Easy ways to be more environmentally friendly

[MintyCedric]

Would really like to make a bit more effort in the New Year but constantly short of time so needs to small, easy changes. So far am thinking:

Incorporate more vegetarian evening meals into my repertoire (DD and I generally have meat free lunches anyway)

Switch the kittens from pouches to tinned food as soon as they're a year old as realised recently that the pouches can't be recycled

Try and buy food that's not pre-packaged

Sorry...kitten just interrupted me!

Possibly get an eco egg for washing, although a bit unconvinced tbh, especially for teenagers white school shirts

Composting anything that can be and recycling my coffee pods ☺

Any other ideas?

Walk or cycle as much as possible. Grow your own herbs. Only use washing machine with a full load. Wear clothes more than once before washing. Don’t wash towels after every use. Put on an extra layer rather than switch on heating. Don’t have long showers. Use soap bars instead of plastic bottles of shower gel. Avoid products with palm oil.

I bought a water bottle so that I'd stop buying drinks in plastic bottles while out (I do a lot of work travel).

I also read the labels on veg in the supermarket to try to cut down on food that's been flown here from the other side of the world to keep it fresh (eg asparagus from Peru!). And generally buy local when possible, for example if you live in Herefordshire try to make sure you aren't buying apples or potatoes (or cider!) from the other side of the country when there's plenty produced on your doorstep.

Forgot to add, I've personally found things that also help me to save money much easier to keep up than things that just add another level of faff with no benefit that I can see immediately. I've saved a fortune on overpriced service station drinks!

We are going to switch back to glass bottles instead of plastic, where possible. Stuff like ketchup, mayonnaise, honey.

I keep a foldable bag in my handbag for when I am out and about.

I got a reusable sandwich wrapper at the start of the year and it's working really well still

re-wrap-it.co.uk

If you really and genuinely could not live without a car, get as small and economical one as possible. Best of all, consider home deliveries of groceries and use of taxis for the things that cannot be done by public transport, and get rid of the car.

100% green tariff electricity.

I haven't found that the eco egg works for me, but does for some I believe. I use eco laundry detergent brands - method, smol, splosh. And use mineral bleach rather than vanish as a stain remover (you can buy violets, but i get pure sodium percarbonate from eBay).

You could start using plastic free bathroom stuff, I've found beauty Kubes great (much better than the solid bars), Ben & Anna deodorant is good, or use soap instead of shower gel etc.

I have a tiny car (Fiat Panda) which I do need but am a bit lazy about short journeys so that's on my to do list. I work at DDs school so at least we car share!

Laundry and clothes wearing stuff I already do, don't tend to buy bottled drinks as can access what I need at work and have a 'proper' one for the gym.

I try to reuse my bags but could do with making a bit more effort on that front.

Cut back on use of household cleaners. I use a small scoop of powder in washing machine. No conditioner. I line dry clothes as much as I can. Don’t use tumble dryer sheets. Never bleach toilets.

Hoping to grow some fruit, veg and herbs this year.

Changes on the bathroom front might be a bit of a challenge but I'll look into it. I've long since given up bubble bath type products and use natural salts and aromatherapy oils instead

I’ve moved back to washing powder in cardboard box rather than washing liquid and in the process of organising a milkman for glass bottles rather than plastic. Good point about glass bottles for ketchup etc too

Use less. On here I see many people using astonishing amounts of bleach, shower gel etc (a bottle or more a week) or washing clothes, towels etc after one use, which is often totally unnecessary and uses huge amounts more products, plastic bottles, water and energy than necessary. So don't be one of the competitive cleaners or washing people.

Also take drinks from home and/or reusable cups and bottles. Aim to use no or hardly any single use cups or drink bottles.

The above will save quite a lot of money too.

