Earth Day: Brief History and This Year’s Main Theme

The first-ever Earth Day was observed on April 22, 1970, in which nationwide protests took place to raise awareness about the detrimental effects of manmade pollution on the planet and to demand sustainable change. The demonstrators were marching against oil spills, toxic dumps, the loss of forests, and the extinction of wildlife.

Each year, a special theme is selected for Earth Day to highlight a specific environmental concern. The theme for Earth Day 2024 is “Planet vs. Plastics,” highlighting the worldwide organization’s commitment to achieve a 60% reduction in plastic production by 2040.

To learn more about how you can contribute to reduced plastic use with the help of trusty QR codes, read the examples in the upcoming sections.

Importance of Earth Day and Why We Should Celebrate

It’s no secret that climate change impacts our lives and future, which is why we must come together to celebrate Earth Day. It is a day dedicated to raising awareness and educating people about how environmental issues impact our planet.

Demonstrations on Earth Day send a powerful message to the governing authorities and government representatives that people demand change and action. Celebrating Earth Day is a reminder that each individual must strive to make a difference in preserving nature’s resources for future generations. But don’t worry—you don’t have to solve all the critical issues to participate. Meaningful action can be something as simple as picking up litter you see on the street or joining a local community to combat plastic pollution.

4 Eco-friendly QR Code Ideas for Earth Day

QR codes are an easy and effective way to make Earth Day more fun and engaging, especially for kids and teenagers. Look through the creative examples below to draw inspiration and start your path to a more sustainable lifestyle today!

QR Code Plant Marker

A fun activity to complete with the whole family and get the little ones involved or a group of friends is to plant flowers or, even better, start backyard gardening. To make it even more entertaining and educational, you can keep track of the seeds you used and when exactly the plant was planted. This is where green QR codes come in handy, allowing you to keep track of all the plants. The green QR code can be placed either on a plant marker or by upcycling old plastic forks. You can use the text QR code to add the seed information, plant species, and other helpful details. Print out the sustainable QR code in an appropriate size, 2 cm by 2 cm (0.8 inches by 0.8 inches) – is the recommended minimum. Adding a protective layer, like heavy-duty tape on both sides, is best to withstand harsh weather conditions. Stick it on the fork or whatever material you're using; voila, you've got yourself a helpful guide on your flower!

Earth Day-related Contests and Quizzes

Teachers and educators can make an engaging classroom activity for their students by creating an Earth Day-related test and quiz. This creates an opportunity to educate youngsters about the importance of protecting our planet and learn more about the current environmental problems.

Create a URL QR code that redirects to a quiz creator platform of your choice that students can access. Students with the most knowledge about Earth Day can get a reward to get a sense of friendly competition.

Redirecting to Helpful Online Resources

Once again, linking online resources is an excellent opportunity for teachers and scholars to raise awareness about sustainability, climate change, and ways to help our planet. Compile a list of relevant Earth Day articles, videos, and other useful resources that will be both engaging and educational to your students.

You can create a helpful online resource using a URL or PDF QR code, including all the necessary information and valuable sources.

Reusable QR codes can be added to study materials and other mediums to enhance students' environmental literacy, providing immersive learning experiences to deepen their understanding of environmental issues and inspire action.

Apart from classroom usage, another way of sharing online materials is to encourage others to opt for public transportation, which also lowers your carbon footprint. Reusable QR codes can be added to popular stations and stops with helpful information about how public transit reduces air pollution.

Host a Local Volunteering Event

Earth Day should not only be about educating and learning but also about meaningful action. To help preserve wildlife and combat deforestation, consider hosting a plant-a-tree event. Choose a location and tree species appropriate for your local area. Collaborating with local authorities, communities, schools, and businesses is essential to increase the likelihood of more people joining.

Strategically placing QR codes in green areas like parks and recreation areas allows more people to learn about local events to help conserve the environment, whether QR codes redirect users to helpful recourses or volunteering opportunities. Sharing information about recycling programs is also an option.

