What are your green tips for the home? Share them with me.

[mellowchristmas]

Hi,

I've just started a blog about green living to get people exchanging simple tips about how to lead a more eco-friendly and ethical lifestyle.

I'm trying to collect tips from MNetters for future installments.

I've also just done my first post about cooking. Here's the link . Do you have any cooking tips you would like to share? I would love to hear what they are.

Our latest are:

No buying juice in tetrapak cartons, but only recyclable materials ie glass or plastic.

No New World wines, (they are v heavy and usually transported by plane). Not all are I know.

Small things maybe!

What's wrong with tetrapak cartons? Pray tell.

where I live, you can't recycle them.

I think they're harder to recycle because they're lined inside.

Here is what I do to try to be as GREEN as possible:

1. Only ever buy locally produced (free range or organic) eggs, veg, meat, dairy items and bread (All fresh foods)
2. Recycle as much as I can - cardboard, paper, plastic, kitchen waste etc
3. Never buy excessively packaged food
4. If something can't be produced in the UK - bananas, tea, sugar, coffee, chocolate etc I only ever buy Fair Trade
5. Ride my bike or drive my landrover which runs on vegetable oil whenever I can
6. All our household utilities are 'Green and ethical' ones
7. Formed a Climate Friendly Community Group for our local town
8. Use washable nappies for the children or the most environmentally friendly disposables and washable wipes
9. NEVER buy new clothes and toys unless they are Fair Trade (most clothes and toys are produced overseas in sweatshops therefore not only having thousands of miles to travel but exploiting the third world at the same time!) So we buy second hand or Fair Trade only

10. Use toilet rolls, printer paper and all other paper products used from recycled paper 11. Use environmentally friendly cleaning products and toiletries (most available in the big supermarkets are environmentally polluting and animal tested) 12. Use re-usable goods where possible toothbrushes with changeable heads, hankies, household wipes 13. Turn the thermostat down 14. Use energy efficient light bulbs where possible 15. Trying to get Fair Trade town status for our local Town 16. Compost 17. Grow most of our own fruit and veg 18. Support local businesses 19. Opened a Caring, Ethical and Fair Trade Supermarket (have boycotted the big supermarkets for 20 months due to food imports putting UK farmers out of business along with other reasons) 20. Never take new carrier bags from shops (carry a string bag) 21. Only fill the kettle to the required amount 22. Doing all we can to get our new senior school to 'Go Green' 23. Use Freecycle (www.freecycle.org) 24. Don't buy cling film and only use aluminium foil that has been recycled

You might think I'm a bit obsessed!!! but I want to do everything I possibly can to give my children a better future. And I don't ever want to hear these words from my kids:'Mummy, why didn't you do anything to save the polar bears?'

I am just gald to see lots of positive things and some great suggestions. Has made me want to do more. will add this to watch list.

International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC 2007) Big event this year held in Hong Kong, China
Act on Climate Change

Don't join a gym-go for a brisk walk or jog-so many people DRIVE to the gym....

And don't forget the BIG stuff. Here are my aims for the next 18months.

I'm getting rid of the solid-fuel aga and buying an electric one. We will replace all the hidden roof pitches with solar panels and have 2 wind turbines which connect down to electric storage in the cellar which will then power the electric aga.

I will swap my petrol Range Rover for a diesel Landrover Defender and run it on vegetable oil.

DH excitedly adds that he's buying a sports car - the Tesla Roadster - it's electric, it can go 180mph (not that we'd want to and we really need a proper drive for the house first because the last time a small car came here it fell into a pot hole and was never seen again

I've never heard of a mooncup before - have just googled it and read all about it. Thanks for discussing it - think I will give it a try!

Have just bought a juicer so I won't be buying any more juice in cartons.

to answer your question about tetrapak mellownomore, this was in the guardian G2 today:

here

reminded me of this thread

Thanks for the link aDad.

Wow Jessianellie I'm deeply impressed at your commitment!

I work in a secondary school and I'm putting together a series of events etc on FairTrade wit the eventual aim of becoming a Fair Trade school.

FT wine is yuuuuummmmm!!!!!!!!! (Not that the kids at school will get to taste any! STaff, yes...)

I've now got into the habit of switching everything off at the mains when I'm not using it e.g. TV/video/set top box/PC/microwave. The only down side is that you lose the clock time on the video/microwave and tuning for the video - but I have a watch and we hardly ever tape anything anyway, so it's just a quick tune in when I do. The instructions for the set top box say to leave it on standby overnight for software updates but I haven't had any problems, in fact they seem to work better.

Once you get into the habit it's really easy and definitely saves money.

Green Mobile

£15 per month for 50 mins & 75 texts, 22 p per min X-network.

If you keep your phone instead of trading up after 12 months they donate £25 to a green charity and give you £25 too

Click on the link to refurbished phones, and have a look at the Sunflower Phone ("coming soon")

"circuit board made out of chicken feathers and lasagne"

sounds like my cooking....

use low energy lightbulbs.
All have bicyles and walk as often as we can.
Re-use both sides or any office paper.
Work from home so car milage is less than 6k per year, one car family, small Honda.
Buy unpacked foods or fair trade as much as possible.
Support local shops like fruit and veg and bakers (not just for Xmas time).
Recyle paper, glass, cans and clothes.
Only buy clothes that are needed,(i keep off the style post)! They can still be nice, but i hate excess.
Have warm bedding so no need for heating on at night.
Wash up and only use dishwasher about once a month!
New energy efficient boiler fitted 4 months ago.
Put reflective paper behind radiators and dont put any furniture infront of them to absorb heat.
Theres more but that will do for now.
Oh in the summer i dont water grass. It does grow back you know!

Pruni, can you use soda crystals on their own??? if so why did I not know this before reaching the grand age of 32! I brought some for the 1st time last night, after reading this thread, at 51p they're a bargin!

I like this thread. Some good ideas here, especially about saving gas - partly for green reasons but also cos prices are escalating.
One thing that does bug me, and which I constantly harp on about, is textile recycling. I can take clothes that can be reused to charity shop but does anyone have somewhere to take textiles that aren't fit to be reused? - worn out jeans, dead teatowels etc. I've used old tea shirts as dusters but still end up throwing them in the landfill bin. Don't like doing this but council won't take them.

To ensure that I always compost my peelings etc I keep a small compost croc in the house (£12.99 from Lakeland)great for fruit munched throughout the day and if I'm preparing lots of veg I peel straight onto sheets of newspaper so I can parcel it up and take out to the compost bin.

i want to buy an electric car for running around town. but as our parking bay runs across a path we cant have the wire trailing to recharge the car.

PeachesMcLean - my local charity shop told me that they will happily take all clothes as they have a rag man who comes to collect those that can't be sold. He apparently supplies shredded fabrics to industries which use them (can't remember which industries now but will aks my mum as she works in a charity shop too).

Hope this is heartening news to you as it was for me as I can't bear throwing anything into landfill.

Thank you Claxie and muminfife. I'll put them in the supermarket textiles bin in future. I was going off a lady I spoke to at a charity shop once, just after the Council had announced they wouldn't take textiles. She was horrified and said that they just didn't have space for lots of recycling. I don't have that much of it, just like you I hate putting it in landfill.