The Environment - Are You Doing Your Bit?
Mon, 15 October, 2007 – 4:56 pm
So it's Blog Action Day today, and it's not about traffic or money, but simply a subject, and it's a good one - the environment.
Okay, so a simple post about the environment. I thought a little about this and wondered what others were doing to help the environment. Not putting your hand in your pocket but simple, free ways, to help your planet and at times, save yourself some cash.
Recycling
We're lucky in that we live in an area where everything is recycled. One week our standard rubbish is picked up, and the other week is recyclables. We have special bags for cans and plastics, a box for paper and another for cardboard and bottles (although that's usually full of bottles of the beer variety!). We also have our garden waste collected too. I say we're lucky as not every council in the country provides recycling collections which is pretty poor in this day and age. When I lived in Germany we were recycling back then, and that was 12-13 years ago! Living in Austria you had to ensure you got everything right else they really frowned on you there!! However, even without the recycling collections you can still use a couple of old cardboard boxes (free from the supermarkets behind the checkouts) and fill each up with separate recyclable items. Most supermarkets come with recycling centres, and even if they don't, the local tip will usually have a section for it.
Don't forget your old clothes too. There are plenty of oxfam recycling bins around, or numerous charities posting a plastic bag through the door for you to throw in anything that's still usable. Just because you don't like it or it's not in fashion any more doesn't mean someone else may benefit from it.
If you have a garden, another option for recycling is a compost bin. A lot of local councils (in the UK) will offer these for sale at a discount. We got a £60 bin for £20 including delivery, plus a little kitchen caddy for £2. This means that all of our fruit and veg waste, peelings etc. along with tea bags, toilet roll inserts, newspapers etc. can all go in, along with grass cuttings and leaves. The bin isn't ugly to look at, can stand well away from your kitchen window and after a year will provide you with some good compost that can be dug in and around your plants. Perfect for growing potatoes in (which anyone can do!!).
Energy and Electricity
Another easy thing to cut down on is electricity consumption. This is where it can save you money too. Turn off anything that you're not using. Unplug what you can, especially when you're out of the room or house, or at night when you're asleep. Back in August I watched my mum's mixer blow up in front of me whilst it was plugged in but not being used! Luckily it just got very smokey but all it needed was to spark and we could have had a fire on our hands. Since then I've realised that it's not worth leaving the kettle plugged in or the socket switched on. Every night I ensure I turn my monitor off, not leaving it on standby. We turn the printer and the server off (when we remember, which we will once we're working in the same room after moving!). Phone chargers apparently still use electricity whilst plugged in, even if they're not being used. So unplug them. Turn your televisions off at night, don't leave them on standby.
You can read more on how much energy is consumed and wasted on the BBC site
Gadgets threaten energy savings
Saving energy on the home front
6 Responses to “The Environment - Are You Doing Your Bit?”
I try to do my part but admit that I'm not the best at it. If my commune garbage bags weren't so expensive, I probably wouldn't recycle so kudos to the Belgian government for charging $1/for a medium sized garbage bag. They keep people like me in check!
By ses5909 on Oct 15, 2007
We don't have garbage collection separate for different things but, I try to keep non-decomposable garbage separate and to minimum it is appropriately recycled..
By Jalaj on Oct 16, 2007
I think if you're given the opportunity to recycle then you definitely don't have an excuse not to.
Sara, I think Europe mainland is pretty good when it comes to recycling, the UK is about 50% of the way there!
Jalaj I commend you for taking the time out to do what you can without the help from your local rubbish collection.
By Sarah on Oct 16, 2007
We're trying to do out part to generate less waste by reusing as much of our plastic stuff as possible (like Ziploc baggies, Rubbermaid containers, & such) and using cloth bags when shopping.
And I rarely throw away anything that could still get some use by someone else. I routinely make donation runs down to the local Goodwill & Catholic Charities stores with slightly worn clothing & shoes, books, small furniture items… whatever.
And I haul all my magazines off to the local hospital waiting rooms.
All in all, not a large contribution, but I feel better about not sending as much stuff to the landfill.
By Rob O. on Oct 16, 2007
Rob, I think you're givng a larger contribution than most. We also keep hold of icecream tubs, metal baking trays that food come in etc. and reuse those. Must admit though, I tend to horde my internet mags, I have ones dating back to 1996!
By Sarah on Oct 16, 2007
We try to do a lot, but could still do better.
We compost all non-animal kitchen waste, recycle tins, bottles, jars, cardboard, give up unwanted clothing for collection, put our garden waste into the dedicated bin, never use standby modes where possible and use energy saving light bulbs where possible.
I've even bought one of those mains meters that you plug stuff in to measure its power usage. It's scary how much electricity is wasted even when kit is switched off.
Of course, our loft is well insulated and we've got double-glazing installed.
Ideally, I would love to have my own wind turbine, but they're not exactly cheap and although it is quite breezy in our back garden most of the time, I don't think it would be enough to keep the juice flowing every day.
By Will on Oct 17, 2007