Eco Blog 8: Green Tips

Hey everyone! I hope you are all keeping well and enjoying the brighter weather of mid March! This week I’ll be talking all about more green eco tips for sustainable living. There are so many ways to make your life more sustainable and today I’ll be talking mainly about reducing which is something everyone can take part in! Even small little changes can make a big difference to our planet. I hope you enjoy and speak soon!

Best wishes, Chiara xx

Green Eco Tips for Sustainable Living: Reduce

Simplify: Simplify your life as much as possible. Only keep belongings that you use/enjoy on a regular basis. By making the effort to reduce what you own, you will naturally purchase less/create less waste in the future.

Determine Your Impact: The Eco Footprint, Carbon Footprint and Water Footprint calculators give you a great way to determine how you are impacting the environment. Reduce Purchases: In general, think before you buy any product - do you really need it? How did the production of this product impact the environment and what further impacts will there be with the disposal of the product? When you are thinking about buying something, try the 30-Day Rule -- wait 30 days after the first time you decide you want a product to really make your decision.

Observe an Eco-Sabbath: For one day, afternoon or hour a week, don't buy anything, don't use machines, don't switch on anything electric, don't cook, don't answer your phone and, in general, don't use any resources.

Replace Disposables: Wherever possible, replace disposable products with reusable ones (i.e., razor, food storage, batteries, ink cartridges, coffee filters etc)

Buy Used: Buy used products whenever possible: charity shops, freecycle etc

Make Your Own: Whenever possible, make your own products to cut down on waste and control the materials used. Maybe you could get creative and try out things like homemade cleaning products.

Borrow From/ Share with Friends: If you only need something temporarily, ask if a friend or neighbour would loan it to you. Share books and games etc

Tree-Free Home: As much as possible, create a tree-free home:

o replace paper napkins with cloth napkins

o replace paper towels with a special set of cloth towels/napkins (or cut up old t-shirts for great towels) and just wash and reuse

o if you print documents, print on once-used paper and/or bleach-free, recycled paper.

o switch to a digital organizer for tracking your to do's and grocery lists.

o reuse envelopes, wrapping paper, the front of gift cards (as postcards) and other paper materials you receive wherever possible

o read books, magazines, and newspapers from your local library or online

o create and use notepads from once-used paper

o leave messages for family members on a reusable message board

o make your own cards/letters from once-used products or handmade paper

Bulk Purchases: Avoid products that are packaged for single use (i.e., drinks, school lunches, sweets, cat and dog food, salad mixings, etc.). Instead, buy in bulk and transfer the products to your own reusable containers.

Buy Only What You Need: Buy only as much as you know you'll use for items such as food, cleaning supplies, and paint.

Avoid Creating Rubbish: Avoid creating rubbish wherever possible: when ordering food, avoid any unnecessary plastic utensils, straws, etc. Buy ice cream in a cone instead of a cup, don't accept free promotional products, buy products with the least amount of packaging, etc. Every little bit of rubbish avoided does make a difference!

Shopping Bags: While shopping bring your own eco-friendly bags.

Waste-Free lunch: Pack a Waste-Free Lunch whenever possible.

Mug-to-Go: Carry a mug with you wherever you go for take out drinks.

Encourage Hotels to Reduce Waste: When staying at a hotel, motel, or bed and breakfast let the management know that you like to support businesses that have environmentally responsible practices. To locate environmentally friendly hotels, go to TripAdvisor (when searching, select 'Green' from the 'Style' menu option)