When you receive your order from AYA Natural Skin, you will first notice no beautiful packaging and no opportunity for a beautifully curated unpacking post. Instead, your order likely arrived in a plain brown box, maybe slightly worn, or it may be a colourful box of a brand for an item you’ve never heard of and certainly haven’t ordered. As you unpack, a sense of disappointment and irritation may creep in. Finally, after getting through all the bits of paper and cut-up cardboard, you eventually uncover your AYA Natural Skin order. It comes with a note: Thank you so much for choosing our AYA Natural Skin range; we try to reuse and recycle packaging as much as we can, so it’s not always the prettiest, but it’s packed with love and the best intentions. We have included a sample of our AYA SOS Serum (or another AYA Natural Skin product) for you to enjoy.
We get it! Whether you meticulously researched the whole concept of natural skincare. I wrote about how to navigate the world of natural skincare, you can find it here. You did more research to find the ideal natural skincare product to meet your specific needs (you can find our blog breaking down the different elements of natural), or instantly knew it was the right fit for your skin, you went online and ordered. You wait, expectantly, for your lovely natural skincare products to arrive and plan the unpacking, maybe even wondering how you will set up a stunning curated unpacking reel. The day comes, and your package is in your hands; you go through the many beautifully created printed and prepared layers of packaging to reveal the skin care product you so eagerly awaited. And then what? Well, you go on to use and enjoy all the lovely natural skincare products created with natural beauty enhancers or a selection of revitalising natural ingredients. But we ask again, isn’t there something you are forgetting? What happened to all of those beautifully created printed and prepared layers of packaging that your skincare products arrived in? What happened to it? Where did it go? Was it all recycled, upcycled, reused or repurposed, or did it just go into the bin and from there a landfill? A landfill that is already choking on all the waste created by the rampant consumption our generation is experiencing?
My first significant employment was in the shipping industry. A familial tradition influenced my choice to join the industry. My father was a ship’s sea captain who established his shipping agency in the Port of Durban, South Africa, in the early 1970s. I joined the corporate world and worked for a ship agency that serviced the oil industry. We all know where this is going, right? Disenchanted with my chosen career and the dynamics of the shipping industry, I left to rediscover and redefine myself.
One evening, I went to an annual local film festival and watched ‘The Inconvenient Truth’, a movie produced by Al Gore, then a US presidential candidate. Realising the negative impact caused by the industry I recently left, I became, what I refer to when I am in a more humorous mood, ‘activated’. I embarked on an absolute crusade to change how I approached my life and become what I thought the world needed: another Eco Warrior (albeit a much more comfortable version of one).
I travelled to New York for a family function, and one of the things that struck me during the unpacking of the many presents was the paper packaging that came out of every gift. This event ignited my horror for superfluous, while beautiful, unnecessary paper packing. I remember hearing that the packaging waste would fill up the Empire State Building alone on the island of Manhattan during any Christmas season. That was a horrific image for me. The reality is that the statistics today for this are, in fact, far worse.
Packaging is a massive topic in and of itself. So, it is worthwhile to break it down. At AYA Natural Skin, we break it into essential and non-essential packaging. Essential packing is the packing we use for our natural skincare products. To sell our beautiful AYA Natural Skin products, we need packaging to put them in. All our product containers are either glass or aluminium, which is recyclable and reusable. Our pumps and pipettes are plastic, which has caused much debate over the years, but we are resigned to the reality of not having another choice in South Africa right now. Packing is essential to allow our products to be shipped and transported. Here is where there is a clear line for us. The shipping boxes we use for our products and the packaging to keep them safe are essential. Paper or cardboard specifically printed to improve our products' marketing and selling potential or our lovely customer’s unpacking experience; for us, that is non-essential.
According to the World Bank, paper waste is seventeen percent of world waste. In America, the average consumer uses more than seven hundred pounds (approximately three hundred and fifteen kilos) of paper each year. On average, sixty-eight million trees get cut down annually to manufacture these large quantities of paper. Estimations indicate that of paper consumed, twenty-five per cent ends up in landfills, and thirty-three per cent makes up municipal waste.
Another element of the “pretty” packing paper debate is that it is also seasonal; around holidays like Christmas, there is a massive rise in demand and an equal increase in waste. On average, two hundred and twenty-seven miles of Christmas wrapping paper are thrown away yearly in the UK. To put this into perspective, this is a similar distance from the earth to the moon. Around four million pounds (one hundred and eighty-one million kilos) of wrapping paper are used in the US alone. The monetary value of the paper used is approximately seven billion dollars. The reality check of all paper waste is that it ends up in a landfill if you don’t recycle it.
The statistics for paper waste are horrifying and also quite conflicting. On the one hand, you can read about the highly functional recycling depots, and the statistics are supportive and encouraging. On the other hand, you can read articles about greenwashing happening in the paper recycling industry. And be sure it is an industry. In South Africa, the statistics look very good for recycling. Still, you only need to look around at our landfills or speak to someone in the paper recycling industry to understand our dire situation.
When looking at the paper industry, issues arise not just from waste and its ramifications but also from the energy and resources used to create paper packaging. The three main concerns surrounding the effects of the paper industry are deforestation, biodiversity loss, and the reality of water scarcity.
A global perspective helps to grasp the full effect of the paper industry on deforestation. The demand for paper worldwide has been gradually increasing. Annually, the paper and paperboard industry produces four hundred and five million tons, representing between thirteen to fifteen per cent of the world's total wood consumption. This consumption has a significant environmental impact, with an estimated four to eight billion trees cut down each year. Every year, an area the size of Portugal gets deforested. While half of this is offset by regrowing forests, anyone living in these areas knows there are better solutions. It's important to note that 95% of deforestation takes place in the tropics. Countries on or around the tropics are notably poorer and, as such, more vulnerable to exploitation by conglomerates needing to offset their carbon footprints.
Big brands have been and are under pressure to offset their carbon footprint. One way to do this is through reforestation. Many NGOs promote this as part of their carbon offsetting package. In the case of reforestation, this may be greenwashing and not a good enough solution. This discussion can open the debate about whether carbon offsetting is a viable option to reduce carbon footprints or if carbon insetting is the better approach. But that is another can of worms. We are just not going there!
Deforestation is the most significant contributing factor to the decline in biodiversity; habitat loss for animals and plants is the most destructive aspect. To break this down in world percentages, eighty per cent of amphibian species, seventy-five per cent of bird species, and sixty-eight per cent of mammal species live and survive in indigenous forests. The destruction of their natural habitat makes it harder to source their diet and, in turn, more challenging for survival.Deforestation is to blame for the endangerment of some species that live in the forests, ultimately threatening the survival of certain species and leading to their ultimate extinction.
I am not even going into the apparent reality of temperature change, which is devastating. If you have ever cut down a tree and then stood in the beating sun in the place of that tree, you feel first-hand the effects. The reality is that deforestation is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Forests act as carbon sinks, meaning carbon dioxide gets stored in the vegetation and soil. When forests get cleared, the carbon is released back into the atmosphere, raising greenhouse gas emissions. Once the land is bare, with no forests to protect it, it begins to erode, and the fertile topsoil gets destroyed, preventing future biodiverse systems from flourishing.
When an area is deforested, all the trees are cut down and removed. The vegetation that remains behind starts to dry out. As a result of the destruction of the forest, the natural ability to self-regulate temperature diminishes, and the area will start to heat up, drying the remaining vegetation even faster. The remaining drying vegetation is more susceptible to catching fire, creating conditions suitable for wildfires to start and spread. Deforestation sets off a chain of events that causes significant environmental challenges, like increased risk of wildfires.
In South Africa, we have experienced the devastating effects of wildfires many times. Deforestation has played a role in this. Between 2015 and 2021, we lost five per cent of our forest area, more than six thousand hectares. In terms that we as South Africans understand easily, that is six thousand, three hundred and seventy-three rugby fields. The most significant portion of forest area loss happened in 2017, and it was in June 2017 when the devastating Knysna fires took place, destroying 20,000 hectares of vegetation.
Reforestation without a regenerative approach as a solution is flawed. For reforestation to be part of the solution instead of the problem, addressing the challenges facing reforestation is imperative. Simply replacing the diverse and richly varied ecosystem with the fertile and wealthy soil of an older forest with a fast-growing and cost-effective single tree type can have devastating effects. Reforestation also contributes significantly to wildfires when a monoculture tree (many single species of tree planted side by side), like the Eucalyptus tree in Portugal, is used. The Eucalyptus tree is fast-growing and a good source of wood pulp, but it is not a tree that plays into a biodiverse ecosystem as other trees don’t grow well alongside them; they are highly flammable and not embraced by the insect world.
Reforestation needs to be completely regenerative. Rather than being a band-aid for big corporations to manage their carbon offsets, it must heal and restore, ensuring, addressing, and enabling biodiversity and also empowering the land's inhabitants to be custodians and advocates for the land. Most importantly, reforesting must aim to regrow and create a magnificent forest that will continue to thrive, grow and expand. One of the papers I read spoke about the need to focus on growing trees for the long term, shifting away from simply planting large numbers of trees and instead concentrating on planning, protecting and restoring the ecosystems of the forests.
I need to raise two more points about the paper industry and then promise to get down from my soapbox. Firstly, The paper industry is water-intensive and one of the largest water-consuming industries. The paper industry uses up to ten per cent of the fresh water in some countries. It is incomprehensible when you think about the dire straits of the water constraints in this world. The other aspect regarding water usage is the resulting wastewater from production and how most companies are not adequately addressing that. An innovative company I read about, Paper on the Rocks, produces paper sourced from stone and no water is used in its production. Technology and innovation exist, but they need to be embraced and implemented.
Secondly, the paper industry is also one of the most energy-intensive industries. A considerable amount of electricity is needed to operate a paper mill. The pulp and paper industry ranks fourth in energy consumption amongst sectors worldwide. This industry contributed around five per cent of world industrial energy consumption and two per cent of CO2 emissions. There is still a significant expected growth forecast for the pulp and paper industry by 2050.
What does this have to do with us at AYA Natural Skincare? When your skincare from another brand arrives and is beautifully packaged and presented, just pause for a moment and acknowledge the actual cost to all of us on this beautiful planet. Instead, consider making your TikTok or reel about why skincare brands should not want or need to do this and recognise the superfluousness of satisfying endless consumer needs.
I will not embrace that perfect overload of beautifully printed paper for two, at the most, feel-good moments. Moreover, AYA Natural Skin will only use packaging with the smallest carbon footprint we can. That’s why our packaging is quite simply not attractive; we reuse and recycle, and it's usually ugly.