What are your Eco sins?

[Andthenthereweresome]

OK. What are your eco sins?
I’ll start

I use way too much cling film and kitchen roll. In my defence, your honour, I rarely fly and I drive a hybrid 😀
Oh and I grow my own veggies

My problem is apathy, my negative impact is minimal, but I feel that my efforts are pointless and I think that my good intentions are largely motivated because this is the way of the part of society that I run with - I don't believe that my good actions are meaningful. This shouldn't be down to individuals. The governments of the world need to work better together to improve humanity's impact on the planet. I don't buy single use plastic, but why is it even produced? Why is it available for purchase, and how can this be an individual's responsibility. This is a big business problem, not an insignificant individual problem. It used to infuriate me, now I just despair a bit for future generations.

I use the dryer for everything! Just find hanging out washing so time consuming and I do so many loads with three active kids there is no space to hang it all. Oh and three kids.

We have a diesel car, I like driving, I like driving fast. I sometimes go out for a drive just to enjoy it.

Amazon Prime every week if not more
I dont check if somethings actually recyclable - if it looks like plastic it’s plastic

Use all the AI programmes
Probs use quite a bit of cling film
Fly when I need a holiday ( not poss for health reasons this year)
Occasionally use a heated clothes dryer when I could put stuff in the airing cupboard in batches
Sometimes put food in the black bin or kitchen bin and not the food recycling bin

Probs lots more but can't think of them

Fly 3x pa, only Europe, though
Eat meat
Use fairy liquid

Otoh
Recycle everything I possibly can
Buy most clothes from charity shops
Freecycle stuff
Drive a hybrid
Don't water garden
Don't have a tumble dryer
Solar panels run the washing machine
Use Smol washing tablets
Buy loo roll from uk based paper recycling company
Use natural sponge washing up thingies

I feel like in general I am pretty conscience - drive an EV, have solar panels, thermostat on 17c and use refillable cleaning products, shower gel, etc.

On the downside - the heating I do use is oil (not on gas main, and too £££ to convert house for heat pump at the moment. Will one day).

I fly an average of once per year. I had move to once every three years while the kids were little, but now DC are getting older we want more exciting holidays, and are too far north for train to be a viable option.

The other thing i do is buy a lot of pre-chopped veg. I cook from scratch mostly, and try to eat well, but I despise cooking and if I can pay 59p to avoid grating carrots then I do. I do feel a bit guilty.

Oh no! Just remembered I bought a portable aircon unit last month, too.

I'm going to hell!

Depending on which bin day it is, I'll chuck anything in the non-recycling just to make room for future rubbish.
We dump the compostable bags from the food caddy, into public waste bins on the high street, especially in the summer.
I buy multi packs of bottle water.
I'm watering my garden with a hose.
I never wash any jars out before putting them in the recycling.
I drive everywhere.
We burn our old bank statements/bills/document on a bonfire in the garden.

I’ve got 3DC and we’re a 2-car household. We’re in London so I could get public transport to work, although it would take longer and is way less convenient. Also not veggie. Also use an aircon unit on very hot days.
Otherwise, I try to be eco conscious- never use the drying part of the washer dryer, hang laundry outside when possible, use eco- friendly laundry sheets and dishwasher tablets, am
pretty good at recycling and re-using. Can’t remember the last time I went on a plane. Put on extra layers rather than turning the heating up, mostly get books second hand or from library online. I was watering the garden with a hose until the van cane into force, but now I’m doing it with milk bottles and catching waste water in buckets( eg in the shower ).

Eating meat and use of dryer most probably. I have not had a car this century and flights are a rarity.

I refuse to wash out yogurt pots, they go straight into the black bin (general waste). Maybe I'm saving water so it balances out 😊

I don't use a food caddy ever, waste food straight into a bag and into the black bin, but I don't have much of that anyway.

We are moving house - for the first time in my life, and many times moving house, I rented a skip and binned all of the "I may need this someday" things and old childrens toys.

Now I did put up a freecycle post on a first come first served basis, but the majority of the stuff is going in the skip as it's uncollected.

We have just 6 boxes of things to move with us- 4 is still kids toys, one is pictures and sentimental items, one is full of vacuum packed clothes. Then just the big furniture and pets. It is very freeing, and feels like a start over - but environmentally, not ideal as it all had a potential new life.

However we do grow our own food, buy everything second hand - clothes, toys, furniture - collect rainwater to use on the garden, compost, recycle endlessly the rest of the time, have the heating on low and wear jumpers indoors, hang dry our clothes instead of using the tumble dryer.

I just needed one move where we didn't have the stress of finding space for outgrown, broken, gifted items that we never got round to using.

Occasionally I have the heating on and the windows open at the same time - we have an old house that is prone to damp and both heat and ventilation are needed in the winter to keep the mould away.

I eat red meat and dairy, which is a surprisingly big factor in my carbon footprint.

I sometimes drive the teens for journeys that are perfectly walkable/tramable, as I see it as an investment in the relationship and helps me feel better about myself when I'm nagging at them

I don’t buy second hand and whether or not I take stuff to the charity shop or the skip is mood dependent rather than condition dependent. The skip is easier. The only thing I’ve bought second hand in the past decade or so is a vintage sewing machine!

But, I don’t fly…and I’m sure 37 years of local holidays with a few hundred miles of home helps balance out my lack of second hand items.

Tumble dryer.
I won't bother to list my good eco points, because that's quite dull.
I am a bit of a slattern, though, and things don't get washed nearly as often as they perhaps ought to. That'll have to do as mitigation.

I do not recycle plastic ever.
I use plastic non-reusable shopping bags and then use them as bin liners.
I still drive a petrol car and can’t see that changing until I am compelled.

Shop at 'fast fashion' stores (albeit only for things I like and will wear for a ling time.

Drive everywhere.

But
Most things I otherwise own are second hand
Never fly
Been vegan 25 years which pretty much cancels all else out.

I have air conditioning in my home and I love it.

I tumble dry towels because they're so much fluffier

But I also drive an EV, have solar panels, recycle or pass on pretty much everything and don't buy fast fashion.

Masses of dogs, never enough dogs (they’re rescues so they were already alive)

At home, I only wash my towels once a week.

However, in hotels I want a clean towel every day and never do the eco thing of saying that they don’t have to replace them.😳

The Good

• Compost every piece of cardboard and paper for 30 + years
• Use ridiculously low amount of water - shower at gym, one washload a week, garden totally drought friendly
• Never waste food
• Never used a tumble dryer
• Keep the house at a painful unhealthy 10 degrees in winter…

The Bad

• 20 flights a year
• Sometimes use bleach spray on the driveway weeds (when the garden centre wants £50 for weedkiller) - forgive me

I have A/C fitted in all rooms.
I smoke indoors.
Wash towles after every use.
Im minimilist my home looks empty.
All rubbish goes in 1 bin.
Shop on temu.
I dont like dogs,cats or kids.
Use a tumble dryer.
And many many more.

I don’t do food waste recycling.
I buy loads from Temu.
i flush every time even for wees.
All plastic goes in the recycling bin regardless of if it’s the ‘right type’ of plastic.
I have a portable air con machine.

but I do drive a tiny car
ive only flown once since 2011
I turn the taps off when brushing my teeth
I use the energy saving light bulbs.
I buy off of fb marketplace lots.
only have two kids.
don’t eat red meat.
take showers not baths.
try to buy in season fruit veg.

10C? Why?

Do you have kids at home?

Presume if you fly 20 times a year, you aren’t short of cash.