Valentine’s Day: Making It Sustainable

What's Inside

In the US, Valentine’s Day 2020 is set to break records for spending, with consumers buying up flowers, chocolates, cards and meals. But how sustainable is Valentine’s Day?

• Starting the month before Valentine’s Day, hundreds of rose-laden cargo planes fly from Colombia and Ecuador burning over 25 million gallons of fuel.
• Turning cocoa into chocolate uses 4,500 liters of water per pound of chocolate.
• US Consumers will spend $1.3 billion on greeting cards—most not made from recycled paper nor supplied from sustainable forests.