One of the best things we can do to live a more sustainable life and help slow climate change is Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Reduce what you buy and consumer; Reuse things as much as possible and Recycle if you cant reuse.
Reduce
One of the positive lessons learned from the Covid-19 pandemic and living in lock down, is that we don’t have to be constantly purchasing products and shopping in our every day existence. It is quite evident that the essential needs in our lives are things such as shelter, food, education, friends and family. A perpetual cycle of greed and consumerism has lead to us to over using the worlds resources to such an extent that each year the use by date is getting nearer. Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity’s demand for ecological resources and services in a given year exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that year. In 2021, it fell on July 29.
Every time you are tempted to purchase something ask yourself -do i really need it? Whether its food, clothing, cars, bikes, toys, makeup, or any good, is it absolutely necessary?
We generate more than one million tonnes of food waste every year in Ireland alone, which represents a carbon footprint as high as 3.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. It is estimated that food waste generates about 8% to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. (EPA, 2022).
Packaging waste was 1,124,917 tonnes in 2019 and over a million tonnes the previous three years also. If you really have to buy something, look for the less packaged item – ie bulk foods, or paper packaging as opposed to plastic.
Reuse
We can reuse many every day items fore sending them to recycling or the dump. Milk cartons can be made into bird feeders, plastic bottles can become mini glass houses, old clothing can be excellent cleaning rags and so on.
Here are some common ones:
- Use old jars for jam or as storage for herbs and pulses
- Old clothes can become cleaning rags or draught excluders or cushion covers
- Newspaper can be used for cleaning windows, protecting surfaces when painting; packing material
- Vegetable food scraps, cardboard can be used to make compost
- Used dish sponges can be washed and saved to use again for other dirty cleaning jobs
- Plastic sandwich and shopping bags can be reused over and over again
- Old curtains make great dustsheets for painting
- Material from broken umbrellas can be used to make bags or outdoor seat covers
- Butter covers can be stored in the fridge and used for greasing baking trays
Recycle
If something cannot be reused any further then hopefully it can be recycled.
Make sure you follow the recycling guidelines. Here are guideline for recycling in Ireland
Here is information on the recycling and bring centre’s around Ireland