QR codes are used to share information about neighborhood clean-ups and tree-planting events, which are used as a means of communication to mobilize volunteers and provide informative guidelines.

4 Green QR Code Ideas for Brands

Becoming an environmentally-friendly brand obviously won’t happen overnight, but what’s stopping you from making the first step, no matter how small. QR codes are a great place to start, but first and foremost, you must assess how your business affects the environment around you and what steps you can take to lower your carbon footprint and impact on the planet. Earth Day is a great day to start thinking more eco-friendly and developing a long-term strategy to protect our planet. Below are some ideas you can use as inspiration.

Recycling And Packaging Disposal Information

It is important to add information about sustainability and recycling on your product packaging (only if you implement green practices in your business, of course) as more and more consumers are willing to invest more in green products and are generally more likely to opt for greener products. So, don’t be shy and share your green initiatives with the world.

QR codes provide an innovative way to share product ingredient details and disposal instructions. Encourage your customers to recycle your products by providing a QR code sustainability initiative with instructions on disposing of the product or its packaging. Adding valuable information also allows consumers to make more informed decisions and support eco-friendly and ethically sourced products.

For example, Mondelez International, one of the world’s largest snacking companies, has started adding QR codes to the packaging of their snacks, which include recycling information and tips on mindful consumption. The redirecting links allow consumers to discover what packaging materials are collected and recycled nearby. The platform offers consumers recycling and packaging disposal information, providing consumers with clear recycling and disposal information.

Plant Information (for Flower Shops)

If you run a flower shop, then this one’s for you! Flowers boutiques apply a QR code for plants on their plants and flowers to provide more plant information about each species. These are helpful for plant labels where detailed data is provided, like the plant name, its type, what it’s known for, how to look after it, and so much more. Adding a QR code for plants to indigenous plant species allows individuals to be more aware and knowledgeable of their surroundings and the local flora.

Earth Day-related Campaigns on Social Media

To ensure your brand stands out, take a green initiative on social media incorporating QR planet protection codes and encourage your audience to participate. You can create fun green challenges and hashtags on your social networks. Businesses can also promote green discount codes, special for Earth Day.

When creating your sustainability social media challenge, you can make a unique QR code planet protection for users to scan to learn more about the cause, the rules of your contest, and more campaign information.

Do this several weeks in advance leading up to Earth Day to maximize outreach and amplify awareness about your special Earth Day promotion and environmentally conscious initiatives.

Reduced Paper Waste with QR Code Menus

Using QR code menus is an eco-friendly alternative to traditional paper menus. Printing menus is not as sustainable as seasonal menu and price changes are both costly and increase paper waste and energy consumption. Not to mention, printing ink can be harmful to the environment. By switching to digital QR code menus, companies can lower their carbon footprint and adopt an environmentally responsible approach. Lowering high-volume printing also helps reduce dangerous problems like deforestation.

Benefits of Using Earth Day QR Codes

The benefits of using Earth Day QR codes are listed below.

• Education: QR codes allow to share valuable information and knowledge about Earth Day by providing helpful resources, like blogs, articles, videos, and other resources about current environmental problems and sustainable practices.
• Sustainability: One of the main benefits of QR codes is that they go hand in hand with sustainability. QR codes help reduce paper usage and are a more money-saving option as they help entrepreneurs and businesses cut printing costs.
• Awareness: Celebrating Earth Day helps spread awareness about climate change and how each individual and governing authority must take action in order to combat it, while QR codes help streamline the information-sharing process.
• Fundraising: QR codes help simplify the donation process for environmental nonprofits by providing a simple link where users can easily donate.
• Community: Applying green QR codes in marketing materials allows people living in the same area to come together as one for a greater cause as they spread the word about collective clean-ups and tree-planting events.
• Transparency: Customers learn more about the sourcing, production, and distribution process of the products, helping build trust between the brand and client.
• Reduced paper usage: QR codes help minimize paper waste because additional information is shared through websites, not pamphlets and flyers.
• Adaptability: One of the key benefits of green QR codes is that they’re highly adaptable to any green campaign and reusable, allowing businesses and individuals to apply them anywhere.
• Global accessibility: All individuals with mobile devices can access the material via QR codes when companies run nationwide or worldwide campaigns. Printing material in different languages is unnecessary as the material is presented in specific languages based on the location.
• Reduced paper consumption: QR codes allow cutting down on paper consumption, and there is no need to reprint when information is updated. It also reduces printing costs simply by editing the redirection page.

