Thoughtful End-of-year Teachers Gifts

If you are reading this, thank a teacher :)

Indeed we have many reasons to be grateful for teachers. They show support, kindness, great dedication, and the ability to deal with children of every age on an almost daily basis. 

A teacher wears many hats; oftentimes they are a coach, a nurse, and a big sister/brother. Most teachers go beyond their job description, for this challenging but also very rewarding profession. 

Have you thanked your teachers yet? Here are some thoughtful gifts that will show your gratitude. 

Click on the images to learn more and go to the Eco Market store for easy online purchase.

Ceramic Roses made with recycled material - €8

Round Earrings made with dried cactus leaves - €36

Truffle Vegan Assortment Box - €18

Silver pendant with Swarovski crystal necklace - €25

Pistachio & Raspberry Semi-Freddo (pack of 3) - €15

Say it with a Candle - Thank you Teacher - €20

Olive wood heart Keyring - €12

Zero Waste Starter Kit - €36.99

Beeswax Food Wraps - Mumbai Magic Collection - €15

Aloe Vera Plant - €7

Mother's Day Gift Guide

We are excited to produce our first ethical and sustainable gift guide for Mother's Day, which this year falls on the 9th of May. 

Here we are proposing gift ideas for all moms who love fashion, cooking, good food, home decor, one-of-a-kind jewellery, and so on.

Thank your mom for everything she does with a meaningful gift that goes beyond gifting but makes a positive impact in the world. Whether you're tucked in at home with your mom by your side, or missing your mom from somewhere far away, these gift ideas are sure to show her just how much you appreciate everything she does.

Whatever your mother's lovely character is, we've got you covered with environmentally and socially responsible gifts that support small local businesses. 

All the products mentioned below can be safely ordered online through the Eco Market online store (www.ecomarketmalta.shop) and delivered to your home or any address of your choice in a few days. For overseas deliveries, kindly contact the vendor for details.

Unique one-of-a-kind

upcycled fashion 

Delicious, healthy & plant-based 

sweet treats

Sustainably-sourced 

nature-inspired jewellery

Handmade enhancements 

for the home

Convenient ready-made 

gift boxes

Zero-waste and reusable 

beauty products

Adopt a Dolphin 

or a Tree

Cruelty-free and 

vegan alternatives

For the best 

kitchen queen

For more tips about sustainable ethical products and eco-friendly living, join our newsletter. You can view all Mother's Day gift ideas from here. 

Five ways to celebrate a 'green' Spring

We've all been waiting for Spring, the magical day that officially takes us away from the harsh winter, and brings us one step closer to summer. Spring is the season of new beginnings, of blooming flowers and awakened animals. It is a time where the earth comes to life again and everything looks greener. 

Here are 5 tips to encourage you to 'go green' and transform a few daily routines into sustainable, environmentally-friendly ones, and benefit from a higher quality of living for you, your family, and the world at large. 

1. Start planting a food garden

It is easier than you might initially think. Certain vegetables such as tomatoes, radishes, peas, salad greens, and most herbs are incredibly easy to grow. You don't have to have a garden to grow your own food. Raised beds in a yard or a balcony can do the trick. You can even grow food on your kitchen window sill. In some ways, you will need to go through trial and error, but thanks to dedicated Facebook groups, you can ask for advice and learn from other's mistakes. Growing your own food is incredibly rewarding, and in such uncertain times, it is good to know that you can be a little bit more self-dependant.

2. Re-purpose and Recycle

Every year, the Earth yields billions of tons of natural resources and at some point, in the not too distant future, it will run out. That's why we must think again about what we throw away very carefully. We now need to look at waste as an opportunity rather than a problem. Think twice before throwing something away... Can it be fixed or saved? Can it be turned into something new and useful? Can it be donated? Can it be broken down for parts? Re-cyle is a good thing to do, but should only be done as a last resort. 

3. Use earth-friendly cleaning products

Most cleaning products are full of toxins and chemicals that are harmful to humans, and harmful to the Earth, as they eventually all make their way to the bottom of the ocean. Eco-friendly products, on the other hand, are made with natural ingredients that don't harm people or the planet. But there are other reasons to make this switch. Green products save you money as they are so pure that you can use less in quantity. Most of them are all-purpose so your shopping list will be shorter too. Overall, they provide a better result and are safer to use. 

