I have been thinking more and more about our impact on the environment and how eco-friendly we are. About how we are great at recycling but perhaps there should be less to recycle in the first place. Following all of the things in the news recently about the amount of plastic in our oceans and the general state of the planet we live on and it makes me feel a tiny bit guilty that we don’t do more.
In terms of being eco-friendly, we do some things well; we recycle the items that our county allows us to. We try to have a zero waste grocery shop, as in we rarely waste food as it all goes into our weekly meal plan. Another thing we don’t do is to buy lots of throwaway items, including clothing, that would just go to a landfill.
But, when I think about it, that’s it. And when I think about it in relation to any kind of [small] impact that could have, it is nowhere near enough.
But, can you be eco-friendly on a budget?
I’ve been looking at this recently, as I would like a totally different type of kitchen set up once our extension is complete and we have a new kitchen. Things that are available to buy in bulk without packaging would be ideal – stored in glass jars – which would make up the basis of our meals and indeed our stockpile items. There is a zero waste shop that has opened up near us recently and I popped in there to see what they had on offer. You can get things like washing up liquid, washing powder and other household items without their packaging, providing you have something to transport them in.
All of these things come with an initial cost, especially if you’re setting things up different. To store food basics, such as pasta, rice, oats, dried foods and many more, you need containers to store them in. I quite like the look of glass jars to store things in, plus you can then see how much you’ve got of each item. But, if you get branded ones, they can cost a lot! I have bought some cheaper versions for now, but I will need more.
Another great switch to be more eco-friendly is to use a reusable coffee cup if you’re a fan of takeaway coffee. I must admit, this is something I need to get better at; I sometimes treat myself to a takeaway coffee from the drive thru near us but never use my reusable cup when I go. This is bad! And it’s such an easy thing to do. But, a reusable cup is another expense to begin with, and they can cost a lot. I’ve got a bamboo one which, if I remember correctly, cost me £3.99 at Morrisons, but some of them are so expensive! I’d love a Keep cup but don’t know if I can justify the cost really.
I also keep wondering whether we should get our milk delivered. We get through a lot of milk, both full fat for the boys and semi skimmed for us. This results in a lot of plastic bottles being put into our recycle bin. Which I suppose is good but it’s still excess plastic at the end of the day. But, getting your milk delivered by a milkman is more expensive. Quite a bit more, if you get through as much milk as we do. But, it would be delivered in glass bottles which you then return to the dairy and they are washed and reused again. So much more eco-friendly! Perhaps this is something we should seriously factor into our budget once everything has settled.
Another thing that is frustrating but difficult to change is the amount of plastic used in food packaging. If you buy fruit and vegetables, they are quite often in plastic wrapping. Most of the time, there’s no need! I now buy loose fruit and vegetables where I can and don’t use the bags at the supermarket; I just pay for them loose. The most I have of something is 5, so not too many. It’s perfectly easy to have those loose in the trolley and then get them weighed at the checkout.
Cling film is another thing that is really bad for the planet, but so versatile and useful. But, you use it once, or maybe twice, and then it goes in the bin and then to a landfill. But, it doesn’t break down easily and will be around for a long time. There are some eco-friendly alternatives, but again the initial cost is much more than a roll of cling film. You can get beeswax wraps that you can mould to the dish you want to use it on. These can be washed and reused again and again. We have these; I actually got these for Christmas so a very useful present 🙂
Another product used in home often are hair products. Again, these are in plastic bottles which can be recycled but it’s still yet more plastic in the home. You can now get shampoo bars instead which are much more eco-friendly but these are much more expensive than most bottles of shampoo. In the same vein, homemade cleaning products are easily made and can be much more environmentally friendly.
But, the most obvious thing about being more eco-friendly is that the initial outlay is much more than if you were using a less eco-friendly product. The glass containers, the reusable coffee cup, milk deliveries, beeswax wraps and so on. These are all more expensive than their non eco-friendly (?) counterparts.
However, over time the costs of that initial purchase are diminished. Because you are reusing the same items and not having to buy them over and over. In fact, given the lifetime of the products, they should last a long time, if properly taken care of. So, in theory, these products should save you money in the long term, as well as being a positive impact in terms of the environment. Great!
So, can you be eco-friendly on a budget? Kind of.
What do you think? Have you got any more tips on how to be more eco-friendly on a budget? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below!
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Commendable aims, but I would look into the lifespan of the average milk bottle and the energy needed to produce it before switching to having your milk delivered. I have read that they don’t last that long and therefore are taking up resources to manufacture; in the end it comes out pretty even between plastic and glass for that particular usage. However I’ve also read that milk in glass bottles is much more sustainable, so it’s probably worth investigating. We don’t have anyone delivering milk in our area so it’s a moot point, but we can at least get eggs and meat without packaging.
