WIN a festive Tanqueray No. Ten gift set to add style to any occasion
WIN a festive Tanqueray No. Ten gift set to add style to any occasion

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Empowering women through the iCare Christmas Charity Appeal supporting Aoibhneas
Empowering women through the iCare Christmas Charity Appeal supporting Aoibhneas

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How do you bridge the gap between new parents and the childfree?
How do you bridge the gap between new parents and the childfree?

Roe McDermott

Interior designer Deirdre O’Connell shares her tips for styling your home this winter
Interior designer Deirdre O’Connell shares her tips for styling your home this winter

Megan Burns

My Start-Up Story: Alina Oleksiienko on mom guilt and the power of baby steps
My Start-Up Story: Alina Oleksiienko on mom guilt and the power of baby steps

Sarah Finnan

Party palettes to see you through the season
Party palettes to see you through the season

Holly O'Neill

The perfect Irish-made Christmas gift for your teen (and some ideas for everyone else too!)
The perfect Irish-made Christmas gift for your teen (and some ideas for everyone else too!)

Lizzie Gore-Grimes

The ultimate gift guide for a whiskey lover
The ultimate gift guide for a whiskey lover

Dominique McMullan

Social Pictures: The IMAGE Business Club Christmas party
Social Pictures: The IMAGE Business Club Christmas party

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An extensive renovation opened up this compact Dublin 4 home
An extensive renovation opened up this compact Dublin 4 home

Sarah Finnan

Image / Editorial

These Eco-Conscious Brands Are Saving The World In Style


By Geraldine Carton
22nd Jan 2018
These Eco-Conscious Brands Are Saving The World In Style

If you’re horrified by the sight of a piece of plastic cutlery floating along in an otherwise pristine ocean, a seahorse with a used cotton bud in its grasp, or a mountain of landfill waste overflowing into a rural town, then let it be known that an alternative reality is possible.

Image via National Geographic

Every day more and more companies and organisations that are making it easier for us to change our current habits. From reusable food wrap, to keep cups, sustainable fashion, and chemical-free beauty products, we’re being presented with an endless amount of opportunities to guide our world away from impending doom.

Here’s how you can get on board these forward-thinking brands and get yourself on the right side of history. If not for yourself, then for that seahorse with the cotton earbud…

To Go Wear 

Plastic cutlery makes up a considerable bulk of landfill contents these days, and worse still, they’re littering the world’s waters like it’s nobody’s business. In 2016 France addressed this issue by passing a law which bans all plastic cutlery once and for all. It doesn’t come into effect until 2020 though, so in the meantime, how about getting ahead of the game investing in a set of discreet travel cutlery? They’re all the rage in California.

Image via Barbara Walton/EPA

S’well Bottles/ Chilly’s bottles

Drinks bottles are one the most common types of plastic waste. About 480 billion plastic bottles were sold globally in 2016 – that’s a million bottles per minute. To add to the turmoil, less than 7% of these are made into new bottles. Plastic bottle tops are currently not recyclable, and they (along with plastic bags and cutlery) are finding their way into the stomachs of water creatures who mistake them for food.

And if that’s not bad enough, plastic bottles contain Bisphenol A (BPA), the chemical used to make the plastic hard and clear. This was declared a toxic substance by Canada in 2010, and was banned from baby bottles by the EU in 2011, so it’s really not something you’d want to be ingesting.

Investing in a reusable, durable BPA-free bottle, on the other hand, will make a really positive impact on both the environment and your health. Chilly’s and S’well bottles have a gorgeous range of colours and designs.

Chilly’s bottles (Image via chillysbottles.com

STOCK Design store, Dublin

STOCK design store is undoubtedly a purveyor of kitchen class and household style, and it has a whole host of eco-friendly items to choose from. The next time you’re in the nation’s capital, make a STOCK stop and pick yourself up a stainless steel lunch box, a DPA-free Bobble bottle, or a light and bright lunch bag.

The Little Green Shop 

One of the coolest items we’ve spotted on this website is the reusable beeswax food wrap. Tin foil and cling film seems like something from the 1950’s in comparison to these beauts, so if you want to be as eco-savvy as you are stylish, consider investing in some pretty beeswax-treated cotton for your BYO lunch. You’ll be amazed by how significantly a set or two will reduce your waste levels.

Trilogy

A skincare brand that uses only 100% natural, eco-friendly products? Just shut up and take my money. Trilogy takes it commitment to ethical, environmental and social responsibility very seriously. Their rosehip oil is also a particular favourite of Kate Middleton, who used it during her pregnancy with Princess Charlotte. Need we say more?

Edun

A really impressive brand that recently caught our eye,  New York-based creative collective EDUN is making ready-to-wear clothing and accessory collections by with artisans, manufacturers and community-based initiatives throughout the African continent. Their aim is to develop high-end designer products that champion ethical and sustainable fashion and use a range of organic, recycled, and upcycled fabric. In short, EDUN is creating clothes in a way that represents the future of fashion, one that we can be proud of.

Image via sweetgreenstudios.com

 

Main Image via edun.com