Five Ways To Reduce Your Waste In 2021

The new year is upon us. A time which is traditionally used to reflect upon the bad habits of the previous year and implement new, positive changes in our daily lives.

This year, we are hoping to further reduce the waste that we are producing, which has inspired us to write a short blog post with a few tips on how to lead a greener life in 2021!

Composting

Food scraps that we dispose of in our regular bins usually end up in landfill. Here they degrade very slowly, all the while releasing harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Implementing composting into your routine is the easiest way to tackle this issue, and deal with food waste without it leaving your home.

In summer this year, we invested in a simple compost bin. It has been a perfect way to get rid of fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, tea bags (make sure they’re plastic free), newspaper, eggshells etc.

However, if you don’t want to make that investment at first, or don’t have a space to accommodate a large bin outside, here’s what you can do instead: Add your veggie scraps into a blender with a little water. Dig a small hole in the garden and pour the liquid out, then cover up with soil.

Meal Planning

According to the Guardian, food waste in the UK reached a shocking 4.5m tonnes in 2019! To try to combat this, we are committing to making a meal plan for our whole week. By making sure we are buying just the items listed on our shopping list, we hope to prevent buying excess amounts which could end up being wasted. Meal planning can also save you time and money, as well as allowing you to follow a healthier diet.

Shop without packaging

It is obvious that buying in refill stores while using your own containers saves excess packaging. However an added bonus is that when refilling your containers, you have complete control over the quantity you purchase. No need to buy a kilogram bag of green lentils, when you only need half or a quarter of that amount. It is a great way to prevent any food waste, limit plastic and other types of waste, and support small, independent businesses at the same time. A triple whammy!

Personal Care

This is an extremely broad subject and possibly a topic for a separate post. But here I would like to focus specifically on female personal care. An absolutely staggering 200,000 tonnes of used sanitary items per year are going to landfill in Europe! The most popular sanitary items usually contain plastic, but also the glues and perfumes that are often included in these products can be harmful to your health.

Swapping for more environmentally friendly, plastic free brands such as Natracare, or going a step further and investing in a menstrual cup, is a waste free and potentially healthier alternative.

https://yournuts.co.uk/product/natracare-ultra-pads-14/

https://yournuts.co.uk/product/natracare-super-cotton-tampons-20/

Houseware

With so many different options, there is little excuse in this day and age to still use a plastic sponge and to keep on buying new plastic bottles every time you run out of cleaning stuff. Plastic free stores now offers many compostable swaps to make your plastic free journey as easy as possible.

One of the less known swaps is definitely a charcoal water filter. If you don’t like to drink tap water, but don’t want to use plastic filters that demand exchanging monthly, the charcoal water filter is a perfect alternative.

The filter will last for up to six months, so it is a very inexpensive alternative, and once its life as a filter has expired, it can be reused to regulate moisture, reduce odours, inhibit mould or keep food fresher for longer.

You can read more about them here:

https://yournuts.co.uk/product/ecoliving-bamboo-charcoal-water-filters-8/

I hope you find some useful tips in our blog. Let us know if you have any New Year resolutions and if you have any other tips on how to reduce waste.

Happy new year everyone!