Brands Implementing Green Initiatives into Their Businesses

Today, customers have become more conscious of what they’re purchasing and have started demanding sustainable practices from the brands they support. Brands must demonstrate accountability and transparency and lower their carbon footprint to build customer trust. You can learn more about how trailblazing companies incorporate sustainability into their business policies. Below are some creative examples you can use as inspiration for your business.

Manchester Gin

The Spirit of Manchester Distillery collaborated with The Label Makers to re-label their bottles of gin by making a unique, sustainable QR code for each bottle. The green QR code was placed on the gin bottle's rear label, showing each bottle’s full carbon footprint. Once scanned, the code provides information on the distillery processes and ingredients used, as well as additional information about the brand. This helped provide more environmental transparency and allowed to build a stronger relationship with the customers.

Another Tomorrow

Another Tomorrow is a sustainable luxury clothing company that prioritizes ethically manufactured materials and organic natural products and building a sustainable supply chain. The brand partnered with EVRYTHNG to install a sustainable QR code on the tag inside the clothes. By scanning the QR code, consumers have the chance to view exactly how their clothes are being made, displaying the entire journey from farm-to-material-to-factory.

Nespresso

In partnership with OpenSC, Nespresso offers consumers the coffee’s journey along the supply chain. A sustainable QR code placed on the coffee sleeve allows consumers to trace the entire production process, from the farmer who cultivated the coffee to its final product. This transparency showcases key points in the supply chain, detailing how the coffee was grown, harvested, processed, and transported. Each coffee bag is assigned its own unique green QR code for individual tracking. Each bag of coffee receives its own individual QR code.

One Water

One Water, an ethical hydration company in the UK, partnered with Polytag, a recycling tech company, to create a special green QR code that redirects consumers to One Water’s website dedicated to philanthropic activities. The technology provides lifecycle data, which helps establish a more sustainable strategy and makes recycling a more rewarding experience. They’re creating a partnership with their customers, who provide additional insights and opportunities to help reduce the impact of the brand. QR codes are used so one water ensures their bottles can be traced through the supply chain. The QR codes allow an understanding of where the products are purchased, consumed, and disposed of and how people interact with their packaging.

Eva

Eva is an Australian B corp-certified furniture company with a sustainable QR code printed on the box of their products, which takes consumers to an online manual explaining how to assemble the furniture, helping reduce paper waste made when printing paper instruction manuals. Many other brands, such as a plumbing parts company, Viega, have also utilized this productive method of reducing paper waste.

ASOS

ASOS has facilitated paperless returns by encouraging users to switch to online returns in an attempt to reduce their carbon footprint, which is facilitated by no longer printing paper forms inside ASOS orders. In case customers want to return their order, they go to the website and fill out an online form, after which a confirmation email and QR code are sent.

Patagonia

Brands like Patagonia, prioritizing sustainability and eco-friendliness, are starting to decrease the number of hand tags in their clothes by adding a green QR code that provides information, such as product features, care instructions, and local activist initiatives. QR codes helped save costs, increase sustainability, and enhance customer engagement.

Wendy’s

American fast food chain Wendy’s runs a rewards program called Wendy’s Rewards, which is accessed through a sustainable QR code on their official app. Customers scan and earn points without paper transactions, as there is no need for stamp cards and membership cards. Another great advantage of this system is that there is no need to reprint the marketing materials if there are any updates or new offers.