Ecofriendly Tips of 2018:

10 Super Easy Things You Can Do to Become More EcoFriendly in 2018

by The House of Pillows Editorial Writers

At The House of Pillows, we do everything in our power to make everything as green as it can be. Even our packaging. It’s who we are. Because when we decided to create The House of Pillows, we thought about who we wanted to be, and what we wanted to stand for. We also thought about what kind of message we wanted to spread, and what we wanted to leave behind. And the answer to all those question was this: Ecofriendly, Ethical and Sustainable. We wanted to be ecofriendly in every way we possibly could. We wanted to stand for something that respects the planet, and everything and everyone living on it. And we wanted to spread an encouraging message: you can have an amazing lifestyle, AND you can do it while being Green, everyday. All it takes are small, simple steps towards more sustainable change.

Are you with us?

So, in this post, we’re sharing 10 super easy ecofriendly tips that can drastically reduce your negative impact on our planet!

To many of us, changing our habits can seems extremely difficult.

Changing our way of doing things, means rethinking our entire process of living! But nobody said it had to be done all at once.

Now, some of you might be skeptic. Why would you need to change your way of living anyway? Why is it so important that I make my life more ecofriendly?

We all need to understand that the most mainstream way of living, is completely unsustainable. And that we cannot go on living like most of us do in the modern, developped world forever. Because it’s literally destroying the planet we’re living on.

It takes motivation, and it takes caring. But on the long term, changes will show.

So, let’s all bring small, meaningful changes to our daily lives to improve the way we live every single day.

Here are 10 super easy ecofriendly tips we love. You don’t need to try them all at once. Why not just try one of them this month, and see if it’s something you can keep doing next month?

We hope these ecofriendly tips will inspire you!

Ecofriendly tips of 2018

Via Felipe P. Lima Rizo.

1/ Bring your own mug

So, our number one of our 10 ecofriendly tips : bring your own mug.

You’ve probably heard this one – a lot. That’s because it can and does make a huge difference to the amount of waste we produce.

There are many coffee companies and cafés out there serving coffee in cups to-go. Let’s name the most popular, shall we? Did you know that Starbucks goes through 4 billion to-go cups annually?

And, you might think since they’re made of paper, they’d be recycled in some way, right?

Well, the sad thing is that most of these cups are almost never recycled or composted, because they’re lined with plastic. This makes it harder for facilities to recycle them.

Stepping away from the Starbucks case, in the United Kingdom, it’s reported that only one in 400 single-use cups are recycled, out of the 2.5 billion cups used annually.

Sadly, large companies are pretty slow to react to this waste producing trend.

But, one thing you can do, is bring your own reusable coffee mug, whenever you leave the house, planning to pass by a coffee shop.

It’s one of many great ecofriendly tips, that will reduce the amount of waste you produce. And most of the time, it’ll even save you money! Indeed, coffee shops are giving discounts to people who bring their own mug. We call that a win-win.

2/ Bring your own water bottle

And the same goes for your water bottle.

We all agree that drinking a lot of water during the day is really important.

But we should also all agree that using plastic water bottles is bad for the environment, even if they’re recyclable. Or recycled. Because plastic never disapears, no matter how you transform it, it will always end up in the environment somewhere. (It takes up to 200 years to biodegrade…)

So another simple change you can make, is to have a reusable water bottle. Take it with you everywhere you go. And  you can even have a few of them, so you’re never left stuck without a water bottle. Keep one at home, at your office, and even a small one in your purse if you can.

It’s small individual changes that makes long term difference. Let’s all try this one together!

3/ Buy 100% cotton produce bags, and always have them with you when you go to the grocery store

So, in some grocery stores around the world, they’ve banned plastic bags for produce. In other countries, people are still buying their fruits and veggies and weighing them in very thin, very polluting plastic bags that almost always end up in landfills.

Here is one thing that will make a huge difference: buy reusable 100% cotton (preferably organic) bags, and take them with you when you go to buy your groceries at the store.

And, instead of using the plastic produce bags the store puts at your disposal, use the cotton bags you brought with you.

This will significantly reduce the amount of waste you produce, and will make a huge difference for the amount of plastic that end up in landfills.

4/ Buy Practical Sorting Bins, and make it easier for you and your family to recycle

This one on our ecofriendly tips list is obvious, and we hope it’s one you do already. But, if you don’t, now is the best time to start.

So, depending on how your country’s recycling system works, you will have different bin types. But, almost everywhere, you have the system of seperating the following elements:

• Metal, aluminum packagings and cans
• Plastics
• Papers
• and Glass

So to recycle those, you’ll need to get 4 seperate bins and place them in a practical location in your kitchen.

