EcoBalance Lifestyle Magazine will be focusing on bringing balance back into our everyday lives through articles and features that encourage making the right choices within our environment. We aim to give informative, inspiring yet honest articles that are making a difference to the environment. The magazine will feature products and advertising that have a strong environmentally friendly, green focus or are bio-degradable (easily broken down) and practice sustainability values.
PUBLISHER’S Note
eco balance Lifestyle
CONTRIBUTORS
MAKE RECYCLING A lifestyle • Charity begins at home and so does recycling. The decision to actively move towards a zero waste or at least, reduced waste lifestyle may seem daunting, however it is quite easy to implement certain changes in the home (and office) in order to contribute to reducing waste.
KNOW YOUR recycling SYMBOLS • We all know the basics of recycling: sort waste into paper, plastic, glass, tin and food items and ensure it is clean, however did you know you can make your recycling efforts more effective by ensuring you only recycle what CAN actually be recycled.
WHAT’S IN A word?
THE REFILLERY a plastic-free GROCERY STORE • My recent visit to this forward-thinking store owned by Dom and Samantha Moleta, was well worth it. This stylish plastic-free grocery store – one of the first of its kind in South Africa – is an exciting and different shopping experience and offers customers the opportunity to adopt a zero-waste lifestyle. The store is well stocked and prices are reasonable, making it accessible to most people. It satisfies the 6 ‘must-haves’ when shopping: it’s stylish; light; airy, convenient, clean and has a personal touch.
Eco FINDS FOOD & DRINK
Melanie Walker’s Grounded INTERVIEW
IS BOTTLED WATER THE beauty OR THE BEAST? • Bottled water only accounts for approximately 8,9% of the total non-alcoholic beverage sector, whilst sparkling soft drinks make up a substantial 69,3%. Yet the bottled water industry continues to face criticism regarding its contribution to plastic pollution – this despite innovations by the major players to become more sustainable and minimise their impact on the environment.
The PlantBottle™
Bonaqua’s 100% Recycled Bottle
MAKE A difference #STRAWSSUCK • In 2018 the United Nations estimated that over 100 000 marine animals die from plastic pollution per annum. It is also a fact that in our lifetime, our oceans will be home to more plastic than fish, which could take up to 200 years to decompose, whilst permeating its way into our food chain and harming sea and birdlife across the world.
LOCAL RESTAURANTS SAY NO TO PLASTIC STRAWS
Eco FINDS STRAWS • Alternative choices to plastic straws.
THE SATISFACTION of refusing
How to break CONSUMER HABITS
Would you go foundation-free on your wedding day?
CAN A ZERO-WASTE lifesyle BE ACHIEVED? • Waste is a massive problem and these ‘Zero to no waste’ regular columns will focus on it. One of our feature articles this month, ‘Eco waste – the solution begins in the home,’ talks about waste in detail, the types of waste we’re dealing with on this ever ecologically stressed planet and some of the things we can do about it.
An inspiring HOME with personality
Eco FINDS ALL THINGS HANDMADE
Eco FINDS ALL THINGS NATURAL
DRAB TO fab • Office chair refurbishment…
DRAB TO fab • Flamingo chair…
COFFEE CAPSULES dream solution OR ENVIRONMENTAL NIGHTMARE? • Since the arrival of the first Nespresso coffee capsules in 1986, the single-use capsule market has grown in popularity, however along with this growth has come concerns regarding the environmental impact of the millions of used capsules which are being generated. In this article we look at what...