What are your tips for being more environmentally friendly? Tell Unilever for a chance to win a £300 voucher!NOW CLOSED

[MichelleMumsnet]

Unilever have asked us to find out what Mumsnetters' tips are to make sure that your family is more environmentally friendly.

Here's what Unilever say, "At Unilever, we believe there has never been a better time to create a better future for our children; a world where everyone has enough food to eat and no child goes to bed hungry; where everybody can enjoy life today while protecting the planet for future generations.

"If we all work together to take small actions every day that make a real difference, we can build a world where everyone lives well and lives sustainably.

"We're committed to taking positive action on climate change within our business, but we also want to inspire our consumers to make those small changes that can make all the difference."

So, what positive habits have you got in to which help you be more environmentally friendly which you can pass on to other Mumsnetters? Maybe it's as simple as getting yourself and your DCs into the habit of switching off the lights as you leave the room? Are you a champion for only buying sustainably sourced products or managing down the food miles in your weekly shop? Perhaps you're now using reusable instead of disposable products, everything from batteries to razors to ink cartridges? Or maybe you've ditched the car in favour of cycling? Whatever your tips are, we'd love to hear them!

Everyone who posts their tips on the thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a £300 Love2Shop voucher!

Thanks and good luck,
MNHQ

Cycle to work and school.
Use ecover products,
Do less cleaning overall (saves on all those polluting chemicals if you just ignore the dirt).
Turn down the heating and put on another layer.
The rest of my household cut down on water and cleaning products by just not washing, but I don't particularly recommend that one.

We lift share to the DDs clubs and activities. I also combine car journeys, so I get milk en route from work rather than going back out.

We recycle as much as we can and don't replace things unless we have to. The DDs are pretty good at turning off lights in empty rooms and nothing is ever left on stand-by. Being frugal and being green are often the same thing.

Recycling glass, plastic, batteries. Council takes our food and garden waste to be recycled. Reuse, repurpose and reduce as much as possible. Have an allotment so trying to grow our own! Reusable nappies.

recycle as much as you can- reuse items where possible. light switching- possibly even going solar powered.

We were most environmentally friendly in our lifestyle when we were a lot more skint. So, get poorer. [tips hat to Ian Duncan-Smith who's on the case]

Grow some of your own food - can be done even in a pot; tastes great and zero food miles. Get a compost bin if you have room - we've just moved to a rented house with no room for one and I feel awful throwing away veg peelings etc. We do the usual things - recycling, turn off light switches, keep bags for life in the car so we always have some for the supermarket

We have been recycling for a long time (since before it became the norm - we had to hunt out recycling "banks"). Also use my own bags, use reusable things rather than disposables.
We also keep things - so clothes wear out rather than being changed because there is a new fashion this week. Ds's outgrown things get passed on/charity shopped. Other things go to the local charity shop which will take in rags (keep some myself for cleaning cloths)
We don't change household items that are still working just because we have seen a new shinier version.

I try to food shop responsibly. Seasonal British Produce where possible. Meal planning, making sure things are used before they go off - I am old enough to remember when we didn't have use by dates so use my common sense on those!!

We walk everywhere and recycle religiously. I love second hand bargains and sell on all dcs outgrown clothes.

We teach our children the importance of recycling, even our 2yr old has a basic understanding of what goes in the recycling bin. Our hope is that they'll grow up to be environmentally responsible and will share their knowledge with friends at school who will also recycle too

Just the basics here n extra jumper, less heating of the house ans switching off lights.

We try to recycle more and find an extra bin helps with this.

We grow food in our garden and allotment, always turn switches off when not in use, lights off, recycle, compost food waste. I also buy meat from a butcher which uses small local farms, rather than supermarket meat, and buy a local veg box. We also walk and cycle a lot (no car).

I also use a lot less washing powder than "suggested", and no fabric conditioner. Use Ecover.

all the basics
plus have a no fly rule for holidays
are vegetarian except for weekends - has improved my cooking no end
try freecyle, ebay and local facebook pages for second hand before buying new
only eat home grown lettuce and salad leaves

Things I've consciously chosen to do in order to minimise our energy use:

Live in a city so we can use public transport rather than drive.
Holiday in the UK so we don't fly.
Install double-glazing so that we only have to heat the flat when it gets really cold.
Try not to buy too much new stuff and mend it when we can. Stuff we no longer use, we pass on via friends, charity shops and freecycle.

