By Juliet Makwama
Consumers of various products are becoming increasingly conscious of the environmental and social impact of their purchasing decisions, and Lwendo Choongo, a 25 year old climate conscious youth believes more young people need to be involved in environmentally friendly businesses to fill the gap.
Lwendo is a youth under the Hivos Urban Futures, a project being implemented in Zambia and Zimbabwe, aiming to encourage youth participation in sustainable urban food production systems to encourage nutritional security while protecting the environment.
Based in Kitwe on the Copperbelt, she had already been involved in the cosmetics and baking business prior to being part of the Urban Futures Project.
She advises that while while sustainable practices are often associated with food production; among others, the importance of using raw materials grown sustainably extends further, to other industries including cosmetics.
“Yes,” she said adding, “People need to be on the look for cosmetic products made with ingredients or raw materials that are not only friendly if exposed to the environment, but also sustainably produced. There are actually some ingredients used in cosmetics that are sustainable and good for the environment while others are not,” Lwendo emphasised.
A good number of cosmetic ingredients such as microplastics, parabens, certain sulfates and sometimes mercury are not environmentally friendly due to their potential harm to human health and the environment.
Lwendo explained that before she became a part of the Urban Futures Youths, she was already involved in a make up business where she would chose only products with sustainable ingredients that are not injurious to the environment, or those with ingredients grown sustainably.
But after the Hivos Urban Futures interactions, Lwendo realised there was a gap and more people especially the youth needed to know that they can contribute to environmental sustainability by choosing the right cosmetic products.
She decided not to keep the knowledge only with the people she worked with, but start giving back to the community so that more people are aware that sustainability and cosmetics cannot be separated.
Lwendo explained that among other ways, one way a consumer can identify whether a cosmetic product is environmentally friendly and human health conscious is when it has a small label indicating vegan.
“So we give people the information needed to enable them chose the right products. Even with make up and lotion, we actually teach them how to identify the products that are sustainable,” she said.
As Youth Policy Lead, the interactions that Lwendo has had through Urban Futures trainings has left a lasting impression on her, on the need for sustainability in every activity being undertaken.
“The importance of using raw materials grown sustainably extends far beyond the food industry. The cosmetics industry, which relies heavily on natural ingredients, has a significant role to play in promoting sustainability, and consumers need to be aware hence us spreading awareness,” she said.
She warned that these harmful ingredients are mostly in imported products and that most cosmetics made locally are environmentally safe and human health friendly.
On the part of baking, Lwendo advises those in the cake business to also take interest in learning what ingredients are sustainable for the cake making.
“Instead of going with regular baking ingredients we teach bakers how to use sustainable ingredients in their baking. So instead of going for the regular ingredients that you just find on the market, there are ingredients that are called vegan that you can go for,” she said.
She said many business activities today are a threat to the environment and health of people, and being sustainable needs to be emphasised even more.
Meanwhile, Lwendo advises youths to take advantage of small pieces of land in the home backyards to do some organically grown vegetables even if it means for home consumption.
Lwendo who tends to such a garden herself said this will be contributing to nutritional security for households as well as helping with protecting the environment from degradation.
“The use of sustainable raw materials in cosmetics and baking is therefore no longer a niche consideration, but a vital aspect of responsible business and consumer practices,” Lwendo concluded.
She said sustainability needs to be prioritised to meet the evolving needs of consumers to guarantee a sustainable future for all.
