How you can celebrate sustainability this Earth Day

How are we helping to protect the planet?

At Crohn’s & Colitis UK, our main source of paper usage is sending thank you acknowledgements to our donors. We recently asked supporters how they’d like to be thanked after donating and 91.6% of those asked said they’d prefer an email to a letter. We listened and are happy to be making the change!

Going forward, if you donate and we have an email address for you, we’ll email you instead of sending a letter. We are also moving our paper-based resources onto our website, so they are accessible to our supporters.

For supporters who don’t use the internet and do need items to be posted out, we aim to print materials on paper that can be recycled. This helps offset the carbon footprint of posting materials out and give you the service you need.

For our merchandise, such as t-shirts, running tops and wristbands we are working with a new supplier to find out the most sustainable options for the future.

And for existing merchandise, we have this handy video of how to turn your old Crohn’s & Colitis UK t-shirt into a tote bag!

For members, our new Can’t Wait Cards will be a mix of FSC paper, vegetable-based ink, and PET plastic. This makes them much more sustainable and PET plastic can be recycled with your local authority if they can recycle plastic bottles.

How can you make small changes to help protect the planet?

With the cost of fuel prices dramatically increasing and the impact cars have on the environment becoming more apparent every day, some people are giving up their cars. If you choose to recycle your car through Giveacar you can also make a donation to us at the same time. To find out more visit their website.

If you’re thinking of having a good clear out, don’t forget to check Vintage Giving and see which items they will accept. That costume jewellery you thought wasn’t worth a thing may be just what they are looking for, and you can choose to donate to us at the same time as recycling your items. Vintage Giving even accept old foreign currency so it’s well worth looking into!

Looking to buy from more sustainable brands? If you shop through easyfundraising, Give As You Live and Savoo you can shop ethical and sustainable brands and also donate to us each time you shop. With brands like Thought Clothing, People Tree, Green People and Novica you are sure to find the right shop for you.

Thinking of doing some environmentally friendly fundraising?

Try these great fundraising ideas.

Finally, we recently heard about the incredible organisation Event Cycle and wanted to share this amazing piece of sustainability joy with you.

Born out of the pandemic, Event Cycle ‘repurpose and redistribute’ items to charities when they are no longer needed. They do this by clearing out corporate events such as conferences, expos, and music festivals.

Not only does this help charities get the items they need for free, but Event Cycle are tackling throw away culture by salvaging things that may have ended up in landfill sites!

Such an incredible initiative helping charities, communities, and the environment all in one go!