Here are a few simple things we can all do to help the environment. What I like about these ideas is that not only are they easy to do but they also save you money.

Avoid plastic bags – carry a reusable eco carrier bag

Use energy saving light bulbs – they’re not cheap but over their lifetime they’ll save you £65 and help the environment. Most standard light bulbs produce as much heat as light, thus they consume more energy producing more carbon dioxide, contributing to global warming.

Turn your thermostat down by 1°C – Not only does this help the environment but you won’t feel the difference and it’ll save you money!

Walk don’t drive – how many times do you jump in your car to go round the corner. Cut down on your carbon emissions and get some fresh air and exercise at the same time.

Turn off your mobile phone charger at the wall – Leaving your mobile phone charger plugged in uses energy and costs you money!

Shut down your computer properly – leaving a computer on all day and night uses up to 1,500 pounds of carbon dioxide in a year.

Turn off lights – don’t leave lights on in empty rooms they waste energy (and money).

Don’t boil a full kettle – Only fill your kettle with the water you need.

Support your local shops – Shopping locally helps the community and cuts down on your travel to the out of town stores.

Utilise Companies that care about the environment.

Filed under: Environment, Recycling by Sharon O'Shea
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Reusable bags can be used time and again and if used regularly each reusable bag is estimated to save 1,000 carrier bags. So if everyone carried a reusable bag this would have a dramatic effect on our environment.

Did you know?
Every person in the UK uses on average 167 carrier bags a year, that’s about 6 bags a week.
Most are used for approximately 12 minutes before being thrown away.
Plastic carrier bags take between 500 to 1,000 years to break down in a landfill site.
As litter, plastic bags break down into toxic bits polluting our soil, river, lakes and oceans.
Production of carrier bags requires vast amounts of oil.
Recycling rates for plastic bags are extremely low. Only 1 to 3% of plastic bags end up getting recycled.

Filed under: Environment, Recycling by Sharon O'Shea
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Reality is that the world’s resources are not infinite. With this reality comes an increased understanding that we cannot continue to consume and throw away without regard for the future.

The “through away society” not only consumes precious raw materials at an alarming rate but also creates an ever-growing mountain of waste. And yet much of that waste, which ends up in incinerators or landfill sites, can actually be used again and again.

Environmentalists have been encouraging the recycling of waste for many years but it is only fairly recently that it has become common practice. Now facilities exist in most towns and villages for us to recycle huge amounts of material, which would once have been discarded as useless.

Not only does recycling help conserve the world’s valuable resources, but it conserves energy, reduces pollution, reduces the need for dwindling landfill space and helps reduce litter.

We can all play a part in the war against waste.

For a start, we can reduce the amount in circulation in the first place.

For instance take a bag with you when you go out shopping rather than use new ones in the shops. You can re use envelopes, use dish cloths for mopping up rather than paper towels, chose re-usable containers such as milk bottles. Choose goods made from recycled materials whenever you can and avoid disposable items like razors and nappies.

What can be recycled?
The list is growing and includes cans, bottles, aluminium foil, newspapers and magazines, Christmas cards, clothing, furniture, metals, medicine bottles, plastic bottles, polystyrene packing, wood Christmas trees etc.

Even items such as unwanted spectacles, toys, mobile phones, car batteries can be found a home and put back into circulation.

You local council can advise what items they will collect from your home on their regular collections and then what other resources are available in your area.

Filed under: Environment, Recycling by Sharon O'Shea
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Virtually every human activity produce unwanted by-products, or wastes. Some of these are potentially valuable and can be reused or recycled but usually they are disposed of. Some wastes are highly dangerous while other are less so – much depends on how they are treated when discarded.

Water (rivers, sea, lakes), air and land are the traditional depositories for much of our waste, from industrial effluent and low-level nuclear waste to domestic rubbish and trade waste. The environment is clearly capable of absorbing some of our wastes, but the degree to which the environment can do this before damage is caused is hotly disputed.

The world is rapidly running out of space to dispose of waste. This combined with tougher laws is driving up the cost of waste disposal. Managing your waste and waste minimisation (reducing the amount of waste produced at source) have become crucial issues.

Filed under: Environment, Recycling by Sharon O'Shea
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