Are Eco-Friendly Products Competitive on Supermarket Shelves?
By Sara Mifsud
These days we find a lot of opportunities to have a ‘clean carbon footprint’ to heal our world from the wrath of Climate Change. The media loves to advertise and promote eco-friendly living but, is this possible for everyone to achieve? I decided to go to a supermarket keen to try and minimise my carbon footprint as much as possible, so I start to walk down the aisles and look over onto the shelves and there is where my enthusiasm came to a halt.
I was surprised to see how different the prices contrasted with the traditional products.
Why is this?
Unfortunately, eco-friendly items are often 25% - 30% more than the pricing of traditional products. There are many different factors contributing to why there is such a big difference between their prices:
Most of the products labelled as ‘environmentally-friendly’ have biodegradable or recycled packaging, which may be more expensive to produce due to expensive equipment or material. Another reason why they are more expensive is that they might pay their employees well without any foul play or animal testing. To be even labelled as environmentally- friendly must be paid for such as the EU Eco Label. Not to mention that sustainable farming might be costly due to lack of pesticide use, resulting in farmers having to employ more people to weed and clean the crops as well as to make up for lost crops, and very time-consuming. To top all these, the prices might increase because of a lack of popularity and marketing.
Last February, I went to a local supermarket and carried out a sampling activity to find out how many eco-friendly products are found on its shelves. I recorded their price and asked customers a few questions about their shopping habits with regard to eco-friendly products
Analysis of the survey at Wellbee’s
The highest difference in price between traditional detergents and detergents made from biodegradable ingredients have the highest difference in price. They are 459% more expensive.
Organic food products are between 20% to 60% more expensive. The highest difference in price was found in tea. Organic tea was 133% more expensive.
The only environmentally friendly product that was less expensive than the traditional was hair dye. Organic and vegan hair dye is 44% cheaper than traditional hair dye.
How can eco-friendly products become more attractive to customers?
From the interviews with customers at the supermarket, I found that the main reasons as to why people tend to buy traditional products rather than eco-friendly products are either because they simply weren’t aware of them or because they found them too expensive. How can this be solved? Most of the time the price cannot be easily changed, as this might mean that companies producing them might have to resort to non-ethical methods such as using cheap labour in less developed countries and non-eco-friendly methods or ingredients which would defeat the initial purpose. The most logical solution would be to promote eco-friendly products through several deals and offers in stores, use social influencers to promote the products to further influence people to buy them and spread the news to their family and peers.
Labels showing why the product is eco-friendly
Customers can be encouraged to buy eco-friendly products
...through education and policies from the government to promote them
Education in schools, informative programs on television, advertisements, blogs, and articles can also be used to promote eco-friendly products. ... Another aspect to encourage this is for the central government to establish policies that encourage citizens to pursue buying eco-friendly products such as tax incentives.
Conclusion:
Our resources aren’t infinite, everyone must do their part to develop new ideas while protecting our heritage and natural sites. That’s why to maintain the lifestyle that we’ve grown accustomed to, we shall use more ethical alternatives to minimise our impact on climate change for the coming generations as much as possible. The pricing is mainly affected by how greedy and power-hungry some world leaders and large corporations are and will continue to be unless shown otherwise by choosing more ethical alternatives so that they invest in these products and facilities for their manufacturing for a better life. For a better future, for the people of today and tomorrow. Climate Change is a ticking time bomb.
Bibliography:
Kathy. (2019, January 7) Why Are Eco-Friendly Products More Expensive? Clarify Green. https://clarifygreen.com/eco-friendly-products-cost-more/
By Your Europe (2022, September 12). EU Eco Labels. https://europa.eu/youreurope/business/product-requirements/labelsmarkings/ecolabel/index_en.htm
Irina Ivanova (2019, March 12) Buying "green" is too pricey for the average consumer. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/buying-green-is-too-pricey-for-the-averageconsumer/
Dance to the Beat but Beat the Litter
Jay Agius
Over the past few years, mass music events in the Maltese Islands have become a major point of interest in the lives of both locals and tourists. A rough estimation of 60,000 people attend these mass music events each time one is held. This large number of attendees can potentially lead to a devastatingly large impact on the environment that is around us. Unfortunately not many people choose to acknowledge how truly damaging these mass music events can be to the world around us.
