{"id":12583,"date":"2021-07-09T09:37:21","date_gmt":"2021-07-09T06:37:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africasustainabilitymatters.com\/?p=12583"},"modified":"2026-01-11T05:31:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T05:31:29","slug":"the-pandemic-shouldnt-be-a-reason-to-punt-sustainability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/2021\/07\/09\/the-pandemic-shouldnt-be-a-reason-to-punt-sustainability\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pandemic Shouldn\u2019t Be a Reason to Punt Sustainability"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This past year was tough for retail. From store closures to the explosion of e-commerce to a holiday \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/retailtouchpoints.com\/features\/trend-watch\/in-the-wake-of-returnageddon-retailers-seek-new-solutions-to-an-age-old-problem\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">return-aggedon<\/a>,\u201d retailers were forced to make some tough choices, pivot, and then pivot again. Amid a financially challenging and uncertain retail environment,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/sustainability-was-corporate-americas-buzzword-this-crisis-changes-that-11588352181\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">some retailers have<\/a>, unfortunately, placed environmental and social responsibility programs on the back burner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s understandable. When faced with harrowing decisions, any perceived \u201cextras\u201d must go. However, taking this position is the problem. Sustainability isn&#8217;t a line item that should be cut easily \u2014 it\u2019s imperative for the health of our planet. The fashion industry alone generates over&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/jonbird1\/2018\/09\/09\/fashions-dirty-little-secret-and-how-its-coming-clean\/?sh=76d241051771\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">92 million tons of waste<\/a>&nbsp;annually, or about 4 percent of the world\u2019s waste, while e-waste in 2019 reached a record-breaking high of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/21309776\/record-amount-ewaste-2019-global-report-environment-health\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">53 million metric tons<\/a>&nbsp;worldwide \u2014 a number that\u2019s expected to soar over the next decade. The impact of unsold or unused goods is also a glaring problem exacerbated by the growth of e-commerce. Consider that product returns in the U.S. result in nearly&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/info.optoro.com\/hubfs\/The%20Optoro%202020%20Impact%20Report.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">6 billion pounds of landfill waste<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, with retail already going through a reinvention phase, is the time to push harder on greener business practices, the fight against climate change, and a more sustainable retail industry for the long haul. Failing to adopt sustainable retail practices now is simply too costly for the environment and your bottom line. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mytotalretail.com\/article\/the-pandemic-shouldnt-be-a-reason-to-punt-sustainability\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This past year was tough for retail. From store closures to the explosion of e-commerce to a holiday \u201creturn-aggedon,\u201d retailers were forced to make some tough choices, pivot, and then&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12585,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}