Monday, December 2Royal Holloway's offical student publication, est. 1986

Tag: sustainability

Naughty or nice? Festive traditions and how to stay on the environmental ‘nice list’ this Christmas
Lifestyle, News

Naughty or nice? Festive traditions and how to stay on the environmental ‘nice list’ this Christmas

It’s festive season, folks! While this time of year can be a foggy mess of mince pies and mulled wine, turkey and family issues, the joyous cries of Cousin Bertha receiving her third Fenty lip-gloss are drowned out by the planet screaming at us to get our act together. The UK alone produces an additional 3 million tonnes of waste at Christmas and fills 100 million bin bags every time the season comes around. The problem here is the high levels of methane gas and CO2 emitted from landfills, which cause global warming. If that doesn’t make you stop and think, just one single tonne of landfill costs us £56 in taxes, which could definitely help pay for Auntie Jackie’s presents this year. These are some astonishing figures that may put a dampener on our yuletide cheer, but not to fear, w...
Talking Trash
Opinion

Talking Trash

Plastic is still a relatively new material, but it has transformed all aspects of our lives, and the world today would look very different without it. But 60 years later, 6.3 billion tonnes of plastic waste has been produced, and 79% of that is in landfill or in the natural environment. The impact of this is immense; plastic waste produces huge amounts of greenhouse gases, and can be fatal for marine life when it ends up in the ocean. The real issue lies with single-use plastic in the form of plastic bottles, food packaging, and the like, which despite being used only once, take 450 years to decompose. Reducing our use of these items could make a tangible difference, and we’ve all heard the stats, so what stops us from making more eco-friendly choices? Not buying single-use plastic a...