insideKENT Magazine Issue 82 - January 2019 | Page 96

NEWYEAR
SMALL CHANGES BIG DIFFERENCE CONT.
ENVIRONMENT
Carpool
So it doesn’t have to involve karaoke, but where
possible try to combine journeys to limit your CO2
emissions and impact on the environment. Try to
share school runs with another local family, go
shopping with a friend or neighbour, or travel for
work with a colleague. It’s estimated that if you join
just one other person on a 50-mile round trip to
work, you’d reduce your monthly emissions by 10%
Fantastic, not plastic
We know that plastic is totally rubbish for our
environment, so now is the perfect time to limit your
own plastic use and find some useful alternatives.
The Government is already committed to banning
plastic straws, and whilst paper is a good alternative,
even better are reusable bamboo or metal straws;
many are dishwasher-friendly and will last years.
Scrap the cling film and switc h to beeswax
wraps – natural, sustainable and reusable alternatives
for keeping your food fresh. Try the stylish wraps
pictured abo ve b y T he Beeswax W rap Co
(www.beeswaxwraps.co.uk).
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Ditch the plastic water bottle and invest in either a
BPA-free bottle or better y et, a metal canister like
Klean K anteen (pictur ed above). T hey're easily
washable, environmentally sound and pretty swish
looking too. www.kleankanteen.co.uk
Lastly, shop naked. Not literally of course, that would
get you arrested, but packaging free wherever
possible. Your broccoli head doesn’t need a plastic
mac, nor does your loose fruit. Take your own
reusable containers to the deli and butchers counters
and most will happily use these instead of the
mountains of plastic wrap.
Invest in a reusable coffee mug
It is crazy to think that only 1 in 400 hundred
disposable coffee cups in the UK is actually recycled.
This is in part due to the amount of plastic from the
lids to the coating of the cardboard that complicates
the recycling process, and in part to our own laziness.
So, if you can’t quite bear to part with your grande
soy caramel machiatto, then the only way to go is
to invest in a reusable coffee mug. Costing from as
little as a few pounds, not only will you be reducing
your footprint, but the coffee tends to taste much
better too!
Eat local
Not only will shopping locally bring money into your
local community, support local farmers and producers
and ensure you are eating fresh (and its claimed
more nutritiously), it will also, and most crucially,
reduce your food miles. Next time you shop, actually
consider just how far your basket has travelled before
it has hit the shelves. Local farmers’ markets and
farm shops offer a plentiful array of fresh fruit,
vegetables, meat and dairy produce, often sourced
from within a few miles and usually with little to no
excess packaging. Aim to shop locally at once a week
and reap the rewards.