Rain ponchos: fashion faux pas, inconvenience and not environmentally friendly!
Picture this: you’re at an music festival and the skies open up. Or you’re a tourist in a rainy city who forgot to pack their rainjacket. Or you get caught in an unexpected downpour during your morning bike commute. What do these scenarios have in common? They all prompt the appearance of a sea of plastic rain ponchos – but trust us, the convenience factor is not worth the many downsides of staying dry in this unsustainable raingear!
Fashion faux pas aside (it’s safe to say a plastic rain poncho is never the most stylish choice – even if it comes in fun colours), plastic rain ponchos are in our bad books because of the environmental impact of this raingear. Sustainability is something that’s important to us here at Georgia in Dublin, so we always advocate for reusing and recycling wherever possible (did you know the fasteners on our jackets are made from recycled inner tubes?), so one-use raingear just doesn’t sit right with us. While it might keep you dry in the short-term, single use plastic rain ponchos and other disposable rainwear take up space in landfills in the long-term.
When that plastic poncho is thrown out after its single use, it contributes to filling and expanding landfill, which have a hugely negative impact on the planet – including the production of greenhouse gases and pollution of groundwater, to say nothing of the large amounts of land they require. At a time when humans are generating more landfill waste than ever before, and with global waste production is expected to double in the next 15 years, the time is now to make efforts to ditch the single use products, including those plastic ponchos!
So what’s the better solution? If you’re anticipating being caught in the rain (and living in Ireland, we’re always expecting a downpour), reach for a more environmentally friendly option! Buy high quality rainwear that is made to last – and ideally rainwear with a little more style than the plastic one use alternatives! Even better, if you have the opportunity to purchase your long-lasting rainwear from a company committed to sustainable sourcing and reusing and recycling where possible (like yours truly!) then you’re definitely doing your part for the planet!
By Kimber Bialik