4. Switch to reusables

The recent ban on single-use plastics is a good step forward, but we as individual consumers can do much more! Take reusable bags with you, not just for the entire shopping, but also for the vegetables, the fruit, the bread, etc. Get a reusable water bottle everywhere you go; it is almost impossible to find a drink that is not packaged in plastic most of the time. Get your own coffee cup and have it re-filled at your favourite coffee place. Remind yourself to say NO to anyone offering you anything made out of single-use-plastic. Food wraps are a great alternative to your lunch packaging, instead of plastic cling or foil. Many items at home can be re-used for a longer life-span and help you generate less waste. 

5. Conserve water & electricity

Simple tasks you can do every day that result in a great impact over time, such as: turn off unnecessary lights, use natural light when possible, take shorter showers, turn off the tap when brushing teeth, fix any leakages, unplug what you are not using, use the dish-washer at nights, run full loads of laundry, wash laundry with cold water, and nature-dry your laundry and buy water and electricity efficient appliances when possible.

There is now an online site that caters for all things eco-friendly, where each product is curated and verified and with all the sustainability features provided and available at a glance. 

We are very happy and proud to present you our new website, which will help you make your shopping easier and greener. Take a look now: coral.shopping

A message to all local fashion influencers

We remain with the Sustainable Fashion theme and today we have a guest post by Tonya Lehtinen, who runs a pre-loved / vintage business with the brand of 'Vogue Xchange'. The cute shop in Gozo sells not only clothes, but also accessories such as sunglasses, bags, shoes, belts etc. Tonya just took on a sustainable initiative, and is today sending a challenge to local influencers to support sustainable fashion. 

Welcome back to our Eco Friendly Malta Blog!

The past couple of months of time-out, for many of us, have been challenging but very healthy for our well-being. There has been no shortage of time to exercise, rest, connect with our families and even be playful on Tik Tok - essentially havign a change to re-evaluate how we approach the world.

I have been really impressed and excited to see so many new home industries, creative initiatives and pro-action towards more sustainable lifestyles. With nowhere to go and nothing to buy I quikcly realised, as many of my friends did, how little we really need.

After the initial panic of 'how am I going to survive', my attention moved to how can I support others and I took my que from Food Bank Gozo to temporarily use Vogue Xchange as a clothes bank to utlize the clothes I had in stock. This is where it got interesting.

I did not anticipate the overwhelming response to an open call for children's clothes donation for the Vogue Xchange Clothes Bank. Clothes came flooding in, far outweighin the need and quickly I was faced, point blank, with fast fashion's massive wasteland. I dived into a depression for a couple of weeks trying to figure out how I would, being the custodian of these donations, find an ethical, sustainable and creative solution for the excessive amounts of clothes I now had.

My goal became finding ways to repurpose these clothes and keep them out of landfill. I connected with a number of young people wanting to make things out of the fabrics and came across a fashion student who is now creating her collection by upcycling and by learning how to create new products out of the clothes. I became more and more determined to create a circular economy within the second hand market. I am currently working on some exciting plans for the future to make this happen.

The fast fashion industry is toxic and many steps in the production of garments need to change but more importantly, much more importantly, what needs to change is the way we consume fast fashion, what we buy and how we care for it and obviously how we discard it. Second hand clothing is the fastest growing fashion trend globally although it is still not vogue in Malta - this is where Malta's young trending influencers can and should play a role. It is important for influencers to stand with Malta's sustainability deveopment vision because it is definitely going to become a topic of importance.

So with this said, I am challenging all local fashion influencers to show their sustainability colours by helping second hand initiatives. They can promote the second-hand movement in their feed, they can help local sustainable fashion designers and up-cyclers to get more exposure, they can donate their pre-loved clothes and visit Vogue Xchange in Gozo, where I will be happy to explain the details of this non-profit initiative.

Furthermore, Vogue Xchange raises funds for FAA (Flimkien ghall-Ambjent Ahjar) and other local environmental causes. Finally, I wish to send a gratitude message to those sent their donated clothes to Vogue Xchange. Thank you for showing kindness to the planet. 

Tonya can be contacted on the Vogue Xchange Facebook Page

A new exciting product in the market!

We at the Eco Friendy Malta Blog love discovering new Eco-friendly products and we are particularly excited about TAPP Water Malta. It is the ultimate sustainable product with a number of benefits attached; first and foremost it eliminates the need to purchase water in single use plastic bottles. Besides that the unit is 100% sustainable as the filter, which is to be replaced every 3 months, is made out of coconut material, which can be disposed of in the organic bin. 

We have tried it at home for over a month now and we are very happy with it. 

The unit itself is aesthetically pleasant, easy to install and very easy to use. The water is clear and smooth, with an extremely clean taste. 

In today's post we will explain in detail the benefits of drinking filtered tap water in Malta. 

Read till the end to discover a great offer!

Many of us living through these strange Covid-19 pandemic times have seen the opportunity to make small but impactful changes into our lives. Changes which lead to positive results for us and for those around us, changes which are both practical and sustainable.

One simple change to consider would be to stop using plastic water bottles for your drinking water supply. This means using tap water, but this can be a challenge as generally in Malta households do not like the taste of their tap water, or trust its contents.

To be clear, Malta’s water supply meets every EU regulation for water quality, so it is safe to drink from the tap. However, like many other EU countries public delivery pipes, household plumbing and the taste which is due to the water treatment that is required for a public water supply means that it may be safe, but it’s not a popular choice.

The solution is to use a tap water filter and various solutions are available from a simple jug filter that lets gravity make water drop through a filter, to a full domestic reverse osmosis water filtration system for your home.

Firstly let’s look at the four main health benefits from drinking filtered tap water.

1.    Great tasting water

Pure drinking water that tastes great means you enjoy drinking water more, and it’s easier to encourage other family members to join you in making sure you are hydrated sufficiently for your health. Benefits can be better skin condition, organ and digestive function. Having instant access to pure drinking water also means less reliance on less healthy drinking options such as carbonated drinks, caffeinated drinks all of which can have negative effects on health if overdone.

2.    Less contaminants

Different filter units work in different ways but in general will remove or substantially reduce chlorine, chlorine by products, poor taste, poor odour, pesticides, herbicides, heavy metals. Microplastics are a recently discovered new threat that are now believed to be appearing in both our water systems and food; it’s worth checking that any filter you use will filter microplastics, for example most jug filters do not.The removal of substances which are not naturally occurring within our bodies is going to lead to better health all round.

3.    Less plastic waste

Even if we recycle all our plastic bottles, there is still something intrinsically wasteful when going through bottles quickly when drinking plenty of water. Water from our tap is unlimited so we are free to drink as much as we want to be healthy. But when using plastic bottles, especially now the conversation around waste, recycling and single use plastic is growing; inside we know we need to change and yet we resist because it can be inconvenient to change. For our wellness and peace of mind what we need is an affordable, effective and easy to use system that gives us ho-hassle pure drinking water from the tap.

4.    Saves money

Is it a stretch to say that saving money is good for our health? Well certainly it reduces stress as we manage our money better, waste less and have more choices of what to buy. But these small changes help us make better overall changes and so its a good thing for our general wellness and wellbeing to take action for our benefit and then continue with that action. Stopping to use plastic bottles for drinking water is a gateway to more healthy, mindful choices in the future.

The TAPP Water Filter is a home water filter that connects to your kitchen tap and provides pure filtered water instantly. Over 80 contaminants are removed or substantially reduced leaving you with instant pure filtered drinking water saving 90% when compared to bottled water.

The TAPP Water Filter is the most sustainable water filter available in Malta. The ABS plastic casing is recyclable at the end of its long life and the filter refills are 100% organic coconut derived activated carbon blocks which can be disposed of every three months in the organic waste collection.

Simple, affordable and sustainable. 

Get €10 OFF on your TAPP Water products

by using ECOMARKET coupon code 

at checkout on 

www.tappwater.mt 

Vendor Feature Series #19

Today we feature a vendor who is a new comer to the Eco Market community. Mihome started in 2020 by Myriam Gauthier, a young French woman on a mission to create genuine, cruelty-free, natural and eco-friendly products in Malta. She believes that it is possible to take care of the planet whilst taking care of ourselves.

Nowadays, shopping became too easy and convenient. We just go to the store or log on to a website and we can buy what we want with a click. However, buying too much stuff is having a negative impact on the resources of our planet. 

Mihome wants to transform the buying and gifting experience into zero-waste and at an affordable price for everyone. This is reflected in production, packaging and the end product. Each collaborator of Mihome is chosen carefully to ensure they too have the same values in creating a more sustainable future. All Mihome products are vegan and handmade in Malta. They can be purchased as single items or gift boxes. For those who wish to have a personal touch, boxes can be customised to their liking. Recycled paper is used to the packaging and the sourcing of raw materials is done 'close to home' as much as possible to reduce the carbon footprint. 

Currently Mihome is offering candles, soap bars, accessories and wishing cards. Candles are hand poured using essential oils and natural ingredients as well as biodegradable and sustainable soy wax. They last 30 hours and are non-toxic, meaning they last longer than regular candles made with paraffin. All the ingredients of Mihome products are carefully selected for their specific beneficial properties to offer a healthy, quality product. Mihome is planning to introduce many more products in the near future, including a special edition Mother's Day gift box, so be sure to keep following them on their Facebook Page.