Posted by KollectIE Admin on 16th Jan 2020

What Does "Going Carbon Neutral" Mean?

What Does

As part of our quest to become Champions of the World (well, the Earth to start), Kollect are going Carbon Neutral. Here’s what that means:

Carbon

All living things on Earth contain carbon - even you! Loads of it. When combined with oxygen, carbon becomes Carbon Dioxide (CO2), which is quite harmful to the earth.

In and Out

Trees and plants take in CO2 and give out Oxygen, which makes them absolute superheroes for us humans. However, animals breathe in oxygen and breathe out Carbon Dioxide, which means that the belch of an animal like a cow is actually bad news for our environment. For years, animals and plants have sustained each other through this process. In-Out-In-Out. Over the past millions of years, the animals, plants and trees have died and become buried deep under the earth’s surface. As the years went by, their remains got squished and cooked by lots of pressure and heat, which we then use to create fuel…you may know it better as Fossil Fuels (and now you know why). Here’s the problem though, when we burn these fossil fuels, we release lots of CO2.

Danger Danger

When too much CO2 is released into the atmosphere it absorbs energy from the sun and keeps heat close to the Earth's surface, rather than letting it escape into space. This is known as the greenhouse effect. That retention of heat inevitably leads to the earth heating up, which, as we’re already beginning to see, is having disastrous consequences for the earth, with polar ice caps melting and even more CO2 being released.

What Then?

The impact of the earth overheating is devastating for us. If the earth’s temperature increases by just two degrees, mountain glaciers and rivers will start to disappear and mountainous regions will see more landslides, as the permafrost that held them together melts away. By 2100 sea levels could rise by a metre, displacing 10% of the world's population. It’s scary stuff.

Go Carbon Neutral!

Kollect has signed up to an Irish initiative called Go Carbon Neutral who are going to offset the carbon dioxide that we emit - through the course of our work as a waste management company - by planting trees. In other words, they’ll cancel out the carbon dioxide we emit, with tress that will give the Earth oxygen, but more importantly, suck up that nasty CO2.