Wrap it! – Trees for Peace

Pack those Flowers?

With transportation being a challenge for us (we mostly use a taxi or bike to go around in Shanghai), we love the possibility of buying things we need on Taobao, a very popular online shopping website in China.

Delivered to our house, almost everything comes in perfect condition, not in the last place, because it has been wrapped very carefully. Sometimes this gives us a feeling of guilt, several layers of plastic… we’d like to be less wasteful.

Although it’s not just web shopping… also buying flowers in the local store can be a wasteful event, just look at these pictures of the bouquet I was surprised with:

Plastic is sooo cheap in China. Relatively new for lots of Chinese, who are used to bamboo leaves for wrapping and throw the plastic wrappings as were they bio-degradable.

Only two layers left... we're nearly there. Unwrapping takes also lots of time. Part of the fun?!? — Only two layers left… we’re nearly there. Unwrapping takes also lots of time. Part of the fun?!?

You hardly saw the roses in all these wrappings, and certainly not that two of the roses were broken... — You hardly saw the roses in all these wrappings, and certainly not that two of the roses were broken…

Of course these beautiful sheets can be used again in one of our creative craft sessions ;-) — Of course these beautiful sheets can be used again in one of our creative craft sessions 😉

More about waste management and “Evaluate How You Can Reduce Packaging Waste in Your Home”, have a look at this site from one of our favorite organizations, the World Wildlife Fund:

http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/teacher_resources/project_ideas/waste_management/.

(you’ll find there even a link to the WWF web shop, and they offer very precious virtual gifts :-)).