Eco Friendly Products
OUR VILLAGE, OUR PLANET, OUR FUTURE.
It is always difficult to assess the merits of different types of products……is the good performance of the product outweighed by its damage to the environment? Can we really get to the bottom of the pros and cons of any product? Well it does take a lot of researching but when it comes to cleaning it seems the simple old ideas work well and washing soda, baking soda and white vinegar seem to have many uses. A very useful book is ‘Clean and Green: 101 Hints and Tips for a More Eco-Friendly Home’ by Nancy Birtwhistle who gives recipes and uses for general household cleaning without using harmful chemicals…who’d have thought that leaving your oven racks out on the lawn overnight would leave them gleaming – but it does!
Microfibre cloths are very effective and useful but please make sure that they are eco-friendly cloths as standard ones contain nylon which gets into the sewers and rivers and is harmful to wildlife. Microfibre cloths clean without using any/as much cleaning product so it is worth finding the right ones. www.greenmatters.com/p/is-microfiber-plastic
Some years ago environmentally friendly washing up and clothes washing products did not produce a good result but now brands like Ecover and others are just as successful and are much less damaging to the environment. www.countryliving.com/uk/homes-interiors/interiors/g30453765/eco-friendly-cleaning-products
Toiletries are another aspect of daily life which tend to be made of ingredients which are harmful to the environment but there are eco-friendly alternatives from specialist suppliers and from High Street shops.
https://www.marksandspencer.com/c/style-and-living/eco-friendly-toiletries
https://www.thekindstoreonline.co.uk/collections/bathroom-essentials
Make sure that whatever eco-friendly products you are using are not damaging another part of nature by e.g. encouraging deforestation.
Depending on the resources available to you in your home, it could be possible to generate your own domestic electricity with solar panels https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/advice/solar-panels or heat your home using an air source heat pump. https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/advice/air-source-heat-pumps
If you are thinking about generating your own renewable electricity, there might be incentives that you could benefit from. Have a read here about what Ofgem offers.
If you can generate your own domestic heating using one of these sources, you may be eligible for the domestic renewable heat incentive (RHI). The RHI offers financial support for owners of renewable heating systems in quarterly payments over seven years. You can find out more about the renewable heat incentive here
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/environmental-programmes/domestic-rhi
Good summaries of options of green energy are explained by REA – Association for renewable energy and clean technology.
It’s interesting to look at your carbon footprint which can help in making decisions to live more sustainably – calculate yours here https://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx