Over the last couple of years, I've decided to make myself change and pledge to be more sustainable. I've made myself more aware of what materials are and aren't recyclable, changed products out for more eco friendly ones, changed my diet to vegan/vegetarian and stopped shopping so much in the fast fashion industry and more for second hand pieces that I will continue to use. This is going to be a guide for those who want to make even the smallest of life changes to be more sustainable in life for the planet, themselves and the animals. It's honestly easier than you think...
Buy Eco-Friendly products
Whether this be changing your toilet paper to bamboo toilet paper, washing powder to a more eco friendly range like Eco-ver that have a wide range of washing up liquids, laundry liquids and conditioners, and even household products. Astonish is also another fab vegan cleaning brand to use around your house. I use both of these brands as they are brilliant for cleaning and better for the environment. Fabulosa is also a brilliant cleaning brand that is marked vegan which we use around our house as well. Buying eco-friendly products also goes for your skincare, haircare and make up products, just making that swap to eco-friendly, biodegradable or recyclable packing products that are also vegan and cruelty free as well are also brilliant. I always check the label on products to see if they are marked vegan, eco-friendly and cruelty free. Check out my haul here full of vegan and cruelty free products. Another thing you could do is use a bamboo toothbrush, change your cotton pads for bamboo pads which you can wash in the washing machine and bamboo cotton buds.
Recycle
Of course something I expect a lot of us to do regardless as we all have recycling bins in our houses. But this is more the case when you have say a plastic bottle you've just drank from and you are about to throw away in the bin in town, but you aren't sure if that bin is just litter or recycling? I would prefer to take the bottle home and recycle it in my own bin to know its actually going to be recycled rather than chucked into land fill and take years to break apart. Recycling is also about recycling your old clothes, I've been taking less clothes to the charity shop and selling more on Vinted (isobelceline) and Depop (isobelthomas147). As charity shops are brilliant, but sometimes they chuck clothes away and end up in land fill also would you believe. They of course get recycled around stores first but a lot of clothes end up in land fill and of course take a long time to break down. So think before you take your stuff to the charity shop, try and sell it first, unless your local charity shops are looking for donations then of course donate as not everywhere is in the same situation and aren't taking in any donations during this time, but it's worth a shot selling them, plus you are making yourself some money in the mean time.
Eat less meat
Now I say this as I know how it can be hard jumping straight from meat to vegetarian or vegan. As I have explained in my Hypothyroidism & IBS Q&A on my YouTube Channel. Even if you try to eat less meat on the daily, you are doing your bit for the environment and animals. It's like in the news lately there is a shortage of CO2 because this is a way of the animals being slaughtered. Which when you really think about how 'meat' ends up on your plate, the journey to it is pretty gruesome and could put anyone off their food if they allow it. I stopped eating meat because I was seeing a slaughter truck taking animals to the slaughterhouse everyday on my travel to work on the motorway, and the fact I couldn't even help I felt so disappointed in myself, so that's where I thought I wanted to change and go vegetarian/vegan. I also signed up to petitions and things to help prevent horrible things happening to these helpless animals.
Going back to the subject, eating less meat honestly helps to drop the demand for meat, which means less animals killed and saves lives without the demand. If you are thinking of eating less meat, or even going vegetarian or vegan, my youtube channel I share so many tasty foods and recipes that are vegan and vegetarian friendly for you guys to try yourself. Or even check out what I eat in a week vegan vlog for some inspiration and how I eat a vegan diet everyday and feel incredible for it.
Less food waste
Food waste is happening everyday and everywhere. But you can help prevent this by when you are making a meal and there are some left overs, put them in a tuba-ware box and either eat it the next day, freeze it, or take it to work so the food isn't wasted. We hate to waste our food in our house so try and save what we can as it will end up in landfill and just be such a waste and continue to add to the ever growing issue. It's only a small thing to do and the same goes for food that is close to its use by date. Bananas for example, going all brown, make a banana bread out of them, or strawberries that won't last much longer, pop them in a smoothie, veg that hasn't got long left, make a soup or casserole out of them, apples that are going a bit soft, make an apple crumble with them. There's so many ways to use up food without chucking it away. I've also noticed that if you keep fruit and veg in plastic packaging that it comes in, it goes off quicker, so recycle the bags where you can and buy the reusable sacks that are available in most stores like Aldi and home bargains. This is what we do every food shop, put all the veg in the fridge in reusable sacks to make them last longer as well as emptying the fruit into a fruit bowl. It's so much better, and some supermarkets now are accepting the fruit and veg packaging back to be recycled in store, so there are always little ways of helping out.
Buy less fast fashion
There are so many places that don't help in the fast fashion industry that are causing so many clothes to go into land fill every year. This goes for places like Primark which I absolutely adore, but I try not to buy as much from as I used to as it's just not eco-friendly or economical for the environment. Shein is also not so good, but it's also cheaper places for those who can't afford nice new clothes and helps people out that way, so it's a hard one. But my point is, trying to buy less into fast fashion brands and buy more into ethical places, or shop more in vintage and charity shops is way better for the environment and a way of recycling. Plus, I've found so many pieces in charity shops that are absolute gems and I've had for years that I always rewear every year and you find pieces that no one else has which is fabulous for a unique style suited to you.
As you can see there are so many ways of being more sustainable in life. Even buy using a reusable water bottle, coffee cup and tuba-ware that is eco-friendly. There are so many ways for you to enter a more eco-friendly and sustainable life just by trying these small things. Home bargains is a brilliant place to find eco-friendly products I've found and I buy lots of eco-friendly products there like the cleaning products, skincare and bamboo products. Another thing before you go, I also donate to Greenpeace each month to support them with the brilliant work they do to help the environment and stop climate change, definitely worth looking into what they do.
I hope this post helped in someway if you are looking to be more eco-friendly and sustainable in life in some little way. What have you done to change your life to help the environment lately?
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