earth Day, Every Day

Earth Day is celebrated annually on 22nd April as an important reminder of the critical environmental challenges we are facing. The event started in the United States in 1970 by a US senator as a way to engage the public and push environmental issues to the national agenda. Over 50 years later, it feels that Earth Day is more important than ever now.

This year the theme for Earth Day is Planet vs Plastics calling for widespread awareness on the health risks of plastics and a commitment to end plastics by demanding a 60% reduction in the production of all plastics by 2040. 

Here at Florence London, Earth Day isn’t just a single day, and we are constantly trying to improve in every area of the business to be as climate positive as we can be. For us, sustainability isn’t a trend, it’s a movement and a responsibility we take very seriously. Here are a few things we do in our small world to make sure we are minimising our footprint;

• We don't sent any plastic to our customers to avoid it falling into the wrong bin!
• We have minimalised our packaging to create a beautiful yet modest box which we send out without any returns documents or receipts to minimise printing. 
• We’ve moved from a larger ecommerce box to a small, eco outer envelope to reduce the weight of each parcel further limiting our carbon footprint. 
• We’ve asked all our packaging suppliers to send us our packaging without any plastic where possible. 
• We have a sophisticated recycling system in the office to make sure any plastic or waste that does come into the office, it is recycled properly. 
• We make small runs of each product line so as not to waste jewellery. If for any reason a piece is damaged, or we’ve accidentally made too much, we’ll give it away on social media or to charity or host a sample sale. We will always find a new home for it. 
• Our office is small but mighty, and as it’s a purpose built design it is hugely energy efficient and requires minimum energy to heat it. 
• When we are on the road for events we always reuse our signage and posters - we never reprint things.  And we will always make sure we have our reusable coffee cups and water bottles so we don’t buy any plastic bottles!
• And finally, our founder Rosie’s commute is by foot from her home so no commuter footprint. 

Whilst we know we aren’t perfect, as a small brand we want to make sure that we are doing small, positive changes that are part of a bigger change.

We have lots of work still to do, and will continue to make those incremental changes across all areas of the business. As a consumer, here are some easy steps you can take to help advocate change against plastic: 

1. Sign the Global Plastic Treaty Petition - calling on the UN to commit to the 60% reduction of all plastics by 2040. 
2. Educate yourself on your use of plastic - change starts with education and EarthDay.org give a great overview on how you can change your everyday habits
3. Take the Plastic Detox Challenge and take action for a greener future

Let’s make Earth Day, every day!