Eco watch: 4 Positive environmental stories to kickstart 2024
As we embark on a new year, we find it important to seek out positive environmental stories that bring hope and inspiration. In a world facing climate change amongst many environmental challenges, it's uplifting to highlight the progress being made towards a sustainable future.
In this blog post, we've gathered four remarkable environmental stories that will kickstart your 2024 with optimism. Let's explore these inspiring tales and discover the transformative power of environmental action together.
Cigarette recycling: Slovakia is transforming filters into asphalt for roads
Bratislava, Slovakia’s capital, is planning on turning cigarette filters into roads, with the city’s waste management company announcing a new push to collect and reuse discarded cigarettes in 2024. They already kickstarted a collection campaign during the Christmas season, and aim to collect both standard cigarette filters and those found in modern heated tobacco devices like vapes.
The concept itself isn't exactly new, in fact Australian researchers found the concept and its many benefits in 2017, but it is a huge step forward for a country where about a third of adults are smokers.
Mixing filters with the asphalt not only helps lock the toxic chemicals within the road surface, avoiding them polluting water or ground supplies, but also helps the road itself withstand heavy traffic and cool the road, helping to mitigate the problem of urban heat in cities.
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Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon down by 50% to five-year low in 2023
Efforts by Brazil to reduce deforestation in its country’s segment of the Amazon are working. Preliminary data from national space agency Inpe showed 5,153 sq km (1,989.6 sq miles) of the Amazon were cleared in 2023, down from 10,278 sq km in 2022.
Whilst this doesn't mean deforestation has fully been eliminated, it is an encouraging sign that the tide is turning. Brazil’s president has pledged to end illegal clearing by 2030.
The Amazon rainforest is home to about three million species of plants and animals, and one million indigenous people. Around 60% of it is located in Brazil.
Data centres could soon be heating your local swimming pool
Deep Green, a UK tech startup, has developed a scheme which recycles heat from computer data processing centres and reuses the energy to heat swimming pools, whilst cooling data centres at the same time. The startup has already piloted the concept trialled last year in Exmouth, Devon.
The project has received £200m funding from Octopus Energy, a green energy provider in the UK, a move that could result in up to 150 pools around the UK using this system.
While some data centres already share excess heat with communities, often via district heating networks, Deep Green’s approach is different because rather than having a large data centre housed in a single location, it splits the data centre into multiple small units, and spreads them throughout the community to share their heat for free.
Flora Unveils ‘World First’ Plastic-Free Paper Tubs For Vegan Spreads
After removing all dairy from the Flora products last year, parent company Upfield has collaborated with Footprint to produce plastic-free, recyclable paper tubs for its plant butter spreads. This more sustainable packaging, which took 4 years and over 300 prototypes to succeed, is also waterproof and oil-proof. The company is also working towards obtaining home compostability certification for the tubs by 2025.
The roll out began with Austria in late 2023 and is expected to reach other European countries in 2024. More Upfield brands are also expected to adopt the packaging. It’s part of an overall strategy to use the new plastic-free tubs to replace up to two billion plastic tubs by 2030, and combat 25,000 tonnes of plastic waste each year.
As a sustainable fitness yoga mat company, we truly believe in the interconnection between personal well-being and the health of our planet. By sharing these stories, we hope to ignite a sense of possibility and motivate you to join us in making a positive impact on the Earth.
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