Learn How to be More Sustainable

Sustainable Practises to Implement Around The Home

Good morning, how are you all this rainy morning? My cute little garden has been loving this weather, the warm sunny days and the wet rainy afternoons have made it so happy.

 

I’ve been very busy these last few weeks, trying to stay sustainable and update my usually practises to be more environmentally friendly.  Some of you might be wondering why it is so important for us to become more sustainable in our everyday lives when individuals don’t make much of a difference. This is true, it is larger companies and our governments that need to make changes so that our planet can heal and be healthy once again. However, by taking these “small” steps to change the practises in our home, do make a difference. Just because we don’t make drastic changes in healing our planet, doesn’t mean that our household waste isn’t contributing to landfills and affecting the natural habits around us. Change starts small, we are the beginning of a change in attitude towards our planet. We are promoting a more sustainable life to the people around us, pushing them to become more sustainable too.

 

Not only that, but large companies only care whether people are still buying their products or not, it comes down to money for them, not saving our environment. By not supporting these companies an showing them what is more important to us (sustainability) it will make them have to change their practises. Change starts in the home. it starts in the small sustainability practises people implement. A social movement always starts out small. So, join this movement and start pushing for more sustainable practises.

 

Now, you’re hopefully wondering how you can do that. Well, let me tell you about some things I have started implementing in my own home. none of these things cost me all that much and did not take much more energy to start doing, but it is a big thing for our environment.

 

Let’s break it down, room by room in your home. What changes can you make to each area of your home, to create a sustainable home all round.

 

In the bathroom: Some good ways of being more sustainable in the bathroom is buying bar soap, shampoo and conditioner. I personally found some beautiful goats milk bath soap at lifeline. By buying through them, I knew I was supporting an incredible organisation while also being more sustainable. Buying bars instead of bottles reduces that plastic which you re bringing into your home. Instead of buying plastic toothbrushes or even the plastic heads for electric toothbrushes, I have changed over to bamboo toothbrushes. These are very easy to find, I bought mine at woollies, but you can find them at markets or other small grocery stores as well.  Choosing to get make up packaging that is reusable or recyclable such as glass bottles is also a small step you can take to be more sustainable. And to remove your make up, rather than using one time use cotton pads, you can buy reusable make up remover pads. Lush has many beauty products that are made of environmentally friendly ingredients. Their packaging can be taken back and reused. When you bring the packaging back, they actually give you a discount on the next product you buy. Taking these steps to be more sustainable is important and easy. Next time your products run out, have a look for a more sustainable option.

 

In the kitchen: One really cool way to be more sustainable is buying wax bees wraps instead of cling wrap, these can be found at your local markets or at some small businesses. They are a great replacement for cling wrap and containers. There is so many pretty designs you can buy. In my home, we recycle all our plastics separately to be taken to Woollies or Coles who have a campaign going so that your plastic can be reused rather than going into a landfill. This can include any plastic bags, and plastic packaging, including plastic which your food comes in, just remember to rinse it first! And of course, you can also separate out your cans and other bottles and products which have the 10c on it. These can then be taken to your local container recycling centre to get some money back.

It is a nice little reward for taking the effort to be more sustainable. My favourite thing to do when I have parties, to show my friends ways to be more sustainable is to ask them to put all their beer bottles and can into by 10c bin so that I can recycle them as well. Using Tupperware and other reusable plastic containers is a simple and very common way to also stay sustainable. Buying your food products from small grocers, small farms and directly from the source is also a way to be more sustainable in your kitchen. There is often less plastic when you buy directly from these sources and it is a nicer way to shop because you know you are supporting a small business rather than a large corporation.

 

Outside: If you feel like taking the next step and getting your green thumb out, another great way to have sustainable sourced food is to grow your own! I have recently started my own veggie patch.

I bought a bunch of vegetables, fruits and herbs to start my garden and hopefully be able to grow my own food. I took and extra step and went to the junk yard to find my garden bed. I was looking for old pellets or a large container that I could repurpose into a garden bed for my plants. I ended up finding and old bath that I realised was big enough for my garden and a very cute way to put it to use. Another way to make your backyard more environmentally friendly, is to rather than just having a boring, normal grass backyard, is to instead have it filled with wildflowers. Having a backyard that is filled with native, easy to grow wildflowers is incredible for our environment. The native birds, bees and other animals would thrive in a flower filled yard. It is a very easy way to change up your yard and be more sustainable as well. Having flowers for bees is very important as they play a crucial role in our ecosystem and without them our biosphere would be greatly impacted.

 

In the bedrooms: A very important matter that is currently having a huge effect on our planet is fast fashion. Fast fashion is not an ethical or sustainable way to make and sell clothes. Choosing not to shop at places like that and instead shop at markets, small local owned stores and at op shops is a more ethical and sustainable way to shop.
My brother is a carpenter and recently his bed frame broke, rather than going and buying a new bed from Ikea, he instead went to our local recycling market and bought a bunch of old wood pellets which he used to make a bed frame. This was a very innovative and cool way to repurpose the old wood and make something new out of it.

These are just some of the small sustainable steps that you can start implementing around your home. These things don’t cost much more, if any more than buying your usual products. I hope that you can start making these changes in your home and remember every small step to helping our environment counts!