Turn over a new leaf next year with these 20 eco-friendly resolutions to make
AS the most indulgent season comes to an end, your thoughts might be turning to New Year resolutions. Three-quarters more of us are concerned about the environment than we were in 2014, according to a Sun survey — so many will be considering how to cause less pollution and harmful emissions. Here, I reveal how […]
AS the most indulgent season comes to an end, your thoughts might be turning to New Year resolutions.
Three-quarters more of us are concerned about the environment than we were in 2014, according to a Sun survey — so many will be considering how to cause less pollution and harmful emissions.
Here, I reveal how we can cause less waste, less pollution — and save money at the same time.
1) Learn to sail past the sales: We all want to bag a bargain in the New Year sales. There might be some-thing you’ve had your eye on for months. But think first. Do you really need it? If you do, check that you can’t get it on a “pre-loved” website even cheaper first — look at freecycle.org, gumtree.com and craigslist.org. It all comes down to TV nature guru David Attenborough’s top tip: Stop wasting stuff.
2) Spring clean using natural cleaning products: Vinegar, lemons and bicarbonate of soda all work wonders. Meanwhile, eco-brands are booming, so consider switching. Ecover Pine and Mint Toilet Cleaner (750ml) is £1.50 at Sainsbury’s, compared to Harpic Power Plus Toilet Cleaner (750ml), £1.90 also at Sainsbury’s. You can also try Bio-D, Method and Tesco’s Eco-Active range.
3) How low-carbon can you go? Reduce meat and dairy consumption, as beef and sheep livestock have a high carbon footprint. If you’re not ready to go completely without, try Meat Free Mondays
4) Grow your own: You don’t need a big garden. Salad leaves, chilli and herbs are just a few of the things that grow well in containers. It’s a low-cost way of reducing your reliance on super-market fruit and vegetables.
5) Switch off when idle: Leaving TVs, games consoles, the washing machine and microwave on standby eats energy. Some appliances draw energy even when they are not being used and phone chargers are among the worst culprits. “Vampire power” costs each house up to £80 a year, according to the Energy Saving Trust.
6) Use energy-saving lightbulbs: LED bulbs can last up to 50,000 hours, while some newer models are good for double that. As they use far less energy, you will quickly see impressive savings on your energy bill each month. Which? magazine puts the annual cost of running an LED lightbulb at £1.71, compared to £2.04 for a CFL (compact fluorescent lamp) type and £8.42 for halogen. Over the course of an LED bulb’s very long lifetime, it can save you around £180.
7) Be a careful cook: Only use as much water as you need and cover your pans so you save energy. Overfilling your kettle is a waste of electricity so only boil as much as you need.
8) Lose the plastic packaging: This wrapping is energy-intensive in its production and causes serious damage to habitats. Choose items that are light on packaging, and refill as much as possible. There is no reason to buy tomatoes on a plastic tray which is also wrapped in plastic. A loose tomato tastes just as good. Find out more about the supermarkets’ war against plastic.
9) Go low: Set the washing machine at 30C or even 20C. Doing the laundry at 30C instead of 40C can be one third cheaper on energy. For lightly soiled clothes, try 20C. And make sure that your machine is full.
10) Get free water-saving devices: Moving water around the country and treating it requires huge amounts of energy, so get in touch with your water company to find out what gadgets you can get for free, such as low-flow shower heads which use less water.
11) Holiday close to home: Flying is one of the most carbon-intensive activities in the world. So book a Sun holiday you can drive to or take the train to. If you must fly, choose short flights with no transfers. Cut down on cruises, too, if they are your thing — they eat fuel and each year put a billion tonnes of sewage directly into the oceans.
12) Make your home cosy: Draught-proof your doors and windows, install secondary-film glazing, top up your loft insulation to 27cm and get your boiler serviced. Accord-ing to the Energy Saving Trust, loft insulation for a semi-detached house will cost around £300, with £130 savings a year, while insulating a mid-terrace house will cost around £285 and save £115 a year.
13) Turn down radiators in rooms you are not using: You don’t need to heat a room you’re not in, so use radiator controls to adjust temperature.
14) Get on your bike: Over half of all UK car journeys could be made by bike in less than 20 minutes. So reduce the huge impact of cars, which account for around 15 per cent of global carbon emissions, and at the same time shift some of those Christmas calories, by walking or cycling more.
15) Slow down on fast fashion: We buy more and more clothes each year. So choose vintage items, rent something for those special occasions and don’t forget charity shops. Oxfam has a great online shop. For outfit rentals, try websites like byrotation.com, hirestreetuk.com and mywardrobehq.com. If you do really want to buy new clothes, look out for certifications of sustain-ability. Use the Good On You app to find out which shops are reducing their impact on the environment.
16) Be curtain-clever: Keep drapes away from radiators, so warm air can circulate. Choose thicker curtains or ones with a thermal or black-out lining. Keep them closed from dusk until dawn.
17) New is not always better: The traditional method of line-drying your clothing is much better for the environment. One dryer load uses five times more electricity than washing, so by simply line-drying your clothes, you can dramatically reduce your carbon footprint. Running a clothes dryer is equivalent to turning on 225 lightbulbs for an hour. The tumble-dryer is one of the top energy-consuming appliances — not to mention the leading cause of appliance-related household fires.
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18) Watch super-market air miles: Potatoes do not rack up air miles like imported rice. Likewise, dairy has a high carbon footprint, so swap a latte for a regular coffee. Look for the Red Tractor symbol on food supplied by British farmers. Buy strawberries, for example, from Norfolk, not Morocco.
19) Sign up to a green energy tariff: You will be supporting renewable energy investment. Go to consumer site which.co.uk to check out the best tariff for you.
20) Get talking: If this is the one and only thing on the list that you do, it will have been worth the read. By talking about change, we make it happen. Talk to friends about your New Year pledge — and why not speak to your MP at their surgery, especially if they are new in their job?
- Angela Terry is an environmental scientist. To find out more, visit onehome.org.uk and follow her on Twitter @ouronehome.