To learn more about how to recycle, visit this page and this page for recycling charts.

5/ When you buy products in packaging, make sure that packaging can be easily recycled

Being waste free is ultimately the goal.

But, if ditching out all packaging from your life completely is something you’re not ready to transition into just yet, at least make sure that the packaging of products you do buy, can be easily recycled (and then remember to recycle them).

And at the same time, try to buy package free products by buying in the bulk section (using the trusty little 100% cotton bags we spoke about earlier!).

6/ Wear more clothes instead of turning up the heat (and other strategies)

Okay, so we all want to be comfortable, no matter what season it is outside, right?

But, air conditioning and household heating systems are a major contributor to global warming.

So what should you do? Consider replacing your air conditionning with ceiling fans next summer, and consider wearing more clothes this winter, before turning up the heat.

These are, again, small things that can really make a huge difference for the environment.

Visit this page to learn how to cool down in a more ecofriendly way during the summer, and this page on how to warm up in the winter without a heater!

7/ Turn off your devices at the end of the day

Putting your computer asleep before the end of the day, is fine, but it’s not enough. Because it’s still on and using energy in the background.

So, before going to bed at the end of the day, turn off all your electronics. It’ll save you money on electricity bills, and help save the environment. Win win.

8/ Consider carpooling

Carpooling is becoming more and more popular. There are even companies popping up where you can hitch a ride with someone going your same direction.

Carpooling can save you a lot of money, and reduce air pollution.

Also, when possible, make use of public transport instead taking your car.

9/ Start composting & using your trash for good

Number nine on our list of ecofriendly tips is a bit of a project. But, the more you’ll learn about it, the more good reasons you’ll find to do it.

It’s composting.

Did you know even your biodegradables can do harm to the planet? That’s why, you should really sort those, too.

Compositing is good for the environment, for many reasons.

 When you compost your food scraps, you produce a nutrient rich soil that is needed to maintain healthy and productive farm fields.

This closes an important loop and completes the cycle necessary to grow more healthy food. When it comes to global warming, composting directly reduces carbon dioxide (CO2) and other powerful greenhouse gases, like methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O).

Indeed, composting is an effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. And we all know that greenhouse emissions are something we want to reduce, right?

Think throwing your food scraps and paper products in the garbage are harmless just because they biodegrade naturally?

Sorry, but it’s time you think again.

You’ll probably be surprised to learn that when these materials break down (or biodegrade) in landfills, they rot anaerobically. That means, without oxygen. And without oxygen, they become powerful contributors to greenhouse emissions.

What’s more, did you know that when food scraps are thrown in a landfill, the degrading material creates methane? Methane is a greenhouse gas that is 70 TIMES MORE potent than carbon dioxide.

Experts say that the best place to compost is right at home. Even though there are facilities who do compositing for you, these facilities almost always need fuel and energy to process the compositing materials. And that seems kind of counter intuative, doesn’t it?

We agree that compositing can be messy (and smelly). It can take up space, especially if you live in a small appartment.

But, there are still easy ways of doing it. And sometimes, it can even be fun, if you include your family. Think: growing your own vegetable garden in your garden, or growing beautiful tomatoes on your balcony using your very own compost.

 Visit your local gardening store to find composting containers suitable for your living area or learn how to compost the DIY way by watching videos on YouTube!

There are compositing containers for every home size, from the big farm house property, to the tiny appartment.

Learn more about all the benefits of compositing here.

Also, watch awesome TED talks about composting: here.

10/ Change Your Light Bulbs

Now the last tip on our list of eco-friendly tips is: replace your light bulbs.

The invention of the light bulb changed the world. But, even though the light bulb was invented over a century ago, the technology has not changed since then. This is true for the case of incandescent light bulbs. Indeed, these bulbs are very inefficient, and only convert about 5 percent of the energy they receive, into actual light! Not great.

The good thing though, is that we now have energy saving lightbulbs, known as LED bulbs. The acronym stands for Light Emitting Diode, and these bulbs work in a similar way as traditional fluorescent bulbs work. But: they last way longer and they use up way less energy!

They can use up to 75% less energy than standard incandescent bulbs, and last up to 10 times longer. This means your home will be more energy efficient, and you will save quite a bit of money. Some say that the move to eco friendly light bulbs could save you 30 – 90 dollars over the course of a decade for every light bulb in your household depending on usage of course. If you sum that up you can be looking to save approximately 300 – 900 dollars if you have 10 light bulbs at home.

We think it is worth it for your wallet & the environment! #WorthIt.

Let us know which tip you will try next in the comment section bellow! And remember to stay tuned for more ecofriendly tips!

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