From rejecting fast fashion to eliminating single-use plastic, many people today are jumping aboard the sustainable living movement for different reasons, but primarily to reduce damaging their environmental impact. If you also want to save Mother Earth and leave a positive effect, you have to do your part in conserving the ecosystem.
The journey to shaping your eco-friendly home into a more ethical household begins with a single step. This lifestyle change will train you to become a more mindful consumer. If you’re just starting, we’ve got a handful of tips below to help you shift to sustainable living. Let’s get started!
1. Opt for environmentally-friendly products – Look into brands that echo the same movement, such as brands that manufacture products that are all-natural, multipurpose, organic, ethical, zero-waste, and use fewer resources.
2. Minimize plastic consumption – From produce and meat products to consumer goods, plastic has somehow found its way into every aspect of daily living. Buying take-out food? Plastic utensils. Getting a new beauty product? Plastic packaging.
It seems cutting out plastic waste is difficult. However, you can do your part in eliminating or reducing plastic consumption in different ways. You can bring a shopping bag whenever you go shopping, use and bring your own utensils when taking out food, stop purchasing bottled water, refusing straws when buying a drink, and more.
3. Conserve energy – One of the easiest and most significant ways you can reduce your carbon footprint is through energy conservation. Unplug appliances and other electricals on stand-by or switch them off since it may still use up unwanted energy. This will not only contribute in reducing the emission of greenhouse gases but also save you on energy bills.
4. Compost – If you have food products that have gone past its best by date, don’t throw it so fast. Instead, compost it. Aside from making your garden greener, this also acts as a natural fertilizer to your soil. The best part is it helps decrease the amount of waste going to the landfills, which also reduces the build-up of methane gas.
5. Minimize packaging waste – This may be difficult to control, but you can switch to products with biodegradable, recycled, or recyclable packaging to start. Moreover, it’s best to opt for glass, aluminum, and metal packages instead of plastic since they’re recyclable and reusable compared to the latter.
You can look for brands that offer refills for their products or stores that allow buyers to bring their own container (and bags) to purchase products. Take note of brands that have refilling stations.
6. Save rainwater and used water – Start of the wet season? Take out a couple of pales to catch some rainwater. This can be used for washing your car and watering your plants. You can do the same with the water you used for cleaning your fruits and vegetables. Additionally, you can use your laundry water and the water leak coming from your air-con for flushing toilets.
7. Use eco-friendly cleaning products – Many cleaning products carry harmful chemicals that aren’t eco-friendly to dispose of because it may contain dangerous water contaminants.
So, ditch single-use sachets or bottles of environmentally-damaging cleaning supplies and opt for green household cleaners instead. These natural and organic options are less harmful to humans, animals, and plants in the environment.
8. Switch to digital – Chances are, you’re already doing this, but it’s worth emphasizing to use less paper and taking advantage of the convenience of going digital.
For instance, you can opt to have your bills sent through email instead of snail mail. Additionally, you can pay your bills and transfer money using payment apps and mobile banking. If you’re into reading magazines and newspapers, check out their online versions or subscriptions.
9. Grow your own – If you have a place to grow vegetables and herbs, take advantage of that space and plant sili, calamansi, lemon, rosemary, basil, and others to minimize your carbon footprint and become more sustainable. Not to mention, this practice could save you some money. If you don’t have an outside space, you can opt for windowsill boxes to grow your home garden.
10. Reduce, reuse, recycle – To go for sustainable living, you need to abide by the golden rules of waste management—reduce, reuse, and, most importantly, recycle. The 3Rs serve as the tried-and-true ways to live an eco-friendly life.
As much as possible, reduce your consumption of anything that can harm the environment such as energy. Reuse or repurpose things instead of throwing them. From papers to plastic bottles, recycle everything to reduce waste.
Over to you
There you have it. Regardless if you’ve decided to tweak your lifestyle to save money or help the environment, these are small yet significant changes you can start applying in your household to live sustainably. Are you ready to save Mother Earth? Take note of these tips to reduce adverse environmental impact
