Going green is certainly in vogue right now. There are so many benefits to reducing your carbon footprint, but many of us don't know where to start.
If you want to be environmentally friendly but don’t know quite where to begin, read on!
Here are a handful of tips for living a greener life, as well as some amazing brands you can start purchasing from to make your home and business a more ethical one.
Go paperless for real
In all honesty, there's no good reason to not go completely paperless, as technology has made it so easy for us to digitalise almost every document we'll ever need!
Whilst this is an amazing step for you towards living a greener life, you can encourage others to consider the environment by requesting email receipts over printed versions, displaying a 'no junk mail' sign on your letterbox, or even reminding co-workers to be mindful of what they print in the office.
Ditch the plastic
Right after waving goodbye to the paper, you need to focus on getting rid of plastic. In recent times, the environmentally friendly movement has shifted its focus away from paper, and unleashed its anger upon plastic instead.
It’s for good reasons, too, as our sea life (as well the environment) is suffering drastically from plastic waste. For more information on how plastic is damaging our oceans, head to https://www.take3.org/.
You can commit to using a reusable cup for your morning coffee by purchasing from brands such as Keep Cup or Perky by Nature.
Save electricity at the office
Finally, while getting rid of both plastic and paper are great starts, you now need to turn your attention toward electronics. As a general rule, newer electronics are more energy efficient, so if you can afford to, consider swapping old for new.
If you haven't already, consider installing commercial LED lighting in your workspace. You’ll save a ton of money on your electricity bill as well. While LED may be a bit more costly, to begin with, it will pay itself off in just a few short months - and the environment will thank you too.
Any changes you make to making your business greener should definitely be shared with your customers. It’s what being a leader is all about!
Recycle old clothes
Over the last 10 years SCRgroup has diverted more than 75,000 tonnes of clothing from landfill and in the last year alone, thanks to SCRgroup and their partners, 27.4 million unwanted items made it into the hands of people who needed them the most, all around the world.
SCRgroup has clothing drop off hubs in a variety of locations which can be found on their website - and they also continue to encourage the general public to think more about where their pre-loved items might end up when they throw them out.
Think about alternative sanitary items
There are six million Australian and New Zealand people of menstruating age. Each of them will use about 22 disposable sanitary products per period cycle – or 11,000-16,000 in their lifetime.
In stark comparison, one Lunette menstrual cup will last 10 years.75% of blocked drains in urban areas of Australia are caused by flushed sanitary items.
Tampons alone add up to 140kg of waste. Every women disposed of about 1 wheelie-bin worth of sanitary items into landfill each year.
If you're looking for washable 'period undies', give SheThinx a go. They have heaps of different styles and a range of sizes. There's a pair for every body. You can also customize a cycle set that's tailored to your flow.