For me to get a clearer image of the impacts of these events, an interview was held with Malta Tourism Authority’s Artistic Director Mr. Lionel Gerada responsible for the organisation of Summerdaze and Isle of MTV. The first and most important point that came across is that the reduction of the environmental impacts during such large events is not as straight forward as one may believe. Organizing these events with environmental conservation in mind is a far more complex idea than it sounds.
When mass music events are held, litter and traffic are the two most pressing environmental impacts that can be easily observed by the public. When these points were discussed with Mr. Gerada it was found that these two issues have been acknowledged and measures are being taken to reduce these impacts as much as possible. Mr. Gerada stated that Malta Tourism Littering after a mass music event on The Granaries Floriana
Authority works alongside Cleansing Malta in the hopes that the amount of waste produced at such events is minimized as much as possible. New procedures and precautions are adopted each year when organizing mass music events. In past events these included bins to separate waste, reusable cups and washing stations as well as cold fireworks. Mr. Gerada explained that when one goes to a music event, the average person purchases a drink every 30 minutes, potentially amounting to almost 900,000 cups or bottles of water being purchased and thrown out. With this in mind, it could be concluded that the use of reusable cups was a successful initiative because the use of around 900,000 one-time use cups or bottles was avoided.
Mr Gerada also stated that in addition to this, Malta Tourism Authority works alongside Transport Malta to create traffic management plans when such events are held. These plans include additional bus routes from localities such as Sliema, Bugibba and other densely populated areas, to the venue where the event is to be held. These extra bus routes aid in the reduction of traffic on roads and in the reduction of pollution from cars and other vehicles. Along with these extra bus routes, open parking is provided, and a carpool campaign is launched in the hopes that attendees consider carpooling to and from the venue.
Apart from litter and traffic there are also much less obvious issues such as sound pollution. Mr. Gerada explained that when one is organizing and planning a mass music event there is a set of precautions that should be kept in mind during the entire process of setting up audio, speakers and sound systems. Sound pollution not only effects attendees but it also effects people who live in the surrounding areas of the venue.It may also have a large impact on those with sensitivity to noise, with neurological disorders such as autism, ADHD and SPD. It may also
Advertising reusable cups for Summerdaze Music Festival
cause distress to infants and young children as well as their guardians or other adults that have to attend work in early hours. It was explained that to prevent these complications, precautions are taken like setting up speakers facing away from building. Although Malta is exempted from EU’s directive on noise pollution, Mr Gerada stressed that mass music events organised by MTA still respect EU’s limit. The organisers therefore make sure that when setting up sound systems, the limit of 90Db in places at 100m from source is not exceeded.
A worrying statistic was published in the year 2021, offering a very brief insight into the damage rave-goers, city-hoppers and travelling musicians make on the world environment. It was shown that in 2019, 1000 touring DJs took more than 51,000 flights around the world, adding up to an equivalent amount of CO2 produced by over 20,000 households in a single year. With this being said, the music industry is making plans to further help the environment and creating less of an impact when organizing events. A Greener Festival is one of the longestrunning sustainable organizations in the industry and they are awarding the Green Festival Awards to festivals who apply and have a more sustainable environment, and more and more festivals are applying by the day.
When attending a mass music event, it is important to acknowledge the effects that we have on the environment around us. Organizers of mass music events are constantly brainstorming ways in which they can further decrease the impact their events have on the world around us. If awareness isn’t increased and precautions aren’t taken, we will further destroy our environment to a point of no return and the generations that will come after us will not get to experience the beauty that is truly held in the world itself. If we all put in effort as individuals and spread the necessary information, then we could help prevent the downfall of the world around us and possibly aid in the restoration of the environment.
