Tips for Sustainable Living

Moving into a new home is a great time to start living more sustainably. We try to encourage our customers to be aware of what they can do to be more environmentally friendly.

Although it may seem like an task a little contribution from each of us can make a big change.  Sustainable living can mean different things to different people, generally the aim is to conduct your lifestyle and create habits that have minimum impact on the environment. It requires you to be more conscious about your actions and aware of your lifestyle choices. It often only requires taking small steps and changing one or two things at a time.

Many people who live sustainably attempt to reduce their carbon footprint by choosing different types of transportation, energy consumption, foods and products, that are more environmentally friendly. Here are a few ideas to help you to live sustainably:

What You Can Recycle

It’s perfect time for a spring clean, so take the opportunity to rehome, recycle or donate to charity any items that you no longer need or want. When you move home check where your local recycling point is and what items they accept.  Waste Management has a useful article with general advice on what you can recycle.

Make sure you encourage everyone in your house to think whether items can be reused or recycled before they're thrown away.

If you’re looking for an alternative way to get rid of unwanted items, Pinterest has lots of creative recycling ideas.

Recycle on Your Doorstep

The majority of people will have household recycling collections, so if your local council hasn’t already provided you with a box or bag, give them a call and check that you haven't been missed out.

Check the Date

Find out from your local council what day your recycling will be collected and mark the date on your calendar, request a recycling calendar from your council or put a reminder into your phone.

Go Paperless

When you move home you’ll have to inform several companies and organisations of your new address, whilst you’re doing so you could request that your bills are paperless and that payments are made electronically.

As well as being good for the environment paperless billing can reduce the total cost of your annual bills whilst still allowing you to keep an eye on of your account online. Here are more tips on becoming paperless at home.

Save Energy

We all know that reducing our energy consumption is both good for the environment and our bank accounts. New homes are generally very energy efficient and you can get more tips on reducing your consumption by reading our blog post on saving energy.

Dispose of Less

There are a lot to steps that you can take to dispose of less. Here are a few things that we think you can easily incorporate into your day-to-day life:

Take a travel mug when you’re going for takeaway coffee - this will save a paper cup and some coffee shops offer discount if you bring your own cup.

Thanks to the 5p bag charge, which is now in place across the UK, as a country we’re reusing more shopping bags. As a result it has been publicised that plastic bag usage down 78% since introduction of 5p charge.

Make the most of spring showers by collecting rain in a water butt, as mentioned in our Spring Gardening blog this can have many benefits for the environment and plants.

Alternative Transport

The majority of our developments are located within 500 metres of a mode of public transport. If you look into alternative modes of transport, you could find a way that is greener, cheaper and less stressful. Research has shown that driving can be one of the most stressful way to travel. Depending on your type of transport you might be able to spend your journey time doing something you enjoy such as exercising, talking to friends or reading.

Let us know how you and your family live sustainability?

Image by Mattwalker69 licensed via Creative Commons