Are there local initiatives you can get involved in? Community gardens or canal cleaning or street cleanups? They can be great fun, very rewarding and a good way to meet like minded people

OP, I get 200 g cans of kitten food from Zooplus. Eg Smilla, Feringa or Carny. Cost about the same per weight as Felix AGAIL or similar but is much better quality food and doesn't go stale if open for a few hours. They do all sorts of trial packs if you're not sure what they will eat.

I recently met the women behind Zero Waste Life which has changed how I think about a lot of things. It's definitely worth checking out their blog for ideas: www.zerowastelife.co.uk

As an accidental environmental side effect of changing our cat from pouches to a grain free kibble, we now only throw away one plastic bag a month rather than 60 pouches. We changed as it’s better for the cat so maybe look into other options before changing to tins. I’d imagine the tins have a larger carbon footprint than the pouches too, despite the recycling aspect.

I’ve slipped a bit with buying water out so I’m recommitting to that this year and going to set a challenge of never buying a takeaway coffee if I’ve just left home and could have brought one. I don’t do it often, maybe 15-20x a year. My sister bought me a gorgeous bamboo coffee mug for Christmas.

I’m going to take a lot more food out with us for day trips/ self cater on weekends away rather than buying lots of prepackaged. I’m going to invest in some of the beeswax wraps and get rid of cellophane.

Bar soap instead of bottled liquid soap

Tupperware instead of using clingfilm or disposable freezer bags

Water filter jug or instead of bottled water

Carry a fold up bag for life around - the Reisenthal ones are excellent

Insulation in your house especially the roof, double glazing... not cheap but will pay for itself over time

Avoid takeaways that use disposable plastic packaging

YY to avoiding out of season food flown across the world

Mini tupperwares are also really good for kids snacks, you can decant a small amount of nuts/dried fruit etc from a larger packet

What bar soaps are really nice? Going to try and make this change but see it as a treat by getting good ones.

Just start and do something and don’t get paralyzed by shoulds

What made a big difference for me was getting milk delivered as that is the thing that gets me into the shops.

Now I do a big shop every month to fill the cupboards and freezer. On the other weeks I walk to the green grocer or farmers market to buy fruit, veg, eggs and cheese. And I get my meat from the butcher instead of the supermarket.

I’ve cut down a lot on plastic packaging, I’m buying much less crap. I don’t drive as much. I’m supporting local business. And I’m getting exercise.

I’ve also saved a lot because I don’t go to the shop as often and that helps to keep me going.

And because I’m doing something I’m more conscious of other little things that I can do as well.

There’s always going to be more. But if you can get started on something that you can maintain in your life and circumstances it will soon snowball. The key is getting started.

Some really great advice and ideas. Thank you.

Alana I really like that outlook. It can seem really overwhelming when you think of everything you 'should' be doing. I think small, gradual changes are definitely the way to go for us.

Veggies the money saving factor is also a big factor for me so that's a useful perspective.

I'm going to go against the grain a bit and say that nothing you do at a personal lifestyle level will be of much consequence. Watch this short video

I'm not saying that personal actions aren't necessary and important, they are, but they're not sufficient to effect change. For that we need collective political action to pressure governments and industries to clean up.

The main things to do on a personal level

Vow not to have any more children (unless you currently have none).
Don't fly on holiday.
Eat locally and seasonally.
Generally live a low key/minimalist/frugal/non-consumerist life... forget about expensive designer handbags made from recycled seatbelts and bamboo toothbrushes. Reduce, repair and reuse.
Divest from environmentally damaging investments.

Delete all unnecessary emails from inbox and sent items and all folders. Don't send emails unnecessarily. Unsubscribe from all mailing lists to minimise your emails. The amount of energy used by servers to store all this crap is phenomenal.

Oh yea... in addition to the email thing ^^

Don't buy bitcoin and other crypto-currencies, the processing power demand to mine them is phenomenal. Huge server farms demanding TeraWatts or higher of electric power to run.
Watch YouTube etc in a lower resolution, especially if it's something factual like an interview, where you're listening more than watching.