{"id":21230,"date":"2026-04-22T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/sustainability\/?p=21230"},"modified":"2026-04-21T09:59:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T08:59:23","slug":"peel-stick-repeat-how-i-feel-about-stickers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/sustainability\/peel-stick-repeat-how-i-feel-about-stickers\/","title":{"rendered":"Peel, Stick, Repeat \u2013 How I Feel about Stickers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I think I\u2019ve loved stickers since I was a child. I know that sounds silly \u2013 I\u2019m not actually sure if I know anyone who doesn\u2019t like stickers, but I remember my first experience with stickers as if it were yesterday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may remember that my mother\u2019s side of the family lives in Bratislava, Slovakia. One childhood summer, my mum handed me a copy of Roald Dahl\u2019s <\/em>book \u2018George\u2019s Marvellous Medicine\u2019, <\/em>and a sheet of plastic, on which were raised blobs of shimmering little chicks, luminescent pink bunnies, and little blue whales and fish; fat and puffy, but small and few. This was to be my entertainment for the two hours in the plane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I decorated the contents page of my book with plump little rats, their little pink shiny tails telling me I had finished another chapter, and in style too. Ever since then, they\u2019ve stuck to me: allowing me to support independent artists, gloat over completing monkey related outdoor adventure challenges and identify kindred spirits. They decorate my diary, notebooks, zines and cards, and wait patiently to be used, in my sticker book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, they\u2019ve always been my guilty pleasure. As self-appointed recycling aficionado in my childhood, and now curious environmentalist in my adulthood, I\u2019ve known that my love for stickers came at a cost, and I\u2019m going to tell you why I still love and use them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sticky Truth<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stickers can be little snapshots of who we are, what we like and what we hold close: a doodle of a character from our favourite video game, a political campaign you hold close, or something you just found cute. Stickers are also little snapshots of plastic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, stickers are made from vinyl, which is a type of plastic known as polyvinyl chloride, or PVC. It\u2019s flexible, waterproof, and long-lasting, which is perfect for sticking to water bottles or laptops, but not great for our planet. PVC is made from fossil fuels, which are extracted from our earth, which take millions of years to make and are therefore finite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The manufacturing process for our vinyl friends releases micro-plastics which can travel into our ocean systems and be consumed by marine life, contributing to water pollution. This also occurs after the manufacturing process: when it is the sticker\u2019s time to break down, it will do so by becoming microplastics \u2013 which is something that we have a lot of, and isn\u2019t very good for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aside from the material, the inks and adhesives also play a role in determining a sticker\u2019s environmental impact. As you may remember from my blog on glue<\/a>, <\/strong>many adhesives are petroleum based and derived from something called PVA which is another type of polyvinyl! The inks can also contain harmful chemicals. Whilst these help the stickers stay put, it helps them do so for an unreasonable amount of time – decades after it has gone to landfill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peeling Back the Options<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are other ways to consume stickers! Have no fear, your creativity shall not be stifled. There have been many innovations to stickers, aside from the ones that have water in them \u2013 which are apparently called shaker stickers! There are also different types of materials now and different ways to enjoy our shiny little companions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Paper and Plant-Based Stickers – <\/strong>These biodegradable beauties are often made from uncoated paper, using sugarcane fibres, hemp and linen. These stickers often have a matte finish because they are uncoated \u2013 which can be perfect for different projects. There are also stickers made with sustainably sourced wood pulp which have a biodegradable protective coating, which is perfect for water bottles; these can completely decompose within 12 weeks!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n