6 Ways To Help The Planet

As the earth completes another trip around the sun, we need to do all we can to ensure our planet remains the best address in the solar system.

Here are some effective ways to do just that. Best of all – they’re really easy to do. After all, it’s the small, sustainable changes we make that add up to the biggest differences in the end.

Take a look…

1. Turn your toilet tank blue.

Did you know that toilet leaks waste up to 3 liters of water per minute!? To check if you have a leak, put a few drops of food colouring into the water in the tank behind the toilet seat, then wait two hours before checking again to see if any colour has seeped into the bowl. If it has, your tank’s flapper is leaking, either from mineral build-up or worn parts.

After you flush the dye away so it doesn’t stain, head to the hardware store for a replacement flapper (go to www.thisoldhouse.com for instructions on how to install it).

2. Make a big entrance.

Equip your exterior doors with a series of mats, or one long ‘walk-off’ mat, so everyone enters with clean shoes. As long as there’s room for five steps on the mats, you’ll drastically reduce the amount of grime tracked in. That means fewer pathogens that cause disease and less chemicals needed to clean-up!

This will also mean improved indoor air quality, since dirt embedded in a carpet can become airborne when it’s trampled on or agitated by a vacuum.

3. Think before you throw.

Pesticides, expired medicine, old batteries, paint thinners and paint are some of the most toxic substances in our landfills. They don’t just go away when we throw them out – instead, they slowly seep into the ground, and sometimes, into our groundwater too. So the next time you’re doing a big clean-out, try to be a little more careful with these kinds of things. You can hand old batteries and medicines in at your local pharmacy or supermarket.

And why not combine all those cans of leftover paint that inevitably collect and use them to paint the inside of your garage or back wall—just make sure you don’t mix oil-based paints with acrylic ones. You’ll keep the paint out of the trash, and you’ll end up with a fresh sheen that’s easier to clean too.

4. Run the shower.

Place a 5 litre bucket under the running water, then see how long it takes for it to fill up. If it’s less than 30 seconds, you’re wasting a lot of water. Replace your showerhead with one that sprays the water more efficiently. You’ll save as much as 60,0000 liters of water a year – especially if you limit your showers to under 10 minutes.

5. Stop the drips.

One drip per second from a leaky tap can waste almost 20 liters of water a day—and 7,000 liters a year! While you won’t notice much of an increase on your water bill, if an overlooked leak soaks through your kitchen floor, you could wind up with an expensive repair job, money that could have been saved by simply replacing a cheap washer.

6. Stack the dishwasher.

If you have one, doing a full load in your machine is far more efficient than washing the same number of dishes by hand. This is especially true if you have an Energy Star dishwasher, which requires far less water than washing in the sink. In fact, using your dishwasher will save you almost 20,000 liters of water, loads of electricity (from not having to use so much hot water), and about 230 hours of your time each year.

As if we needed any more convincing!

See below for some more super simple ways to save the world – because you don’t have to wear a cape to be a superhero – saving the world is actually far simpler than we thought…

1. Use cloth napkins
2. Eat less meat
3. Grow your own food
4. Start a compost pile
5. Buy less plastic (toys, tech, food packaging etc)
6. Ditch disposable containers – opt for reusable ones instead
7. Swap out your shower head for a low-flow, water-saving one
8. Shorten your showers
9. Install a timer on your geyser and turn down its heat
10. Recycle your plastic, paper, glass and tins
11. Change your light bulbs to energy-efficient ones
12. Insulate your roof if you can – to keep you warmer in winter and cooler in summer without the use of electrical appliances
13. Upcycle old furniture – Pinterest is a treasure trove of ideas
14. Borrow, don’t always buy
15. Carpool whenever you can (sharing lifts save petrol, traffic and time)
16. Buy local (food, art, gifts) whenever you can
17. Read the labels and opt for non-toxic cleaning and gardening products
18. Volunteer for community clean-up and upliftment events whenever you can
19. Go plogging
20. Plant a tree!

Which of these are you going to try out mums? Let us know below x