Help me be more environmentally friendly

[Bubblesbubblesmybubbles]

So we already

• cloth bum
• bamboo toothbrushes
• buy organic cotton clothes (often preloved)
• buy preloved toys
• walk where possible
• buy locally sourced meat and veg as well as do one or 2 meat free days a week (vegan just doesn't appeal sorry)
• would love a 3rd but DP has a vasectomy booked in and we have 2 children
• looking into "who gives a crap" toilet paper
• mainly holiday in the UK
• barely use the tumble dryer

Id like some more easy wins ideally

Minimise all of your food waste. It's a really easy one to do and saves you money too. Meal plan, shop with a list, store food correctly (check your fridge temperature is at the optimum level), freeze leftovers, share any excess with friends or through food sharing schemes such as community fridges or apps such as Olio, invest in a compost bin for food scraps.
There are some interesting food waste facts here;
olioex.com/food-waste/food-waste-facts/

Reusable face masks
Single use plastics - bags / bottles / coffee pods. I've got a sodastream for water and got rid of my nescafe pod machine
Wax sandwich wraps

Do you have a garden? Could you start a compost pile and collect rainwater/bath water in a water butt?

Use an ecoegg instead of laundry detergent

Use bars of soap instead of handwash (you could even go for bars shampoo and conditioner too!)

Look into more sustainable alternatives to kitchen sponges (such as a coconut scourer)

We already are very careful with food shopping and meal planning. Very little food gets binned here (just hadnt considered that as an eco friendly thing to do)

We avoid the shops at the moment but do have reusable face masks for if needed.

Coffee we use a press so no plastic pods and we reuse shopping bags as much as possible

Can definitely look at hand soap bars! I am very allergic to a lot of shampoo so would be cautious buying shampoo bars.

Will also look into sponge alternatives

We use Ecover products for cleaning and washing, is an Ecoegg better than that? Will is handle the nappies?

Looks like we aren't perfect but aren't doing horrendously

Buy locally produced food.
Go vegan
Move your money to banks who don't fund fossil fuels and illegal money laundering
Buy second hand clothing, electricals
Move to greener energy companies.

Use minimal heating at home. Easy now but come winter stretch it out with thermals and warmer clothes

Repair and mend anything where possible.
Buy second hand when no longer possible to repair

Use reusable toilet paper

Could definitely look into reusable wipes for wees!
We shop local produce as much as possible
Vegan we do a few days a week but I'll be honest and say i couldn't do it full time.
We go for second hand as much as possible (but also buy things to last)
Compost heap is a great idea!
Our thermostat is sat at 16 - any lower seems freezing?!
@catbatcat which banks would you suggest? Happy to move banks!
Already with green energy

Would love an electric car but can't afford one

Smol for washing tablets and dishwasher tablets - fully recyclable packaging
Mooncup or reusable Sanitary towels

I've really tried to limit plastic around my skincare and beauty routines. So flannels and reusable cotton pads rather than tissues and cotton wool, e.g. taking your make up off with a balm and flannel. Buying toiletries without packaging - body lotion bars rather than a bottle of body lotion - or recyclable where there is packaging, so glass jar of moisturiser, balm in a tin etc.

If I do buy plastic, I try to make sure it's something I can repurpose, so a big tub of conditioner that I can use to store something in when it's finished, rather than a tube of conditioner.

Ahh see I have no beauty routine and wear no make up so I'm doing well on that front . Being allergic to a fair few brands I'm scared to change shampoo but only wash my hair every 4 days so hopefully that helps too

Smol sound interesting, i will look them up!

Do you have a big enough garden to grow veg? Its amazing what cna be grown in tubs and a small space.
Also marking place for ideas.

Good idea for a thread

If you fly, drive and eat meat/dairy , those are the big ones to cut down on! Any progress you can make in those areas is going to have way more impact than anything like reusable cotton buds etc.

A secondhand PHEV or a hybrid car is a good alternative to a fully electric vehicle.

Solar panels? We have them and cavity wall insulation to minimise our heating costs. 3 bed detached house, joint gas and electric £70 pcm.

An allotment?

Local free Cycle?

Looking in to growing veg at the moment!
We live rurally so driving is inevitable but we avoid it where possible and try to make a journey worthwhile, also never go above 60mph
We've cut down meat and dairy but I love it too much to give it up and buy local and from a butcher we trust to minimise the impact (no battery farming whatsoever - yes i know the dairy industry is crap)
We can't change vehicles right now but its something we will look into as soon as we can

Love how many things i hadn't thought of which can help - we will never be the perfect family in this respect i know that but i feel things like cloth nappies do make a difference

Well done so far.

Electric car doesn’t have to cost a fortune- if you’re not too fussed with range then second hand they start at 5-7k. Worth looking at getting one longer term- they eventually pay for themselves when you consider you never have to pay for petrol! We love ours and it costs pennies to run.

In the meantime try and reduce car journeys depending on where you live. Consider walking/cycling or public transport if further. If you are a two car family could you cope with one? I was sceptical but we’ve coped ok with one for 10 years now.

We have solar panels on the roof-
Not for electricity but they are connected to the gas and heat our hot water april- October and sunny days in between. Cost a few k but again they have now paid for themselves through a lower gas bill. If you are staying put for a few years def worth looking into.

Like you I can’t do vegan but quite easy to eat meat free most days a week. Beef is by far the most un-environmentally friendly meat so try and reduce that as much as you can.

I’m not sure about the who gives a crap
Toilet paper but we use regular Sainsbury’s recycled which is cheap and fine.

I’m not ready to give up flying but haven’t for two years and actively consider alternatives. In my opinion flying once a year on a family holiday is ok (dh disagrees) but doing lots of flights per year to exotic places is irresponsible. Train travel to the continent is fab.

Eco egg and water butts are good ideas. Eco egg so easy and cheap. However I’m not sure it would handle nappies. But you could use it for general laundry fine. I also use ecover stuff but I don’t think it is as friendly as all that- owned by SC johnson which are ethically dubious. Independent eco-shops have better alternatives -ours has a massive refillable thing which we visit once a month or so- but I freely admit that you want to be able to source stuff easily. Worth seeing if there is a zero-waste/eco shop locally where you can buy stuff in bulk and massively reduce packaging waste. This will come to supermarkets eventually.
But the biggie is probably making sure your house as well insulated as it can be. A shockingly high percentage of energy is wasted because people don’t insulate homes properly.

And also just talking to other families about what you are doing and why.

Great thread!

I'm going to look into ecoeggs for washing - what about soapnuts? Any good?

Must get some bamboo toothbrushes as well. We have an electric toothbrush (with separate heads for everyone obvs!) but I really resent buying all the heads, not least because they are so flippin' expensive.

We are eating meat-free more and more. Probably 4 days out of 7 now. I will never be vegan though, just need to find more sustainable ways of managing that.

Agree re: train travel @Frazzled2207 - we've travelled first class (for absolute peanuts compared to UK prices) through Italy and Spain and it's blissful. I also crossed the USA years ago on train and Greyhound bus. A much more interesting way to travel (although yes I admit you do have to get on a plane in the first place to do that)!

If you're going to start growing your own consider using the Real Seed Company. They're an agricultural co-operative and actively encourage seed saving.
If you're using bamboo toothbrushes make sure you're putting them in the compost bin afterwards or reusing them in some way, otherwise you're still just putting it in the bin at the end of it's life.

In terms of banks can I recommend Triodos.