How To Make Your Home A Little Bit Greener
We all want to do our part in helping the environment, but it’s tough knowing where to start.
There is actually a surprising amount of things you can do around the house to make your home a little bit greener, and we’ve run down a couple of them.
Say No To Bottled Water
As consumers, we go through a huge amount of plastic by buying bottled drinks from the shop. The majority of us do not reuse those bottles, and they end up in the bottom of the bin.
Plastic takes a very long time to decompress, so it’s safe to say that it is not very good for the environment…
A way on combating this is by getting yourself a stainless steel water bottle that you can use over and over again. By purchasing a reusable drinking bottle, you are eliminating the use of plastic and reducing the amount of pollution being produced.
According to reports, a million plastic bottles are being bought every minute around the globe, and we’re sure that not everyone is recycling. It’s time to make a change.
Buy Re-Usable Shopping Bags
Many shops are now charging for their plastic shopping bags in an effort to get customers to bring their own bags from home.
We’ve all got a huge stack of plastic bags at home that we’ve collected over the years, and it’s unlikely that we ever reuse them. When we throw bags away, they end up in landfills and can take between 20 to 1,000 years to compress.
As you can imagine, this is not exactly ideal for the environment.
Investing in a bag made from natural fibres such as canvas (also known as a bag for life) is a much more environmentally friendly way to shop and eliminates the need for plastic bags. Plus, canvas bags are likely to hold a lot more, meaning that you don’t have to worry about bags breaking and your apples rolling down the street.
Stop Using Shrink Wrap
If you’ve got some leftovers after dinner, why not try using an alternative to cling film?
Wanting to save some food for later is never a bad thing, but you can save waste by using something else to cover your snacks. The likes of cling film and tin foil are often used, but can only be used once and you’ll need to keep replacing them each week.
The solution to this is to find an alternative, reusable option. Plastic containers and glass jars can be used over and over again and can be easily washed, eliminating the need to buy more all the time.
Saving money whilst helping the environment? Sign us up.
Switch It Off
We’ve covered this before in another article, but taking care to switch off unused appliances can not only save you money but can help the environment.
You’d probably be surprised by the amount of energy that appliances use when you leave them plugged in. Leaving TVs on standby, forgetting to switch the light off and boiling more water than needed in the kettle are all things that we do but consume a lot of energy.
If it’s not in use, switch it off.
If you’d like to read more about our energy savings tips, click here.
Grown Your Own ‘Organic’ Food
Have you ever tried growing your own food?
Growing your own organic fruit and vegetables has many benefits, and can even be a fun experience. By producing your own fruit and veg, you can ensure that what you are eating is 100% fresh and you know where it came from.
You’re also more likely to eat more fruit and veg if you are growing it yourself, and it can even save you a few pennies on your shopping bill. If you’ve got kids, then why not treat it like a science experience. It can be a lot of fun to keep an eye on your produce and watch it as it grows.
Borrow Or Buy Second Hand
How do you feel about buying second hand?
Buying brand new products is something that we all do, but there are often some negatives behind it as the process of creating can cause pollution and wastage. This isn’t something that we can avoid entirely, but we can definitely do our part to reduce it.
Items such as books, clothes and DVDs can all be purchased second hand and you usually can’t even tell that they’ve been used. You can find quality second hand and charity shops on almost every street corner, so you don’t exactly have to look far to shop.
If you’re dying to read a certain book or need to see the latest movie, why don’t you ask a friend for their copy?
We don’t expect anyone to buy everything second hand, but it can’t hurt to try.
Save The Bees
If we don’t help them, who will?
Bees are incredibly important to the eco-system as they are responsible for the pollination of flowers, and are quintessential for wildlife and our food supply. According to research, a third of the food that we consume each day relies on the pollination provided by bees, so we need to look out for the black and yellow insects.
You can do your part by growing bee-friendly plants in your garden. Letting the grass grow a little, hanging baskets and seasonal flowers will all help attract bees to your garden and will transform it into a bee paradise.
Invest In Renewable Energy
If you really wanted to get serious about becoming more environmentally friendly, have you looked into installing renewable energy systems into your home?
Producing your own energy is a fantastic way of doing your part in making your home a little greener, and can even end up saving you money in the long run. Installing the likes of solar panels, heat pump systems and underfloor heating are all ways of reducing your energy bills and can all work together to make your home a lot more energy efficient.
Summary
As you can see, you don’t have to do much to help out the environment, and it’s pretty cost-effective too. Just doing a couple of these things will make your household more eco-friendly, and we’re sure you’ll notice some positives off the back of it.