Making your home more environmentally friendly may conjure up ideas of installing solar panels, compost toilets, and wind turbines. But there are many simple and practical steps you can take which don’t involve making any drastic changes to your lifestyle – or wearing a hair shirt! Read on, to find out what you can do for the environment.
Improve your Insulation
Thousands of tonnes of Carbon Dioxide are released into the atmosphere each year from our homes, contributing to the build up of greenhouse gasses and global warming. However, much of such pollution is needless. Just by making your home better insulated will recover an enormous amount of energy – and save you money at the same time.
If you haven’t done so already, insulate your loft. Much of the heat from a home is lost through the roof and in helping to make your home warmer in the winter by trapping the heat inside, you will be able to turn down your heating thermostat one notch, which makes another big CO2 saving.
Replace your Light Bulbs
If each person replaced just one or two standard light bulbs with energy-saving ones, enough energy could be saved per year to pay for all street lighting.
Gone are the days of energy-saving bulbs being ugly; versions are now available which look identical to the normal pear-shaped bayonet type bulb as well as offering many other contemporary designs.
Chuck out the Chemicals
There are many toxic chemicals in household products which might leave your home looking sparkling, but cause harm both to you and to the environment. Many could have carcinogenic properties and even more act as irritants to skin, eyes, and airways. So next time you go shopping, replace your washing and cleaning products with environmentally-friendly alternatives, or use natural remedies.
Recycle
Start recycling your waste. Once you have got into the habit, it is easy to separate your rubbish at source and prevents mixed waste going unnecessarily to landfill dumps. Many councils have now introduced kerbside collection schemes for material such as paper, glass, and tins. If you’re not sure, then call your local authority and find out what’s on offer.
If there’s no such service in your area as yet, make a trip to your local recycling centre. Many large supermarkets offer a range of convenient facilities where you can also leave unwanted books, clothes, and shoes for charities without needing to make an extra journey in your car.
Bag It and Bin It
Many sanitary and personal toiletry products end up littering our beaches, killing or maiming our marine life and polluting our rivers and oceans – all because people still flush them down the toilet.
Sewers are not built to cope with sanitary waste other than toilet paper and sewerage plants also have difficulty filtering out these types of product. If you want your home to be more environmentally friendly, then the message is simple – bag it and bin it.
Make a Compost Heap
Natural organic waste that gets put in the bin gets taken to landfill dumps where it releases harmful greenhouse gases such as methane. Instead of throwing away this waste, why not build a compost heap?
Composting your waste is a way of not only being more responsible with your waste but also actively helps create a positive environment for plants, animals and organisms in your garden. And it also stops your bin smelling!
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