We probably don't do enough as we only do the most obvious.

We recycle as much as we can for the weekly refuse collection, old clothes (not suitable for charity shops) get picked up along with all used batteries and old electrical goods. Food waste goes out for the composting collection.

Anything suitable for the charity shop gets donated and old bedding is sent to local animal shelters.

We try to grow a few of our own vegetables.

We use heavy duty re-usable bags for the weekly shop.

All bulbs in the house are energy efficient and all appliances that can be switched off when not in use are switched off. We only boil enough water in the kettle for what we are using.

Keep chickens!

We have seven hens and they are brilliant... we get so many egg! All our food waste goes to them as 'treats' and the chicken poo goes on the allotment... pets that pay, that's my moto! :)

Recycle, reuse etc.
Pass on clothes to younger children.
Meat free once or twice a week.
Switching of lights, tv, taps etc.
Reuse envelopes.
I must admit that DD (7) is one of the instigators of this. She's been learning about environmentally friendly at school and has become a helpful nag.

Learn to cook & utilise a slow cooker and the freezer, to use up leftovers, minimise waste and batch cook.

I use half the recommended amount of washing powder too, sorry Unilever!

I am also a keen donator to and browser of secondhand or charity shops.

Everytime we run the downstairs hot tap to wash up etc, we collect the cold water that comes through first in a 4pt milk carton instead of letting it run away down the drain. We put all the cold water collected into a big camping water carrier and tip it into Ds2's bath every night. It probably saves about 6-10 litres a day, which isn't much but if everyone did that it would be a big difference.

I always take my own bags shopping - I think if we can't manage to do something as simple as that, then what hope is there for the planet.

We buy most clothes and books from charity shops and reduce, reuse and recycle. I am trying to upcycle unused stuff to make garden toys and games at the moment.

Similar to a lot of folks with the recycling (our council has local boxes & bins for most things) using charity shops, lights off etc.

My rented flat has spotlights which are both expensive & inefficient so we use small plug in lights for the most part & energy bulbs in bed rooms.

I use less washing powder (& shampoo etc) than recommended & never really worry over best before dates and even stretch use by if it passes the sniff test

Biggest saving is in fuel as we make plenty use of blankets over knees & house coats! Our house has heating switched off in March & probably won't be on again til Nov unless we get a big cold snap.

Washing wise I put machine on at night - not sure if it's still the case that electric is cheaper after midnight but it's a habit I haven't got out of since it was.

We have an outside line so weather permitting everything is dried outside.

We buy local/British food, go to PYO, etc. Choose quality clothing over cheap/throwaway fashion. Make stuff when we can.

Donations of decent old stuff to charity. Everything else that can be recycled, gets recycled. We put out less than half a bin bag of waste every 2 weeks.

I have a cleaner who uses all home made/organic products for cleaning, so we don't buy Unilever (sorry - I guess that's me and the £300 voucher going different ways then!)

Just normal everyday things really ...recycle use left overs no lights left on when not in the room etc....
Also we reuse plastic bags for bin liners dog waste etc...
Keep our heating on timer for when we are in the house.
Kids have thermals for winter.
Thick winter curtains.

In general, I try not to use disposable things. DS was in reusable nappies and wipes, I use rags/clothes rather than wipes around the house and I always use a mug or glass at work rather than endless disposable cups.

Washable nappies must have saved vast amounts going to landfill (although we used some disposables as well), very rarely used packets of wipes as the washable ones were better. I've since bought washable sanitary towels (although currently pregnant so not using them), can't quite bring myself to try washable loo roll!

We've recently moved house which means a lot less driving as we're now walking distance from nursery and the station, as well as lots of shops. We may manage to drop from two cars to one at some point in the future, and it's got to be healthier for us all too.

we talk a lot about the improtance of seasonal food and not wasting food. the kids are activly encouraged to recycle and switch things off. We also like to spend a lo of time outdoors and this help reinforce how we all ned to look after our world.