Little ways in which you help the environment and/or reduce waste

[GunpowderGelatine]

I thought we could have a thread where we share the small low-effort ways in which we can make changes and reduce waste.

• we have a good waste digester. Smarter than a regular compost bin as it takes all food waste even bones. Got it at a discount at £30 and I love it, it gives me really lovely compost too and we literally have no food waste going in the black bin

• I buy as much second hand as possible, if the kids need new clothes I look for bundles on Facebook, I only really buy new shoes or specific clothing like costumes for book day. Most things are like new when given a good clean anyway.

• I've stopped buying DVDs and subscribed to Netlifx, and if I do get a specific DVD I go to CeX and get it second hand

• i refuse to buy anything with unnecessary packaging, like fruit and veg (I only buy it loose)

• use less bath water and limit the number of baths we take

• I wash everything at 30, if it's stained I'll go to 40 with a bit of Vanish on it and if it's smelly I use a white wine vinegar solution on it before I wash it

• I only use eco friendly cleaning products (this has helped with our allergies massively too, no more sneezing after wiping the tops down)

It's recyclable.

Foil is great. Aluminium is almost infinitely recyclable.

Mostly shop locally on foot (very lucky to have proper butcher, baker and candlestick maker greengrocer within five minutes). Less and better meat. At least two veggie evening meals a week (from January, so early days...). Little mesh produce bags like what Doodle said - I have the Onya ones that come in a little pouch that I have clipped onto the handle of my favourite of our (many) jute shopping bags, so I don't forget to take them.

We've gone back to bars of soap, using flannels to remove make-up, and cotton dishcloths for cleaning so we don't buy wipes of any kind now. I do a hot wash of all the cloths, tea towels and flannels once a week.

Ditched the wrapped chocolate biscuits (kitkats etc) in lunch boxes, and stick in a couple of chocolate digestives instead. Stopped using panty liners, and just change pants a couple times a day if I feel I want to freshen up.

Skim read and only listing ones I haven't seen above

I love sparkling water - so have a soda stream to avoid buying plastic bottles

1 roll of cling film bought 2 years ago, still not run out (but when you need it you need it...!)

cotton clothes which I keep for years

recycled parcel paper (hand decorated) instead of wrapping paper

do not hair dry

minimal chemicals for cleaning (bleach lasts 6 months), use ecoversions

avoid printing/use e-tickets

print double-sided at work if can't avoid printing

conscious of food miles

LED bulbs

no pets (controversial, I know!)

solar charger for phone (takes for ever!)

solar garden light instead of hard wired

Who gives a crap bamboo toilet paper.
£5 off code here. www.talkable.com/x/MVuR4P

I would love to:

Use rain water more (for watering and also for toilet flushing)

Have more eco features on my house

have an electric car

work up the courage to use a moon cup (I have one, but it scares me!!)

Also juice in glass bottles from the milk man. We don’t have milk but we do get juice!
Washable san pro is a must.
I have driven a total of 5000 miles in the last 2 year!

I even hardly used cling film all day once I i got these. I love them.

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B07F68M1NL?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_pd_title&tag=mumsnetforum-21

My iPhone seems to be speaking English as a Fourth Language today. Sorry.

Solar panels, gone down to one car (still an old diesel though ), bulb, milk bottles, who gives a crap etc.
Meat & veg locally sourced, mostly. I just ate an orange.
Cold house!
Our big problem is we're in an old house which we're doing up, which is very inefficient. We're insulating everything as much as we can, reusing paint etc but it's a very consumption heavy project.
Carbon offsetting by supporting tree planting projects.
Trying to do skype meetings etc rather than travelling (live rural).
Beach cleans & litter picks and getting the kids used to walking or working around public transport as much as we can!

I used cloth nappies and babywipes for all three of my children. I also used cloth san-pro before I went on the pill to stop my periods. I shall be encouraging my two daughters to use cloth san-pro too when the time comes.

We recycle everything we can
I try to use Method cleaning products where possible
We raise our own meat
We give all food waste to our chickens or pigs (except meat). Unfortunately the cat won't eat meat so any waste does have to be thrown away but my husband very rarely lets meat be left!
The heating gets turned off at night - we have a multitude of blankets to use if we get cold (or the log burner)
I try not to buy food in plastic
We have our shopping delivered, and without bags
We compost garden waste
We grow our own fruit
We dont change our furniture and decoration to suit fashionable trends - we buy stuff and use it until it's broken or worn out!
We have solar panels on the roof
We switch off lights if we're not in the room - in the evening we only have the living room light usually
We have double glazing and thermal-lined curtains or blinds
We have water butts to collect rainwater for watering the garden
We planted wildlife friendly plants around our garden and fields, to encourage the wildlife and we have lots of wild areas for plants and animals
We don't use chemicals on the garden or fields
We wash clothes at 40 (unless it's bedding, towels or sportswear)
We both have electric or hybrid cars

GiantKitten I've just bought a couple of those dishcloths from Jangneus they look fab, thank you! Am using cotton ones but they look manky and get holes in them really quickly.
The plastic washing brushes do my head in.
I'm going to get one of those little laundry bags to catch microfibres in the washing machine - do they actually do anything?!

For those using cloth San pro, I've been wanting to do this for a while. I'm a dab hand with a sewing machine and have YouTubed this but is it really efficient for a peri menopausal flooder? Do they do the job and come up clean?

