World Environment Day

On the 5th June every year Melbourne and the rest of the World celebrates World Environment Day, a day established to help raise global awareness of the environment and how human impact plays a vital role in its health. This year the focus is on resource efficiency and on sustainable consumption and production, highlighted by the slogan 'Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with Care'.

This years host - Milan, Italy

World Environment Day or WED, was set up by the United Nations in 1972 and is hosted in a different country every year. This year Italy is to host the events with the global celebrations centering around the country’s design capital, Milan. The WED event will be held at the world famous Universal Exhibition alongside the Milan Expo and will compliment this years theme of ‘Feeding the Planet - Energy for life’.

We ask Lee Baker, Creative Director at Bayly, what WED means to him.

How we help the environment

With a focus on the environment I am often asked why I work in an industry that promotes the consumption and production of new products that at one day, will possibly end up as landfill. To be honest I sometimes ask myself the same question but then have to remind myself of the many reasons I do. The first and foremost would be the ability to influence and guide top level decisions that can make a positive contribution to a product's lifecycle and environmental impact.

Things to consider

What is often misunderstood is that the impact of a product is not just the materials it’s made of, in fact that’s just the beginning. When considering a product’s environmental impact you need to consider everything from the greenhouse gas emissions, energy and water usage, shipping and transportation efficiencies and end of life disposal/recycle. You will be surprised the impact a small decision early in the design process can have on the product’s effect on the environment.

Creating a better world

With global awareness greater than ever through the use of social media, the impact we as a race have on the environment is evident and well known. But with emissions targets set and a global trend towards sustainability who knows, we may even be able to do something to avoid catastrophic environmental change. People will still want and need things, but if we can reduce the impact these products have on the environment and encourage practices that are sustainable in the long term, we are taking the first steps to a better world. If you are interested in exploring opportunities to reduce your carbon footprint or have a product that could benefit from true green credentials please contact Lee Baker or Mark Bayly on +61 3 9413 9000 or email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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321 water was developed in conjunction with Bayly in 2011 and follows the 2015 WED poster slogan above 'Rethink Bottled Water'.  321 Water was developed to help reduce the consumption of plastic bottles and encourage drinking tap water by creating a unique water filtering experience.  The savings are found on multiple levels of which one is outlined by WED above, 'When you use a refillable water bottle instead of plastic, you save about 3 litres of water for every litre you drink.'  To read more about our work with 321 water click here.