How to make your Valentine’s Day Eco-friendly!

It’s Valentine’s Day! The most romantic day of the year. Well, it might be romantic, but it’s certainly not sustainable, with its long history of gift-giving and card-writing having evolved in a huge industry.  

Thankfully, you don’t have to kill a tree for a bunch of cards or cut down some lovely roses that will wither away in a couple of days – we’ve got a couple ideas on how to make your Valentine’s Day sustainable AND romantic! 
 
 
1. The Card 

Let’s be honest – Valentine’s Day without a handwritten cheesy poem to your loved one just isn’t the same. But you don’t have to go for a standard card – brands like Botanical PaperWorks offer a variety of eco-friendly products that are not just adorable (including the option to make your own!), but actually compostable and embedded with seeds that bloom into beautiful flowers!  

2. The Chocolate 

Chocolate! Who doesn’t love it? But chocolate is a highly competitive industry, with the cocoa plantation driving deforestation and farmers often relying on child labour to help with growing, harvesting and the transportation of cocoa beans.  

But don’t despair – eco-friendly and Fairtrade chocolate is thankfully on the rise, with brands such as Chocolate and Love implementing high ethical standards for their chocolate production. 

Created by Danish couple Scot Richard O’Connor and Birgitte Hovmand, the brand aims to make organic and ethical chocolate at an affordable price. All the ingredients come from sustainable sources, including cacao from sourced from small, family-run farms in Madagascar, Peru, Panama and the Dominican Republic. Their packaging is FSC-certified, just like ours! They also help planting trees in Ethiopia to help offset the production of the paper wrapper. 

 3. The Flowers

Flowers are a great way to show your love. Sadly, loads of flowers are cut for Valentine’s Day and remain unsold, withering away without the chance of showing a loved one how much they mean to you. An even if they do get the chance, bouquets will land in the bin after a couple of days. Now, that doesn’t necessarily have to be the case! For example, you can buy a potted plant instead, which can be kept in the house or maybe be planted in the garden come spring (fancy rose bushes, anyone?). Alternatively, seeds are also a great idea – just watch as your flowers grows every day, just as your love! 

 4. The Gift

Gifts can be tough – it really depends what your loved one likes! But thankfully, nowadays there are eco-friendly alternatives to virtually anything.  

Candles? 

The Rose Tree makes vegan-friendly luxurious candles poured by hand in the UK from 100% vegetable wax. 

Jewellery?

How about Wild Fawn Jewellery, who produces long-lasting jewellery in their eco-friendly London studio and is committed to recycled packaging and a low carbon footprint.  

 
and Lingerie…?

Check out Lara Intimates, a UK-based company making beautiful underwear from recycling unused luxury fabric bound for the rubbish bin. They also have a zero-waste policy! 

 5. The Dinner

We’ll be honest with you, even though you may not like it: the most sustainable and eco-friendly dinner is a vegan one. And it can be so tasty! First of all, cooking yourself will help minimise your own carbon footprint (and it’s also much healthier!). Secondly, try implementing organic food, for example by using ‘ugly’ veggies by brands such as Wonky’s veg boxes. By doing so, you can help reduce food waste all while making a great meal from veggies that are just as tasty as their pretty, supermarket approved friends! 

Do you have more ideas on how to make Valentine’s Day more sustainable? Let us know in the comments!