Four Ways to Get Involved on World Environment Day
What is World Environment Day and Where Does it Come From?
World Environment Day was created in 1974 to educate and inspire the world's population and to encourage acts of change, in an effort to prevent further environmental damage to our planet.
The theme for World Environment Day 2021 is 'Reimagine. Recreate. Restore’.
As well as creating a delicious range of chocolate products, the importance of environmental sustainability guides the decisions we make as a small business. At The Little Welsh Chocolate Company, World Environment Day represents the backbone of our business values. We would like to share some of the choices we make with environmental sustainability in mind.
Palm Oil and Soy Free Chocolate
The majority of soy and palm oil production is unsustainable and has a major impact on the environment. To keep up with demand, vast amounts of these mono-crops need to be grown. Unsustainable deforestation is happening every day to make space for palm oil and soy plantations. Destroying habitats and reducing the biodiversity of large areas has a domino effect on the wider ecosystem, endangering species of both plant life and animals. Palm oil and soy are two products that will never be included in any of our products.
Recyclable Packaging
We made a commitment early on in our business to exclude plastic from our packaging completely - no mean feat in the food industry! All our packaging is recyclable and most is suitable for composting. Our chocolate bars are wrapped in foil to keep them fresh and then packaged in an uncoated kraft card box. Both materials are widely accepted by recycling centres.
Top tip: Save your foil up and create a monster foil ball (tennis ball size is also acceptable!) and recycle it with your other tins. This makes it easier for sorting machines to pick it up and recognise it as tin to be recycled.
Organic Chocolate and Locally Sourced Ingredients
As a business we choose to make mindful decisions when it comes to our chocolate. We source organic chocolate as it’s kinder to both people and planet. Using organic ingredients gives us peace of mind that every care is taken to promote ecological balance in the farming process, helping to preserve biodiversity in local ecosystems. It also means our products will not contain traces of synthetic herbicides and pesticides.
We collaborate with local businesses wherever possible to source the beautiful ingredients that get added into our chocolate to create some of our best loved chocolate bars. Locally made ingredients include Halen Mon Sea Salt for our Salted Caramel and Lime and Sea Salt bars, Penderyn's Whisky for our Single Malt Welsh Whisky Truffles and Coaltown Coffee for our Welsh Roasted Coffee Bar. By choosing to support other local businesses, not only are we reducing our carbon footprint, but we're also helping to support the local economy.
How to Get Involved in World Environment Day
We are constantly striving to reduce our impact on the planet, meaning you can enjoy delicious, guilt-free chocolate!
Here‘s how you can get involved this World Environment Day:
- Invite Friends & Family Over for a Home-Cooked Meal
One of the easiest changes to make is to opt for cooking or baking from scratch a few times per week, rather than buying ready-made food. The benefits of this are huge and far-reaching. You can have complete control over what goes into your food and you can opt for ethical ingredients that are better for your health and the planet. Check out our recipes for some delicious desserts that you can enjoy making with simple ingredients.
- Go For a Foraging Walk and Choose Natural and Organic
Try switching to organic wherever you can. The farming industry affects all of our local ecosystems, so increasing the demand for organic products will go a long way towards conserving the natural world around us. Wild plants are free and fun to source and the wonderful World Wide Web has plenty of recipes to help you use them.
This World Environment Day, try taking little ones on a foraging walk and spying what edible plants are on your doorstep!
- Support Local Businesses
Shopping locally will decrease your ecological footprint. Being environmentally minded when shopping is another small way to make a big difference, especially in protecting your local environment and the wider world. Choosing to buy your products locally will decrease the distance stock needs to travel, reducing the fumes from vehicles that contribute to global warming. Take pictures of your locally shopped goodies and share them on social media to encourage others to do the same.
- Reimagine, recreate and restore an old piece of furniture
In-keeping with this year’s theme, why not try your hand at up-cycling an old piece of furniture and giving it a new lease of life? You could create the perfect backdrop to take photos of your home cooked meal, chocolate desserts, foraged finds and locally shopped goodies! And how much nicer is it to own a piece of furniture that tells a story, rather than always buying something brand new?
When it comes to protecting our planet and conserving the life within it, we can all do small things that collectively will make a big difference. We hope you will be inspired to embrace and celebrate World Environment Day and take action today to protect the future welfare of our planet.