How To Be More Eco-Conscious In Your Home
The recent pandemic has bought home to us how we are all connected with nature. During the first lockdown, we read stories of pollution reducing, air clearing and of the environment looking better. It inspired many people to want to make positive changes.
Here are some tips on how you can be more eco-conscious in your home.
Watch your Waste
One of the simplest things to do, and most impactful, is to reduce the amount of stuff you throw away each week. The aim is to lower the amount of things that end up in landfill or incinerated and look at reusing and reducing more. Begin by taking a waste audit – look at what it is you’re throwing out as waste and what you’re putting into recycling bins.
From there you can make a plan to divert one thing from the bin to either reusing or recycling – is there a better option in the shops? Could you buy something packaging free? Could you do without something or swap a disposable item for a reusable one?
Be more mindful of the materials you bring into your home, opting for more recyclable materials and packaging where possible. That means shopping with the right companies and brands that aware of the impact they’re making on the environment. Start with just one change per month, so it’s not overwhelming.
Replace Old Appliances
You don’t want to replace things in your home unnecessarily, but old appliances are something that can often be a problem when it comes to energy usage. The less energy you can use as a household, the lower your carbon footprint (and energy bills!) will be as a result.
So while you don’t want to buy for the sake of it, you can also do an energy audit. And when something genuinely needs replacing, see if you can find something that has a lower carbon footprint. For example, an A-rated fridge or freezer, a washing machine with an economy cycle, German radiators that are eco-friendly.
Another trick to extend the life of your appliances is to pay attention to how often you clean them. For example, keeping the coils on the back of your fridge free from dust and grease improves their efficiency.
Avoid Single-Use Products
Single-use products are things that are designed to be used only once, like kitchen rolls, straws, cotton buds and plastic razors. Fortunately there are more and more reusable items that are replacing these. Using the pandemic as an example, it wasn’t long before photos of disposable masks littering our neighbourhoods went viral on social media and tutorials were created for people to make their own reusable masks.
You can replace kitchen towels with washable cloths, straws with stainless steel or glass ones, cotton wool pads with washable makeup wipes, plastic razors with a metal safety razor… There are so many options now to help you live more sustainably.
In fact, choosing an eco shop will enable you to find a wide range of household goods and daily products like travel mugs in one place. Greener living is more affordable and accessible than ever before. So, if you’ve been thinking about making the transition to a better lifestyle starting with improvements for the home, now is the time to do it.
Swap Out Your Bulbs For LED
If you’ve got bulbs that aren’t LEDs, then you might be spending a lot more on your electricity bill than you should be. Think about changing these to LED lights where possible because they can be a lot more cost-effective in how little energy they use. They also tend to last a lot longer than incandescent bulbs do.We have gradually replaced old style bulbs with LEDs around our home and some are so low in energy usage that we run them from a small solar panel.
Being more eco-conscious around your home is certainly beneficial for the environment. It helps future generations enjoy the world we live in, for longer. Use these tips to make a difference.