Super thread. So encouraging. Good that it's in Chat too. Nice and visible. Some really great ideas upthread!

Shift of focus from recycle to reduce and reuse
Bar soap
Flannels
Reduce baths and showers
Reusable bag for shopping
Mending holey kids clothes I might have thrown out before I realised environmental impact of cotton and garment industry in general (gutted to learn about fleece upthread )
Reusable sanpro (make my own pads out of DC's old clothes) -revolutionised periods, amazing!
Beeswax wraps
Eco cleaning products, or just water and vinegar ( OP , we never use bleach and are still absolutely fine ), old flannels to clean with
Cool washes
Invested in exterior insulation on house, massive reduction in heating bills
Rarely buy anything new; clothes, tech, household goods, furniture
Gradually reduced meat to a couple of evening meals a week
Staycations in the UK
Eco utility company
Mindful of food miles
Mindful of chemical load and unnecessary use of resources; household cleaning and beauty regime have drastically changed in the last 5 years; have had same eyeliner for 2 years (only own one), jar of moisturiser since last Christmas. Chemical load and packaging is INSANE on beauty products... These days I try to embrace a more natural approach to beauty. DP admiringly calls this my ' bare-faced non-compliance' and toasts my hairy armpits.
Cancelled contact lens subscription, so much plastic involved
Making a point of talking more to people about the environment and eco friendly choices on a daily basis

@Jenniferturkington

How do your children feel about the lack of tat? Have they embraced it or is it a constant cause of strife? It's hard to know where that line is between encouraging the kids to be eco-aware, and being the reason they're ostracized by their peers. I was the only one in the whole SCHOOL who didn't have a tamagotchi and it still bothers me 20 years on! On the other hand I loathe LOL dolls etc and wouldn't want them in the house!

GiantKitten - thanks for the tip about the dishcloths. I've just bought some. What lovely designs! Free postage too.

zzzzz I recently invested in a GuppyFriend wash bag. It catches all the microfibres like a tumble drier does. You just remove it after the wash and throw them away

Wow, it took me a while to finish my post and by now there are pages of ideas -I think I love you all!
Fin the beauty of home sewn sanpro is that you can make it exactly as you want it. My pads vary in size and thickness for every stage of my period. I thought sewing poppered flaps was too much of a hassle so have never bothered, and they still stay in place. I trust mine enough to sleep in them on nights with heaviest flow.
I just made my first set with what I happened to have at home; a bobbled micro fleece muffler, a desperately shrunken cashmere sweater, a ripped brushed cotton pillowcase and a couple of old baby grows. They're still great! I have made newer pads with a pretty quilting cotton for a top layer, and although they have possibly discoloured a little over the last couple of years since I started, it would only be cosmetic; they smell fresh just like normal laundry. I just rinse them after use, put in a tub until wash day, wash on a regular wash and either dry in a hot tumble dryer or on the line (funniest thing last summer was DP ordering them by size on the line while chatting to neighbour, totally oblivious to face...)

I’ve switched to a moon cup and cotton pads. A cotton cloth for cleansing and removing make up, flannels for sticky hands and faces, I aim to use 1 cotton nappy a day (I can’t seem to stop them leaking so just one around the house), we have bamboo tooth brushes, I use tea towels to clean as much as possible rather than sponges and hot wash them after. I’ve slipped lately but have been intending on switching to eco cleaning products and bars of soap/shampoo and conditioner

My council does a really good kerbside collection service so we recycle absolutely everything including food. We have a compost bin in the garden.

We don't use wipes, bleach, disposable anything much.

We all have showers not baths.

I use soap rather than shower gel and have done for years.

Clothes bedding and sheets are washed a sensible amount, not after every wear (undies excepted obvs).

Dishwasher and washing machine are only run if there's a full load.

One thing I can't bring myself to do though is wash at 30 degrees.

Jennifer , we are also doing 'no tat' and as they're older now, 5 and 8, they totally get why it is a good idea. DC1 is 'eco monitor' at school, so very militant...
Edible party bags and books only for birthday gifts for friends. Don't want to inflict more plastic on their friends' parents.

Thank you Warmth, will give it a go. My womb is playing on payback for a 40 year old light period of no more than three days at a time to full on 7 days of heavy flooding. Blinking menopause.

Bibbity I was cured of my squeamishness around cool washes after living in India for 6 months where our laundry was washed by hand in cold water, and was impeccably clean and crisp. When our washing machine water heater element broke last year (in the UK) I was in no rush to replace it, and happily washed cold for months, apart from when adding a kettle to undies, towels and bedding No problems!

Mooncup

Microfibre dishcloth rather than disposable J Cloth

Only use bleach where it's really really necessary (D&V incidents see our loo bleached, for eg)

Only buy clothes when we need to - replacing stuff we use, rather than buying because it looks nice. Finding good homes for old clothes, whether that's charity, rags or the animal shelter (a good home for old towels)

Bar soap not shower gel

Tinned cat food, not pouches (neither recyclable here, but the tin production has to be better overall than pouches, surely?)

Waxed paper instead of cling film for almost everything (we have a roll of cling film that we have had for nearly two years)

No straws ever. Not even paper. Not even in cocktails. We are trying to break the behaviour that suggests that straws are now suddenly essential