We’ve all seen the recent posts about the floating rubbish island in the Pacific, the one that is the same size as Texas. Or how about how there is soon going to be more plastic in the sea than there are fish, or maybe you’ve heard of how we’re melting away the homes of Polar Bears with our CO2 emissions?
Either way, the majority of us want to do something to help, but just can’t seem to remember to bring those reusable bags to the supermarket! These tips and tricks will help you reduce, reuse and recycle without even realising it.
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Don’t rinse the dishes
This isn’t being lazy, it’s so much better for our planet! By not rinsing those crumbs off your plate before they go in the dishwasher you could actually be saving up to 80 litres of water per load! Of course, don’t chuck in your toast crusts and large bits of left-over debris, but if you can scrape of the larger bits and go ahead without a rinse, we strongly recommend!
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Don’t let your computer sleep
You can actually save 40-watt hours per day if you turn off your computer properly rather than leaving it to sleep!
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Adjust the fridge
Something you might not know is that if you move your fridge just a few cm’s away from the wall it can mean that it doesn’t have to work as hard to stay cold because it uses less energy!
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Be a litter fairy
This is something we always try to do. If you walk past some liter, pick it up and all day long you’ll have good luck! This is of course not guaranteed, but you’ll definitely feel like a good Samaritan. You don’t have to go out specifically looking for litter, but if you happen to walk past it then it can’t hurt to pick it up and pop it in the next bin.
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Give up meat for one day a week
The meat industry has a lot to answer for when it comes to green house gas emissions. It actually contributes around 28%. It also has a chain reaction of damaging activities, such as using more land resources and deforestation. By cutting back one day a week, you could have a significant impact on the environment!
Meat production also uses insane amounts of water. It’s estimated that 162,486 gallons of water can be saved per year for every person who gives up meat.
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Get amazing legs by using them
We all know that oil is a limited resource and by using our cars for everything we contribute to a multitude of sins. If you can walk, cycle, take public transport or car share then we highly recommend you do so. You’ll save a fortune in £££ as well!
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Buy fair trade
By only shopping fair trade you are ensuring that your hard earned money goes towards providing a fair and just wage for the people who produced it!
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Ditch the dryer
It takes 2-3 minutes more time, but hanging your clothes out to dry can save a crazy amount of unnecessary energy expenditure, your clothes will also keep their shape and colour much better. Win win, eh?
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Save your leftovers
Whether you’ve ordered too much at a restaurant, or you overestimated the amount of ingredients you’ll need , it really is worth using up your leftovers. Food waste is a global problem, and besides, leftovers are delicious and save you time in the kitchen. Which you can then spend on other energy-saving tasks, like hanging up your washing.
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Change your default settings
Companies throw away millions of tonnes of paper each day, and a quick and easy way to halve this is to make sure you always use both sides of paper. To do this, set your printer’s defaults to print double sided (duplex printing), or create a pile of scrap paper for jotting down notes and scribbles.
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Open your windows, or add/remove another layer
This might sound like common sense but do you really put it into practice? Air conditioning and heating appliances are responsible for a massive part of our environmental issues. Before you comaplain about how hot/cold it is, try to reach for a jumper instead of the thermostat.