18-03-2019.
Today is the second anniversary of Global Recycling Day. And while you may join me in thinking that we have surely been raising awareness for something as important as recycling for many, many more years than … well two, the thing to note here is that there finally is a global recycling day to celebrate. We’re moving in the right direction, albeit slowly.
We have been celebrating and implementing the concept of recycling for many years at Londolozi. In fact, our journey started 93 years ago with a love affair of the land, where you could even say that Londolozi itself is a product of recycling… taking a derelict cattle farm that had seemingly reached the end of its lifespan and breathing new life into it, slowly growing it into the pristine wilderness that it is today. This journey of re-wilding and wild recycling connected us with one very important teacher – Ken Tinley. Through his teachings, we learned the importance of partnering with the land to create the abundance of nature that we celebrate and share with all of you today.
So what does it take to protect and fight for our wilderness home? Small, consistent, steady actions. Every day acts of kindness to the planet will strengthen our connection to the land. It’s not going to take one grand gesture. The time for grand gestures is over. Instead, a quiet and careful shift in our hearts and minds will slowly begin to win back the respect that we, as greater humanity, have lost for our world.
“Once we have ruined and used up this Eden there is no other, no second world hanging in the sky that we can blithely move to, as if we were changing houses. This beautiful and endangered planet is the only one we have” – Gerald Durrell
While we celebrate only the second Global Recycling day today, we are proud to be a part of a global movement that has begun to recognize the importance of these small acts of kindness to our planet. And on a day like today, the idea of thinking globally yet acting locally is as pertinent as it has ever been. One such act of kindness that we practice at Londolozi is to be a part of the growing eco-bricking phenomenon – where pieces of non-recyclable plastic are pushed into a 2-litre plastic bottle and, when full, can be used to build with. While we are continuously working on refusing as much single-use plastic as we can within our supply chain, the next level of kindness is to re-use non-recyclable plastic for something good and to keep that plastic away from landfills and our oceans.
It is our plan to use the eco-bricks that our Londolozi family have made, and continue to make, to build part of our refurbished waste-management center. This is just one small act of kindness that we can show to our own ecosystem as we continue to restore Eden.
As always, the act of recycling shouldn’t be a ‘one-hit-wonder’ that we do as a token on one day of the year. It should be something that we incorporate into our daily lives, and place top of mind and centre of heart. We challenge all of you to get involved in one small act of kindness to our planet today, and to let us know, in the comments below or by tagging us on social media, what you plan to do (or have done already) to take part in this very important day. Better yet, share your daily recycling habits that might inspire others to continue their own acts of kindness to the planet.
#Londolozi #TheLondoloziEffect #SmallActsofKindness #NewSystemsForLiving #ReWilding #TheHomeOfRestoration
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It is so true that we have only this one planet and now is the time to take care of it. We’ve got to go back to living a simple life. Stop using plastic. Go back to basics.
Thanks, Mardinda, we completely agree.
Interesting idea. Can’t wait to see what you’ll make using the eco-bricks!
We will keep you updated Mary Beth 🙂 I hope that you and Bob are well.
It saddens me to observe rampant disregard for our planet through the blatant refusal to follow recycling rules. Novel ideas such as Londolozi’s are another step in the right direction and it’s so easy!! Thank you for your blog. Have to run – time to recycle my coffee grounds….😘📷📷
Thanks so much, Denise. We feel that every small bit helps, and we have found that eco-bricking has been such a successful way of bringing the community together for a shared cause.
Ah, the eco brick. Very commendable and when stuffed, surprisingly robust.
Yes, it’s amazing how sturdy it feels when it’s full, Ian. 🙂
We recycle everything our municipality will take, but recycling still takes a lot of energy and resources, so we try to reduce consumption instead. In the US our society seems absolutely addicted to bottled water (which is ridiculous to me given how advanced our systems are as a whole) and single use plastic grocery bags. Many years ago I got in the habit of carrying a tumbler with me everywhere. Even when I go out to lunch I bring it in the restaurant with me and fill it with water so I’m not using a plastic cup. I also bring reusable shopping totes anytime I shop, which seems like a cliche at this point, but so few people do it. Both are such small acts, but over several years has saved countless bags and cups from going into the trash or recycling.
Chelsea this is amazing – thank you for sharing your acts of kindness to the planet with us. While they might seem trivial we wholeheartedly believe that every small bit counts and that it can’t be about huge change all at once, it has to be the small daily actions that will begin to make great change. Thanks again for sharing, we appreciate it so much.
My family has been recycling our plastic through the eco-bricks intiative for almost a year now and I’ve been making sure we don’t throw any of our plastic away.
Amazing, Callum. Keep it up – every little bit helps.
We can now recycle nearly all our plastics where I live (Wiltshire, England – and they’re collected from our door). I’ve replaced my plastic water bottles I took to work with my new super-duper Londolozi flask, and for years I’ve taken my Londolozi tote bag when I go shopping (though the handles are wearing a bit thin!) On another note, have you ever looked at using bamboo for your clothing range? – it’s really eco-friendly. I’ve been buying clothes and sports/yoga wear for years from an English company (BAM clothing); they mix bamboo with a small amount of organic cotton and it’s super soft.