Great post and very timely too, a zero waste shop is opening soon near me and I’m excited to check it out. Re getting containers: I’ve found that mayo jars, salsa jars etc are great when washed to store food, even great for freezing as long as you remember to leave space for expansion.
I have to say that if you can afford milk deliveries then the milk is lovely, reminds me of staying at my Nan’s when I was a child. Full fat gets cream at the top which is still as good as I remember!
We have made some basic changes towards trying to be eco friendly. Started with changing to doorstep milk delivery. Our delivery is three times a week, they also offer the option of fresh juice, and yoghurt in glass jars; ( nice treats but more expensive, than supermarket). Next I sourced, washing up liquid, washing powder, fabric softener in larger containers. The contents are then refilled into the plastic containers I already have. Recently switched back to using washing powder, as this comes in a cardboard box which can be recycled when empty. My next move was to source a supply of toilet rolls, kitchen rolls and tissues, which are made from a mixture of bamboo and recycled paper. These are delivered to,a schedule of my choosing and arrive in a cardboard container with no plastic wrapping, again more expensive, but slowly the bin gets less placed in it. I am just experimenting with getting capsules of concentrated cleaner that can be placed in my existing bottles and then topped up with water, the little pods that the Coke in can then go in the compost bin. We have stopped using coffee pods, returning to cafetière, the grounds then go on the garden. Loose tea was the next to join the family. I admit that all these things have an initial on costs, but are preventing unnecessary trips to the supermarket which, for me result in the odd extra purchase or two. Must train myself to stop doing this. Meat and fish can be placed in your own containers at our local supermarket and I am now buying eggs from a local smallholder. Our foods costs have increased slightly, but I do have the time to do this and have so far managed to tweak the budget, to offset. Keeping a record for this year so will be able to see the difference. Trying to east seasonably, food sourced locally if possible and definitely more vegetables and fruit, to offset, the increased costs of better quality meat. The sad thing is I live near the sea a fresh fish is not within our budget, have to resort to frozen.
I have been trying to reduce our single use plastic too. Started with reusable nappies, we have a friend who gifted us a whole set at no cost so we were really lucky as these can be very expensive.
We also have bamboo toothbrushes (which were much more expensive than regular ones but are compostable) I am trying to switch to Lush for my skincare & beauty products. I have also found an amazing website which does refillable cleaning supplies, they send you the refills in the post and you send the pouches back which saves about 97% of plastic usage. The initial cost again is expensive (they provide refillable bottles) but the refills are very good and they only provide the concentrated product you add tap water meaning you aren’t paying for water!! I’m trying to make small changes every now and again but initial outlays are definitely more expensive.
This morning I was in Ikea and noticed they had silicon lids that you can buy to fit their containers. I will buy some to see if they fit what I have as that would reduce my plastic wrap consumption. I have a milk bottle dilemma. I can buy them but there is no recycling program for them.
Some containers last such along time and others are wasteful. I have two soap pumps that have been in full time use for over six years.
I’m totally in on the plastic on almost every single item you buy. I can get quite frustrated about it.
I have always said that the most important thing to do in order to be more environmental is to cut your spending.
A $ spent is equivalent to some sort of C02 consumption.
We are just lucky that the down payment on a Lamborghini is way more expensive than a kilo of organic beans.
If you can live off 500 $ / month and you spent all of those money on red meat (bad for the environment), I think that would be better than if you were environmentally oriented and spend 3000 $ / month on miscellaneous stuff. C02 wise.
This is an interesting take on this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSgs9wLUXns
You can do it on a budget and you don’t have to have the initial outlay. Instead of the glass jars people can use tupperware they already have. Beeswax wraps are expensive at around £12 for 3. So I made my own and they cost about £3 for 6 (they only take a few minutes to make, grate some beeswax over cotton and place in a low oven until it melts, brush it so it is all covered and then hang until it cools which is a few seconds)
But I did find the zero waste shops do tend to cost more generally. Pasta is about 14x the price of a normal shop bought, and washing powder was extortionate (£14 for 2.3kg) but things like the herbs and spices were cheaper.
We did switch to a milk delivery but it is much more. We pay 88p a pint, but as there is only the two of us it a price we decided we could cover.
I use splosh for household items, they post you refills in concentrated form and then you post the pouches back to be reused. They are more expensive than say the aldi household items, but cheaper than branded.
It is having to go to all the different shops while trying not to drive extra trips for it that is a pain.
I wouldn’t recommend a KeepCup. I got one and thought it was great at first because the lid was watertight. However, it started to leak when I walked along. Now I have a pretty bamboo cup, which is much easier to carry about.
Oh really? Might need to rethink this then!
Yes. We all got given keep cups at work. It was fab for a couple of weeks. Then the lid started leaking and started spilling the contents down my clothes. Thankfully I only used it for water and not tea. I have a bamboo ‘ecoffee’ cup for my tea, had it a year and it works fab.