20/04/2021
EARTH DAY SOLIDARITY / 20 APRIL 2021
(check out attached links)
Launched six months ago, ARCO Violin has been re-using clean bubble wraps from received importations to pack orders of clients— along with cut cardboard from local groceries.
The use of bubble wraps has been a long practice by online shops and is a mandate by online markets like Shopee and Lazada, and their couriers. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, both consumers and businesses engaged almost drastically to online shopping— not to mention the small start-ups that launched recently, like ARCO Violin.
There has arisen a problem with regards to the now increasing demand in online markets: the wasteful, excessive use of plastic from packing and shipping orders. 12 minutes is the average time it takes an online shopper to throw the packaging used to ship their order. It was also estimated in 2020 that the plastic packaging would go up by 300% with regards to our current situation.¹ Even if we eradicate COVID-19 successfully, the unmindful excessive use of plastic would remain.
ARCO Violin is committed to good service. It has come into fruition the goal of transitioning to sustainable packaging— just an idea a month ago, to respect the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement. This is in service for our home, and a strive for a beautiful heart.
In the violin, it so easy to buildup bad habits and thus practice ineffectively. Let us hope to find in us a goal to sustainable growth— in ways where we challenge ourselves: to identify problems and bad habits, and to resolve using better ways— whether this be in our craft or our personal lives.
To quote Greta Thunberg, “the moment we decide to fulfil something, we can do anything.” Small actions like signing this petition for plastic-free online shopping would be a great way to start. ²
There are much things universal: love, music, self preservation— a lot of which immaterial. The earth, is but the grandest, most beautiful and most natural material everyone has.
What would Vivaldi’s Four Seasons sound like if it were written today? While we nurture in us a beautiful tone and a beautiful heart, let us always include the world we live in.
¹ https://www.greenpeace.org/philippines/story/10202/responsible-e-shopping-in-the-time-of-covid/
² https://www.bataris.org.ph/petitions/redesign-plastic?utm_campaign=plastic&utm_source=instagram.com&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link&utm_term=linktree