The Freebie Fallout From COP26
If you’ve been in Glasgow at all this week you may have noticed that the COP26 logo is everywhere, particularly in the city centre where “Freebies” are being handed out.
Does this affect the environment though? And if so, how and why?
Everyone loves a free pen or badge but when COP26 and other groups hand these out there are always spares, and lots of them. Unfortunately the majority of these spares end up as waste.
So should I just not accept any freebies during COP26?
No, feel free to take as many T-shirts and pens as you want! It’s what they are there for and you’re preventing waste by taking them. Though items like badges or pamphlets are likely to end up in the dump, clothing, bags and pens will probably be used day after day. In fact, just yesterday CEN journalists were given t-shirts from COP25 that had been repurposed for raising awareness about veganism, which shows that freebies can be sustainable.
As COP26 continues more and more, questions about the impact people have on the environment will be raised but maybe it’s time that we start to consider the impact COP26 will have, and how free products can influence it for better or for worse.
By Christopher Govan and Cameron Lobban
