12 Simple Steps to a Greener Lifestyle
REDUCE YOUR RUBBISH
1. Compost your kitchen and garden waste
At least 50% of household rubbish can be composted, and it makes great compost for the garden.
2. Stop Junk Mail!
Take you name off junk mailing lists by sending your name and address to: The Mailing Preference Service, Freepost 22, London W1E 7EZ
SAVE ENERGY
3. Carry out a home energy survey
Phone your local Energy Efficiency Advice Centre free on (0800) 512012 for impartial, free advice on reducing fuel bills and making you home more energy efficient.
4. Buy low energy light bulbs
Each bulb could save you £50.00 over a typical lifetime of 8 years.
GARDEN FOR WILDLIFE (Make Space for Nature)
5. Avoid using Slug Pellets
Slug pellets poison wildlife and leave harmful residues in the soil. Try using slug traps or barriers, such as grit or pine needles.
6. Use peat-free compost
Multi-purpose compost contains peat, so help save our disappearing peatlands and look for the ‘peat-free’ label.
WATCH HOW YOU SHOP
7. Buy Fairtrade products
Look for the Fairtrade mark on goods when you shop. It guarantees that a fair price has been paid to the producer. Visit the Fairtrade Foundation website: www.fairtrade.org.uk
8. Buy locally produced food
Shop at farmers’ markets to reduce the ‘food miles’ that goods travel from producer to consumer.
9. Check on your money
See whether your savings or pension fund are ‘ethically invested’ and support the things you believe in.
THINK BEFORE YOU DRIVE
10. Make fewer car journeys
Can you walk or cycle to work, or walk the children to school? Could you carshare journeys or use public transport?
11. Check your boot before you travel.
An empty boot uses less fuel, so take out unwanted weighty items.
USE WATER WISELY
12. Control the toilet flush
⅓ of all household water is flushed down the loo, so control the amount of water you use. Put a plastic bottle or ‘hippo’ in your cistern.
