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Tree Planting Project

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Unprecedented times

Planet earth is currently having a very rough time. We produce more than 380 million tons of plastic yearly, about the equivalent of the entire human population’s weight. Meanwhile, we are also cutting down 10 million hectares of forests over the same period — an area ten times the Netherlands’ size, or almost equalling England’s.

The truth is, we are currently using the earth’s resources at an unprecedented rate. Our way of consuming has become increasingly unsustainable over the past decades. That’s why our decisions right now matter more than ever.

That’s why we are proud that offering natural and plastic-free products is the foundation of WasteFree. It’s our way of trying to make the world a little better.

Sustainable initiatives

However, there is always an extra step you can take. For example, in our case, teaming up with like-minded organisations. Because we also believe that working together on ambitious initiatives can lead to fruitful contributions. This month we have a collaboration with Bamboovement. Bamboovement works together with the International Association of Human Values (IAHV) and Eden Reforestation Projects (ERP).

They met Shailen Mittal, a core management member of IAHV UK, at an event in London. Since the start, a shared aspiration for restoring the world’s healthy state has been evident. He is the Climate Action Now (CAN) project leader, IAHV’s initiative to raise funds to plant as many trees as possible.

Tree planting

Shailen’s open-mindedness, passionate drive, and network paved the way for their new partnership. Because through IAHV, Bamboovement came into contact with ERP, a world expert in tree planting with hundreds of million trees on the counter. They work in eight different countries and lead over two hundred local projects. You can find a detailed overview of their complete portfolio on this website. 

Why Eden Reforestation Projects?

There’s an increasing number of NGOs working hard to combat deforestation. So why did Bamboovement choose to partner up with IAHV and ERP?

To answer that question, let’s look at the effects of deforestation: severe flooding, erosion, and desertification. Particularly local ecosystems and communities feel these consequences. Native biodiversity heavily declines, and local people are pushed into extreme poverty because the land sustaining them doesn’t exist anymore. That is why they believe the key to successful tree planting projects is to engage the local population actively.

Employ-to-Plant

ERP’s “Employ-to-Plant vision” is a beautiful initiative that recognises the stake of those local communities. By hiring villagers to grow seedlings and plant trees, they provide them with a consistent income. As the reforestation project continues, healthy forests reappear. Meanwhile, the adverse effects of deforestation start to fade. 

The core values of the Employ-to-Plant method are: 

• working with villages to restore their forests;
• educating locals in exchange for a fixed income;
• collecting native seeds from remaining forests;
• achieving a seedling survival rate of at least 80%.

A growing movement

You might feel discouraged when you read the facts in the first paragraph. Or when you watch the news, and you see horrifying images and videos of bushfires lighting up in every corner of the world. However, an incredible growing movement is working hard to preserve the earth’s rich biodiversity.

Countries from every corner of the world see the benefits of protecting forests and their ecosystems. Ethiopia is a great example. In 2019, they broke a record by planting 350 million trees in one day. Their new goal? To plant five billion trees to preserve their national forests. Also, new policies are put into place all over the world to take action against plastic pollution. African nations are leading the way in banning plastic items. Finally, also Western countries are following in their footsteps by putting stricter policies into place.

The goal

We are aware that producing and shipping products lead to CO2 emissions. That is why Bamboovement have set themselves the goal of calculating the ecological footprint of their products. As a result, they know what to do to offset the emissions of our range fully.

By planting trees, they can offer CO2-neutral and ultimately CO2-negative products. CO2 negative is climate positive. For these types of products, more CO2 is stored than the production process requires. In 2022 they want to contribute to valuable forest restoration with at least 100.000 trees.