Bibliography
National Geographic. 2023. Noise Pollution
https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/noisepollution/
Conserve Energy Future. 2023. Causes and Effects of Noise Pollution on Humans and Animals [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/causes-and-effectsof-noise-pollution.php
Ross, G. (2022, April 29) - The planet is our only dancefloor: how dance music events are adapting to sustainability https://mixmag.net/feature/dance-music-events-festivals-environment-sustainability-ims
Ramon Deguara (2019, 10 July) After Isle of MTV, Floriana wakes up clean: record 19 tonnes of waste collected Maltatoday
Żibel. (2019, August 14)
https://www.facebook.com/page/1648239328811772/search/?q=summerdaze
Music: the silent killer of the environment
Written by Ella Rose Clarke
Music is fulfilling and many people are passionate about it. Many people know that by streaming and playing their music they are supporting their favourite artist. What many people don’t know is that these actions have an impact on the environment.
Music is obviously not the no.1 concern when it comes to climate change and global warming but it’s still something we should give importance to and to hold ourselves accountable to change our habits because not many people know about the impacts.
We might not think it but streaming is actually very harmful for the environment, the internet is responsible for 2% of the world’s carbon emissions, this is because a ginormous amount of energy is used to stream music. This happens because before music is available to be streamed, it needs to be stored online and processed in Data centres. Although data centres only use 1% of worldwide electricity per year, some of this is coming from renewable energy sources but most of it unfortunately still comes from burning fossil fuels which is very limited nowadays.
The fact is, more people need to be aware of the effects streaming has on the environment. In a research I conducted of 9 people, 8 of them weren’t aware of the impacts on the environment but all of them said that they would be willing to reduce impacts if they were more aware of the situation. This just shows that many people are willing to make a change and difference in the world but need to be properly educated and not ill-informed.
Streaming music isn’t all bad though. It’s actually reduced the massive amounts of plastic used to make cd’s and vinyls as streaming
music has gotten increasingly popular since the early 2000’s. This has over all helped our plastic intake as not as many people have continued to buy vinyls + CDs. But with the rise of modern music and the fast-changing music industry, vinyl’s have become popular again (even though they are not the main source of listening to music anymore) and artists have started to add vinyls into their merchandise. This is because for many youth it’s seen as ‘cool’ or ‘trendy’ but they don’t realise the toll it takes on the environment, Leaving 2020 with 9.2 million vinyl sales in the US (11.2% more than in 2019 which sold 8.3 million sales). Vinyl is the furthest thing from sustainable as it is made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) a material extracted from chlorine and petroleum. Not only is the extraction of petroleum extremely damaging towards the environment, the workers of the factories that produce PVC are left at risk for various different types of cancer such as liver cancer, lymphoma and leukaemia. This is because highly toxic dioxins are created as a consequence of PVC manufacturing. Vinyl’s are made using steam boiler powered machinery which most of the time use non- renewable fossil fuels (which we all know are extremely valuable yet extremely limited). Chemicals such as carbon black, come out of burning petroleum substances and are used to improve the structural integrity of the vinyl records.
But not all hope is lost. A Toronto-based vinyl company uses an electrical powered boiler free pressing system. They’ve reduced fossil fuels, boiler chemicals and water usage and overall made their vinyls more sustainable. Let’s hope that this revolutionizes the way
Coloured vinyl and vinyl player
the industry so we can buy vinyls and not leave an imprint on the environment.
So what can we do to help? We can be more conscious of our decisions when buying alternative sources of music and when streaming.
Bibliography
Yassin, D. (2019, December 5) A Brief History of Streaming Services The Michigan Daily. www.michigandaily.com/music/brief-history-steaming-services/
Shaunagh Duncan. (2019, September 16). The Environmental Impact of Streaming Music. Bulb. https://bulb.co.uk/blog/environmental-impact-of-streaming-music
Tim Fujio. (2020, December 26). Setting Mind. https://settingmind.com/the-resurgence-of-vinylrecords-and-its-impact-on-theenvironment/#:~:text=According%20to%20Pitchfork%2C%20the%20conventional%20pressing%20pr ocess%20of,order%20to%20prevent%20rusting%2C%20resulting%20in%20contaminated%20waste water.
Coloured vinyl
chest vinyl player
