Green Friday: the Black Friday antagonist that promotes head-on consumption
A few years ago in Spain nobody talked about Black Friday, but now it is difficult for someone to know this consumerist tradition that was born in the United States and bombard us with aggressive discounts and tempting offers every month of November.But in the face of unfortunate consumption prior to the Christmas holidays that accompanies Black Friday in 2015, a movement that advocates a different, more responsible and sustainable consumption emerged.And therefore, greener.
Green Friday will be held as its antagonist on November 26 and promotes 'Slow' parties, where you are going to buy, bets for recycling, small trade, artisanal gifts or second -hand sales.Or directly do not consume that day simply because it is cheap and you end up with the card shivering and with mountains of things that you really do not need and that will end up taking dust in a corner of your closet.
Aware that more and more society claims a sustainable commitment to companies, companies like Ikea have joined the Green Friday with a peculiar initiative.If you are from Ikea Family or the IKEA network for companies and sell a furniture used from this firm between November 15 and 28, 2021, you are paid an extra 50% of the normal repurchase price.And if you belong to the club you can take your furniture to your IKEA store until January 31, 2022 keeping that extra 50%.You will receive a reimbursement card for your second -hand furniture that you can spend within one year.
Onica Chao, director of sustainability, expanding a bit what you already mention in the note itself:
"We are very aware that we have only one planet and that the resources are limited, so we work day by day to protect it and reduce the waste we generate. By facilitating the exchange of second -hand furniture, we can reduce the climate footprint that is derivedof the manufacture and use of new products and presenting an alternative of sustainable consumption to our customers, offering them a service that positively impacts the planet and people. This campaign is just one more step on the road taken by Ikea to be a 100 company% circular and climatic positive by 2030, "says Mónica Chao, IKEA Sustainability Director in Spain.
From Vodafone, they also bet on recycling this day with discounts of up to 200 euros on new smartphones when selling your old terminal to give it a second life through the Re-Streena program.A program focused on the reuse and/or recycling of smartphones to reduce the impact on our planet.
Zero consumption
In addition to these initiatives, other companies such as Ecoalf, pioneer in our sustainable fashion country, go one step further and directly do not participate in the Black Friday, although this day could report important extra income. "We are at a level of production and consumption that has irreversible consequences ... more than 150,000 million garments are produced annually and 75% end up in the landfill. Campaigns such as Black Friday drive to this excessive and unnecessary consumption. In addition, when You see garments with such low prices you have to understand that the quality is very bad, so bad that you cannot recycle or reuse ... All this has a huge impact on the planet by exhausting our natural resources and producing greenhouse gases. We have to stop this consumption and, therefore, from Ecoalf we launched the campaign against Black Friday under the slogan breaks the habit, not the planet, giving alternatives to this consumption such as donating, giving, repairing, recycling ... once again We collaborate with the poet Tom Fooley to raise awareness and inspire citizens and future generations. We have to act and have to do it together, "says Carolina Álvarez Ossorio, responsible for marketing and Ecoalf communication, in statements to El Mundo.
Actions that share designers such as Christopher Reaburn that three years ago already made the drastic decision to close their store in eastern London and its website during the Black Friday to show its frontal opposition to this excessive and impulsive consumption."We disable the section of the store of our website and we close our store Black Friday. We can simply keep consuming the way we do. We need to start making decisions considered; buying less but better. Therefore, we encourage youTo think twice before making a purchase today. Even the small steps will help and it is important that we all work together, "asked the designer on his Instagram account.
Second most polluting industry
But the fashion industry is still far from reaching a sustainable balance.In fact, it is the second most polluting in the world: it represents approximately 10% of global carbon emissions and almost 20% of wastewater, according to the latest data offered at the UN Conference on Commerce and Development (Unctad).
In addition, apart from the exorbitant water consumption for the manufacture of garments and CO2 emissions, recycling is poorly developed.The recycling rate of the textile waste is still very low.Less than 1% of the material used in the manufacture of clothes worldwide is recycled and used to make new garments, according to a study of initiative fibers circular this is mainly due to the fact that textile waste is not separated fromrest, so more than 75% of textile products discarded by consumers end up in landfills or incinerated, causing even more pollution.
Sales record
Despite these alarming data that should make us reflect, the Black Friday and its cousins -the Amazon Prime Day (October 13 and 14), the Cyber Monday (November 30), the Cyber Week (the following week to Thanksgiving) or single day (November 11), very popular in China- still enjoy excellent health.In fact, neither the pandemic has managed to eclipse its spectacular results.Sales have only jumped from channel: from off-line to online.
According to an Adobe Digital Insights investigation, on the black Friday of 2020 US consumers spent $ 9,000 million online (7,950 million euros), 21.6 % more than in 2019. "The second day of greatest online spendingIn the history of the United States ", only behind the Cyber Monday of 2020, the report stood out.
In Spain, according to the data presented by Salesforce, based on the activity of 1,000 million buyers in 40 countries, monitored through Commerce Cloud, online orders increased 27% compared to last year.At the global level, the increase was 30%.In addition, the average expenditure was 83.45 euros, compared to 77.16 euros in 2019. and technology and sport led purchases, with 30.7% and 19% of the expense respectively.
According to the criteria of
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