What price does the planet pay? How we can make more sustainable decisions this Black Friday
What price does the planet pay? How we can make more sustainable decisions this Black Friday
By Milly Morgan
Friday 29th marks this year’s Black Friday - an occasion that many will have pencilled into their diaries for months in the hopes of securing some deals ahead of the Christmas period.
However, while we may see it as an opportunity to bag a bargain, what price does the planet pay to meet the demands of this day?
In 2024 it is expected that the UK alone will spend a total of £9.15 billion on the Black Friday Sales – a crazy figure that stunned me beyond belief!
Now like everyone else, I’m all for a bargain, and can’t say that I will have the willpower to entirely refrain from making a cheeky purchase on Black Friday but we have to consider what effects this cultural event has on the environment and how we can celebrate it as ethically as possible.
In an article titled How to Destroy Fast Fashion clothing brand Two Thirds explained that many fashion brands don’t use Black Friday as a means of getting rid of excess stock, but instead produce entire new collections of clothes especially for the occasion. They wrote, “This means that even more high impact overproduction and waste occurs, with consumers and the planet suffering the consequences.”
And if the production of new clothing lines completely defeating the whole point of Black Friday wasn’t enough, the waste generated on this day spikes by 25%. This is a result of largely excessive packaging and product returns which only contribute further to clogging up landfill and ocean pollution.
As we see each year, more and more brands are coming out against the holiday and in favour of ‘slow shopping’, which urges customers to stop playing victim to the Black Friday scams and put an end to impulse buying.
East London jacket brand, Paynter, took to their socials saying, “Sorry Black Friday, we’re just not that into you,” and have instead chosen to donate money to a charity that provides meals for families across the UK.
And they don’t stand alone in the resistance to this new cultural holiday, as countless other brands have followed suit by limiting their sales, promoting slow shopping, or boycotting it all together.
However, some deals are just too good to refuse and I believe it is possible to still get involved in Black Friday this year, as long as we understand its pitfalls and the cost this holiday has on the planet. This awareness will help us make more ethical and considered decisions on where we shop and how much we spend.
Online guidance urges people to research ahead of a purchase, only buy what they need, support small businesses and, most importantly, spend money where it makes a difference.
If we can take all these considerations onboard, we can still experience the dopamine hit of pressing ‘buy now’, all while in the same breath knowing that we have made an informed decision about our purchase.
I am not naïve enough to believe that boycotting Black Friday entirely will ever be on the cards, nor will I deny that I have often found myself caving to the all-too tempting deals and offers, however, we can all make more conscious decisions on where and how we shop this year so the planet doesn’t have to pay the price of this shopping frenzy.
