1. Reduce electricity consumption
Our homes are full of tech objects greedy for electricity . Many appliances and IT objects are indispensable for a more restful life or even for daily work, however, often, due to wrong habits or distractions, there is an expenditure of excessive energy.
Just a few things are needed to reduce electricity consumption and save a few pennies:
• turn off the lights in rooms where there are no people
• do not leave the television in stand-by mode
• use the appliances in the times when you spend less and use eco programs where present (washing machines and dishwashers)
• wash clothes in the washing machine at low temperatures: a 40 ° wash is sufficient to keep clothes clean. At most you can add soda, a natural additive, to improve performance against the most stubborn dirt.
2. Do not waste water
The water saving is, like the energy sector, critical to environmental protection. In addition to always checking defective pipes and leaking taps, it would also be advisable to limit the bottled water purchased in the shop as much as possible, where that of the home fountain is drinkable.
Buying water at the supermarket, in fact, increases the air pollution produced by polluting emissions from motor vehicles during transport and releases plastics into the environment .
3. Use cloth bags
Speaking of plastic, the bags used for shopping are the most polluting for the environment, and for the life of many animals, there can be. They can be replaced with those of fabric , more resistant and usable a greater number of times, of which there are also waterproof versions to be used in any season. They are foldable, comfortable and easily fit into the bag. At the limit it is possible to shop with biodegradable bags , now supplied by many shops and supermarkets.
4. Recycle, recycle, recycle
The recycling is the basis for a sustainable way of life. There are two types of recycling. The personal one , made at home, is done by reusing in some other way objects that have exhausted their usefulness in their main job. Glass jars, containers, tea bags, fruit and vegetable peels, everything can be reused with intelligence.
The other type of recycling is that of separate collection . Most of the municipalities in Italy now provide this type of waste disposal and many are getting better and better equipped to include as many things as possible in the material to be reused, even a lot of the garbage that was included in the unsorted a few months ago. Separate collection gives a big hand to the environment, allows to avoid that waste is lost forever and that many good materials are not reused, starting their life cycle again.
5. Beware of diapers and tampons
The diapers ? They pollute? Yes, definitely, but above all they are very difficult to dispose of (they take 500 years!). There are other ways, even cheaper, to keep adults and children clean: washable or eco-friendly diapers .
Even products addressed to the female public cannot be recycled and go directly to the undifferentiated bucket. The manufacturing companies have equipped themselves from this point of view and offer biodegradable and hypo-allergenic products. After using them, they can be put in the wet bucket like any other organic waste.