Dreaming of a greener lifestyle? Let's take the first step towards making it a reality together. Here's five easy ways to make your lifestyle that bit more sustainable — whether it’s switching your energy provider, starting your home-composting journey, or tackling plastic waste in your home.
#1: Reduce Your Food Waste
Globally, 1/3 of all food produced is either lost or wasted. In Australia, we waste around 7.6 million tonnes of food each year — 70% is perfectly edible! This costs households around $2,000-$2,500 per year and our economy $36.6 billion.
Here at Flora & Fauna, we have a huge range of eco-friendly Kitchen & Storage alternatives to disposable containers, plastic cling wrap and single use produce bags.
#2: Start Composting At Home
Food rotting in landfill releases methane — a potent greenhouse gas that’s 28x stronger than CO2. In fact, if food waste was a country, it would be the third-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases after the USA and China!
Composting your food scraps at home is a simple way to reduce the amount of waste that you send to landfill. We love the Bokashi One - Bucket Composting System — it contains a leak-proof 20L compost bin, which you use together with the Bokashi Mix for fast and hassle-free composting.
#3: Switch To A Green Energy Provider
Do you know how your electricity is generated? The burning of fossil fuels for energy is driving our climate crisis. Renewable energy is affordable, reliable, and generates zero carbon emissions. So, if you’ve never investigated the climate credentials of your energy provider, now is the time!
It can be overwhelming to do all this research by yourself. That’s why Greenpeace have put together the Green Electricity Guide — an unbiased ranking of all retailers selling electricity to Australian households. This guide assesses retailers and their emissions, their position on investing in fossil fuel extraction, and their efforts to decarbonise.
We highly recommend checking out the rating for your energy provider. From there, you can choose to remain or switch.
#4: Adopt A Vegan Lifestyle
People all over the world are choosing a vegan lifestyle to reduce animal suffering, improve their health, and minimise the impact of animal agriculture on the environment. In Australia, we have approximately 500,000 vegans, 2.5 million vegetarians, and 10 million people dedicated to eating less meat.
Lately, you’ve probably noticed the growing variety of plant-based options around the meat section of your supermarket. Meat-free options are growing in popularity in Australia, and for many people, health is the number one reason they’ve decided to ditch meat and dairy. Plus, there’s zero cruelty involved.
Feeling peckish? Nourish your tastebuds with our growing range of Vegan Snacks. We can't get enough of Primal Spirit Foods Vegan Jerky for that perfect savoury, high protein snack. Yum!
#5: Go Zero-Waste In The Bathroom
Do you ever stop and think about the amount of plastic waste that comes out of our bathrooms? Whether it’s shampoo/conditioner bottles, body wash bottles, toothbrushes, razors, or skincare… the list is endless!
Luckily, at F&F, we have eco-friendly alternatives for all these products that help to minimise plastic waste. In many cases, these products are more affordable and actually last longer than conventional bathroom products. For example, our Shampoo & Conditioner Bars, like Ethique's bestselling Heali Kiwi, can last up to 4x longer than their bottled counterparts.
Consider swapping out common throw away items item for low-waste, plastic-free options. Like swapping your disposable razor for a Safety Razor.
Small changes add up to make big differences. It's never too late to start and there’s no need to implement all these ideas at once. Have a think about where you’d like to be in one month, six months, or a year from now. Maybe by next month you could aim to halve your food waste, and in six months, you could switch your energy provider.
For more ways to lead an eco-friendly life, check out our Eco Home and Zero Waste blog categories.
