9 budget-friendly eco tips

Anna Minns of green lifestyle website, Daily Lime brings us nine eco tips that will save you money while saving the planet!

Home grown

Home grown produce is a delicious idea, but unless you have time and a real talent for gardening, it usually isn’t the best way to put food on the table each night. The good news is that locally grown food is easy to source, and it’s fresher, tastier and much kinder to the environment than some of the alternatives.

The Squeeze: The average shopping basket has travelled nearly two times around the globe. Sourcing as much of your food locally as you can will mean less energy, emissions, packaging waste and food miles associated with your meals. And there is a super easy way to find fresh, local produce - the non-profit website Local Harvest.

To find good food grown close to home, visit Local Harvest and type in your postcode. It will tell you what produce is available in your local community. You can find farmers’ markets, farm produce, community gardens, organic retailers, food swaps, box systems and even organic restaurants and cafes in your neighbourhood.
Coat(ure)

We all need a comfy coat to get us through the winter months. Selecting quality over quantity is the way to go to take a load off the earth.

The Squeeze: It is estimated that 30 to 40kg of clothing per person is sent to landfill each year because of so called ‘fast fashion’.
Select a coat in a classic style and a colour that will go with anything so you won’t want to replace it in a hurry. If you invest in a well-made coat now it will last you for years to come, so you will be saving money in the long run.

Opt for a coat with a high percentage of wool because it will be much warmer than synthetics and doesn’t need to be washed as often. Simply hang in a dry, airy place to refresh the fabric before wearing again. Wool also comes in a wonderful array of colours and fibre blends.

Go all the way with an eco-friendly coat! Check out sustainable coats by Vaute Couture, jill2day and for him, The Ethical Man.

To squeeze some more green out of your day: Patch or darn your coat if it has any holes or snags before rushing off to buy a new one.
Housewarming

We put our winter woollies on to keep us warm, so why not do the same for our homes? A few cosy touches to your house will reduce cool breezes so you can stay toasty while reducing your energy use.

The Squeeze: Draughts can account for up to 25% of heat loss in your home.

Try these simple ways to trap heat into your abode during the cooler months:
• Seal the gaps underneath doors with a door snake or specially designed weather seals.
• Install pelmets above windows – not just an outdated decor trend!
• Choose nice thick curtains to cover your windows.
• Plug gaps and cracks around skirting boards, walls and windows. Every little breeze counts!

To squeeze some more green out of your day: For more energy saving tips for winter check out the Australian Conservation Foundation Green Home website.
Stirrers a no no

For those of us who take sugar in our morning lattes, stirring our coffee is a part of that morning routine. But should we think twice about using a disposable coffee stirrer?

The Squeeze: In the United States, they chuck out 138 billion straws and stirrers every year.

The stirrer is only used for a matter of seconds and then thrown away to add to landfill. But, skipping the stirrer doesn't mean drinking your coffee unsweetened. Just ask your barista to add the sugar for you.

To squeeze some more green out of your day: Drink your takeaway coffee (or tea) from a reuseable cup.
A shave green(er)

No matter how green we try to be, most of us are simply not prepared to give up shaving (present company included!) But there are ways to minimise the environmental impact of this (important!) grooming routine.

Over two billion disposable razors end up in landfills in the US every year. Disposable razors are made from plastic and steel. They cannot be recycled as they’re dangerous to disassemble and the plastic is non-biodegradable and will remain in landfill for decades or longer.

What to do? Firstly, favour longer lasting shavers with replaceable blades. Keep a little container of olive oil in the bathroom, and once you have finished shaving, rinse the razor with some water and place the shaving blade in the olive oil. This will keep the blade

BIC has made a disposable shaver from bioplastic. The US company Preserve makes a shaver from recycled plastic and will accept it back to recycle into new shavers.
Money for nothing

One of the best things we can do for the environment is make use of existing resources instead of building more. And one of the most abundant resources we all have in our homes is … empty space! Put your space to work and rent it out.

In 2011 Australia overtook the United States as the nation with the largest average house sizes.

SpaceOut is a clever website that lets you make the most of your spare empty space, whether it be a spare room, space under the house, or a shed, garage or car spot.

If you are considering using a commercial storage unit, you could be making better use of someone’s empty space - and saving yourself 30-50% of the cost by using SpaceOut to be matched up with someone with extra room at their place.

If you have stuff around the place that you aren’t using, put it to better use on Open Shed.
Green is the new black

You can be a slave to style - and reduce your eco impact at the same time. Keep up with the latest ‘must-have’ handbag trends by renting designer handbags.

The average the Australian woman owns 10 handbags (and one in five women under the age of 35 own over 20 handbags!)

Love the one you’re with! Re-using extends the life of the handbag and reduces waste. You don’t need to possess something to get enjoyment out of it, and your old handbags don’t have to sit in your closet gathering dust. When you decide you need another ‘it’ bag - someone else can love your current one.

Check out some of these sites where you can rent your next designer handbag:
OR go through your wardrobe and re-discover your forgotten handbags.
Dishing the goods

My favourite appliance, hands down, is the dishwasher. And we all know that by using a dishwasher with a high energy- and water- star rating we could be using less energy and water than by hand-washing the dishes. But do we really know how to get the most out of our dishwashers?

As much as 80% of the energy your dishwasher uses goes to heat water.

Can you connect your dishwasher to the cold water supply only? (Check the manual). Many dishwashers have in-built elements and use them for one wash and one final rinse cycle, so they don’t need to use your hot water system, and still get the water hot enough to melt the detergent and get the grease off your dishes.

Here are some other tips to make your dishwasher even greener (and cheaper to run):
- Turn off the dishwasher before the drying cycle and dry your dishes by hand or let them drip dry with the dishwasher door open.
- Regularly check the filter for debris and clear it out to ensure the dishwasher runs efficiently.
- If the plates aren’t that dirty, consider using the eco- or short-wash cycles when you can.
If you are in the market for a dishwasher buy the most energy and water efficient one you can. See the WELS water efficiency ratings and the Choice guide to help you make your decision.
BYO Chopsticks

So it’s Friday night and you can’t decide between Chinese, Thai, Japanese or Vietnamese take-away for dinner? Well, whichever one you choose, be sure to use your own chopsticks.

In China, millions of trees are cut down for the 57 billion pairs of disposable chopsticks that are used and thrown away each year!

Disposable chopsticks are made from top-end wood, and they are seeing the destruction of old-growth forests. Many hundreds of thousands of acres of forest are levelled annually to create chopsticks that are thrown away after only being used once.

Help your dinner to taste a whole lot better by getting a reusable pair of chopsticks and using them at home, keep some in your drawer at work and even take them out with you to a restaurant. When you order take-away tell them not to include disposable chopsticks.

If you’ve still got disposables at home from the last time you got take-away sushi, don’t throw them away. There are hundreds of ways they can be re-used - check out the ‘How can I recycle this’ website. Suggestions include to use them in your hair, for knitting, kids’ art and as a back scratcher!

There is a BYOC (Bring Your Own Chopsticks) movement in Asian countries aiming to create awareness and encourage people to recycle, reuse and bring their own. Greenpeace East Asia turned 82,000 pairs of chopsticks collected from Beijing Restaurants into four trees to create a ‘disposable forest’ work of art: click here.