Green Services Direct

“The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will fix it,” Robert Swan, author

“Sustainable living means making choices today that will positively impact the planet tomorrow,” states Oxfam. “This includes making choices that reduce waste and pollution and preserve biodiversity.” That’s not to pretend buying a bamboo toothbrush can halt runaway climate change. Lifestyle changes are no substitute for legislation or companies behaving more responsibly. But individual actions are part of the solution; they are just not all of it. We can all do our bit to be kinder to the planet.

In this article we share some simple tips for sustainable living.

Buy less, choose well

“Buy less, choose well,” said the late fashion designer turned environmentalist Vivienne Westwood. Adopting the three Rs – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle – is a fundamental mantra for sustainable living. More than 50% of our waste goes to landfill or burnt in incinerators. Both release planet-warming gases into the atmosphere.

Oxfam emphasises the importance of waste reduction, saying: “Most of us could probably do with less stuff in our lives.” Buy better made clothes and shoes, suggests the charity. They may cost more but will last longer. Buying less stuff or second hand is even better. This reduces the demand for raw materials - like oil, water and metals – and energy to make new things. It also cuts CO2 emissions.

Repair rather than replace

If your shirt is missing a button, don’t throw it away. Buy a new button and learn how to sew it on. We throw away vast amounts of clothing and household items. Even things with almost nothing wrong and which could get a new lease of life with a simple repair. The problem is lots of people have forgotten that they can repair things themselves. That is a threat to a sustainable future and to the circular economy in which raw materials can be used again and again, say green campaigners.

Book into a community Repair Cafe where people can bring broken items to be fixed. The work is carried out free of charge. Expert volunteers with repair skills show people how easy it often is, so fewer items end up binned. These repair clinics provide the tools and materials as well as basic training and advice. Brilliant for clothes, furniture, garden equipment, bikes, crockery, electrical appliances, toys and more.  See if you have a Repair Café in your local area www.repair.org

Harvest rainwater

“We never know the worth of water till the well is dry,” observed historian Thomas Fuller. Water is a precious resource and conserving it is vital for a sustainable future. There are lots of easy water saving measures, such as fixing leaks, taking short showers and installing low flow taps and showerheads.

Rainwater harvesting is  another simple yet powerful way to conserve water and reduce strain on local water resource in hot summers. Buy a water butt to collect and store rainwater for watering plants.  Water scarcity is becoming an urgent issue globally and every drop saved counts towards a more sustainable future, say green charities.

Switch on to renewable energy

The switch from dirty fossil fuels to clean energy is well under way. In April 2023, 43% of Britain’s electricity came from zero carbon sources, according to the National Grid. Ben Wilson, interim president for National Grid Ventures, said: “Accelerating the delivery of renewable energy must continue to be a priority for a cleaner, more secure and more affordable energy future for everyone, but it requires the right framework to make it happen.” Consider switching energy suppliers to  Good Energy or Ecotricity which only have tariffs that offer 100% renewable energy. These companies also invest in increasing renewable capacity.

Grow a wildlife friendly garden

Forget ‘No Mow May.’ Let your lawn go all spring and summer. With insect populations in catastrophic decline, giving over your lawn, or a corner of it, to a wildflower meadow will take pressure off you and the ecosystem. People should treat weeds as ‘friends’ and ‘heroes” in the lawn, experts says.  Instead of spraying chemical weedkiller on patches of dandelions or Common plantain, let them live. This is the advice of the Royal Horticulture Society which has begun a move to rebrand weeds as “resilient plants.”

Having some early and late flowers in your planting mix will prolong the nectar season for bumblebees. Bees are important pollinators but under threat from insecticides on farmers’ fields and habitat loss. Provide for bees and butterflies all year round by planting trees and shrubs that flower at different times. such as primroses in summer, honeysuckle and lavender in summer and Michaelmas daisy and Sweet scabious in autumn, suggests Dorset Wildlife Trust.

Ditch single-use plastics

The UK has a very heavy plastic footprint, thanks to a supermarket culture that shrink wraps everything, including corn cobs which have a perfect natural packaging. Research suggests plastic can take hundreds of years to break down. To go plastic-free, start with an audit suggests Joe Gale in her book ‘The Sustainable Living Guide.’ Collect a week’s plastic waste, identify the most common items and replace each item one by one. Find a local zero-waste shop where you can refill your own containers. Check whether a milkman (or lady) can deliver in glass bottles instead of plastic. Upgrade single use coffee cups and water bottles for carry around refillable ones.

Take your own bags when you go shopping. Reuse plastic bags as many times as you can. Even cotton tote bags need to be used hundreds of times to cancel out their carbon footprint. Choose loose fruit and veg that you can put in reusable bags or consider an organic veg-box subscription without plastic packaging. For soaps, use bars rather than liquids in plastic bottles. Switch your plastic toothbrush for a bamboo one. There are electric toothbrushes made partly from bamboo but it’s not the only material.

If you have a fizzy drink habit, invest in a home carbonator, such as SodaStream. Single-use plastic bottles pollute our planet and kill wildlife.

Avoid palm oil

Be a planet protector and avoid palm oil. Demand for palm oil has skyrocketed for everything from crisps to cosmetics and cleaners. But this cheap ingredient is driving tropical deforestation and destroying species, such as orangutans. Palm oil plantations in Malaysia and Indonesia are pushing into the heart of some of the most biologically diverse ecosystems, leading to rainforest destruction and forcibly removing indigenous peoples. Friends of the Earth is calling for the multinational company Unilever to sever its links with Indonesian palm oil giant Astra Agro Lestari.

Now in an estimated 50% of supermarket products, palm oil has many names: palmitoyl, stearyl, lauryl and glyceryl. Ethical Consumer has put together a list of companies which have the best rating for either being a palm oil free company or for using best practices in their sourcing.  They include Iceland, Lush and Nivea.

Reduce food waste

An estimated 10 million tonnes of food are thrown away in the UK every year. Make a list before you go shopping and plan your meals, so you only buy what your need. Eat less meat and dairy and shift to a more seasonal plant-based diet to reduce your carbon footprint. The freezer is your eco-friend, helping you get around best-before dates.  

Reduce food waste by composting scraps. Some local authorities operate food waste collection schemes to divert waste from landfill. But you can also compost your own food waste to provide a natural, chemical free way to enrich your garden soil. Save everything from vegetable peelings to teabags and eggshells to go in your compost bin. Never compost cooked food, meat or fish.

Living sustainably begins at home. By embracing renewable energy, conserving resources and being more conscious of how we shop, we can work towards a better future for us all. “By living more sustainably, people can contribute to the overall health and wellbeing of the planet and those that live on it,” states Oxfam.