Our Ethics – Minimise Waste

Today I want to take a deeper look at one of our most important Ethics – minimising waste. When you look at the tag, there may not be too many products there, but they are all designed to help you reduce your household waste, which is what makes them important.

It’s no secret that our landfill sites are getting fuller and fuller – and they aren’t a pretty sight. Not only are they unsightly, the waste in them is not particularly great for the environment. We send rubbish to these sites at an alarming rate, and we should all strive to reduce it in any way we can.

Food Waste

The best way to reduce food waste is to not buy too much food. I know I’m guilty of it, doing a big weekly shop and ending up throwing loads of out of date food in the bin. I’ve started doing smaller shopping trips, getting in what I know I’ll need for the week, and always sticking to my list rather than impulse buying – unless I know it’s something with a long shelf life.

You can also quite easily keep your leftovers fresher for longer, in a Tupperware style box or using our new Abeego food wraps!

When it does come to throwing food away, compost it! Composting is so easy, and with so many stylish kitchen compost caddies available today, there’s not really any reason to not get one to sit out on your kitchen bench and add your food waste to. Not only will you be reducing your household waste, you’ll also be helping your garden!

Plastic & Packaging

Plastic packaging is the norm today. Thankfully a lot of brands are switching to recyclable packaging, or it’s at least made out of recycled materials. A great way to reduce packaging waste is to bulk buy, like with our 5L drums from Faith in Nature, Bio D and Ecover among others. We’ve also recently introduced a new cleaning brand – OceanSaver, who have created soluble packets of cleaning products so you can just add water from the tap. You only need one bottle and then buy refills!

See our Pinterest board for some great ideas on recycling and reusing plastic packing materials from online orders.

Clothing

When it comes to clothing it’s becoming too easy to buy cheap, fast fashion. With styles changing so frequently, the amount of clothing we buy has increased dramatically, and these clothes tend not to last us long. To reduce your household waste, it’s worth buying to last when it comes to clothing. This may mean you have to pay a little extra, but at the end of the day can save you money, as a well made piece of clothing will last longer than several badly made items.

Repairing your clothes when they get a little hole or tear is important too. Adding patches or lace is also a great way to turn older clothes into something fresh. It’s so easy to find tutorials online that show you how to create a brand new clothing item out of something you’ve got in the wardrobe that you haven’t worn for years.

The next best thing to do with clothes would be to hand them down to younger family members, sell them or donate them to charity. There are plenty of charity shops that you can support with donations, as well as worthy causes such as those supporting Syrian Refugees.

So now you know why reducing household waste is important, and how you can do it, so there’s nothing stopping any of us!