1. Car share
Car sharing is when two or more people travel to work together
rather than in separate cars.
Car sharing does not exclude people who would otherwise have
travelled to work by public transport or cycle, but is aimed at
getting vehicles off the road by increasing vehicle occupancy.
It doesn't necessarily mean sharing everyday; if everyone who
drives to work in their own car shared just one day a week, car use
could be reduced by 25%.
For more information visit the
National CarShare website (link opens in a new
window).
Check to see if your organisation is registered with the
Kent car share
scheme.
If not, why not start your own scheme at your place of work?
2. Use public transport
A double-decker bus carries the same number of people as 40
cars. So next time you make a journey just ask yourself the
question, could I possibly make it using public transport, or could
I reduce it altogether?
So help reduce the number of cars on the road and take the bus
or train if you can.
Even better, walk to your destination if you can. Your health
and your environment will thank you for it.
Further information on public transport can be found at:
3. Buy a 'green' car
The effects of fossil fuel usage on our local environment
quality and on global climate change are enormous. The question
remains whether we can find an alternative to our dependence on
petrol or diesel. The answers may well lie with hybrid cars powered
by an electric motor. An electric generator, which is powered by
the petrol engine, recharges the motor's battery; this increases
miles per gallon while also saving emissions.
4. Save water
"Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink." Samuel Taylor
Coleridge's poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, might not be
true just yet, but if we continue wasting water at the rate we are
then who knows. Just turning off the tap next time you brush your
teeth will save 24 litres each time.
5. Don't overfill your kettle
Here's something you can do to green Kent right now, or probably
in about ten minutes time. Next time you make the coffee or tea
only fill your kettle with the water you need. If everybody did
this we could save enough electricity to run the entire street
lighting system for the whole country.
6. Use a mug
In total some six billion polystyrene cups are used every year
within the UK, with the majority of these all going to landfill.
The alternative is to use a real mug or, if you are on the go, a
travel mug. Not only will this taste better, but you will feel
better too. You may also find that a lot of coffee shops will give
you a discount if you bring your own mug.
7. Eat locally and seasonally
The environmental impacts of flying our food from half way
around the world are severe. Kilo for kilo, a kiwi fruit creates
five times its own body weight in CO2 emissions in transportation
alone. Produced in Kent, developed by Kentish fare with support
from Kent County Council, aims to celebrate the values of the
Garden of England. Buying locally has many advantages, it:
- promotes freshness and variety
- saves money
- reduces pollution
- reduces the nuisance of unnecessary transport
- supports local producers
- supports our local economy
More than 500 businesses are currently involved in Produced in
Kent, so next time you have the choice, think globally and eat
locally.
For more information visit the
Produced
in Kent website (link opens in a new window).
8. Buy Fairtrade
Fairtrade means that the producers who make the goods you buy
get a price that fairly rewards their work and skills. Getting paid
a fair price helps people take control of their lives; not having
to worry about their next meal, or if they can send their children
to school.
Sales of fairly traded products in the last year alone have
increased by 40%, and now include everything from clothing to
chocolate.
Within our county both Ashford and Tunbridge Wells are both in
the stages of becoming 'Fairtrade' cities, whereby a percentage of
the shops will stock fair trade products. So now it's never been
easier to buy with your conscience and to make a real difference in
people's lives.
For more information visit the
Fairtrade
website (link opens in a new window).
9. Buy recycled products
As with the growth in Fairtrade goods, there has also been a
huge leap in both the number of recycled goods available and the
quality. Today you can buy a huge variety of recycled goods, for
instance:
- pencils made from recycled vending cups
- wine glasses made from old bottles
- notepads made from Indian advertising posters
- picture frames from old oil drums
You'd be amazed at the range and quality available. The bottom
line is there needs to be a demand for the goods that you recycle.
So close the loop by buying products made of recycled material.
For more information on where to buy recycled products visit
10. Buy energy saving equipment
Save money on your bills and do your bit for the environment by
choosing new products that carry the Energy Efficiency Recommended
logo. The logo can be found on many products, such as:
- light bulbs
- light fittings
- refrigeration products
- laundry and dishwashing appliances
- gas boilers
- heating controls
- loft and cavity wall insulation
Those products that display the Energy Efficiency Recommended
logo meet or exceed specified energy efficiency requirements and
are backed by the Government. In effect, it's your guarantee that
the product will save energy, cost less to run, and help green Kent
and its environment.
Other schemes include the US Environmental Protection Agency
Energy Star Compliant scheme which is awarded to computer equipment
which has met specific criteria for energy efficiency.
For more information on energy saving equipment visit the
Energy Saving Trust website (link opens in a
new window).
11. Compost
At present 80% of our compostable household waste ends up in
landfill. Once there it decomposes and emits methane gas;
responsible for 40 per cent of the UK's greenhouse emissions. The
fact is we can compost around 60 per cent of all our household
waste. Take a look at our
composting page for help and advice.
12. Refuse plastic bags
Every person in the UK uses up to 134 plastic bags every year.
This amounts to some eight billion bags per year. The majority then
find their way to landfill, where they will take up to 500 years to
decay. This will produce methane gas, which contributes to global
warming.
Help green Kent by re-using your bags. Maybe you could buy a
shopping bag or just use fewer of them.
13. Use real nappies
Nearly 5% of all household waste in Kent is disposable nappies,
even though fewer than 10% of households have a child in nappies at
any one time.
Kent County Council is committed to waste reduction and launched
the
Cloth Nappy Scheme in April 2001, in partnership with Kent
local authorities. The aim is to encourage parents to consider
using cotton nappies and to help reduce the amount of waste
disposed of in landfill sites. Real nappies can be cost effective,
saving up to £500 per baby in its nappy lifetime. They are easy to
put on and can be cleaned in a 60c-machine wash.
Could you help reduce the current 7.5 million disposable
nappies, which end up in Britain's landfill sites every day?
Source: AHPMA on the
Nappy Information Service website (link opens
in a new window).
14. Turn off your appliances
According to the Energy Saving Trust, over the course of a year,
a video recorder on standby uses 85% as much energy as it uses
playing a tape. The same applies to your TV; the average TV will
use 16 kwh each year just being left on standby.
So next time you go to sleep, make sure your TV is doing the
same.
15. Switch to energy saving light bulbs
They may not be as cheap, but using energy saving light bulbs
really is an example of pay now save later. Each energy efficiency
bulb can reduce your lighting costs by up to £7 a year. And because
energy efficient bulbs use only a fraction of the energy that
regular bulbs use, they also help the environment by reducing the
level of climate-changing gases being released.
Make the switch and save money and the environment.
For more information visit the
Energy Saving Trust website (link opens in a
new window).
16. Turn off your lights
Turning off your lights when you leave the room may sound like a
simple idea, and that's because it is. Light pollution within the
UK (lights within our cities polluting our night-time sky) is on
the increase. This is bad news, not just for all budding
astronomers out there, but also for our environment. Lighting means
lots of carbon monoxide, and this accounts for 7% of all emissions
in the UK alone. It also means a lot of wasted energy. So before
you leave the room, remember to turn the light off.
17. Recycle your mobile phone
Fashions change and so will your mobile phone. In fact 15
million mobiles will be replaced in the UK every year, which
equates to 1,500 tonnes of landfill.
But it needn't be so. Instead of throwing your mobile out why
not donate it to a local charity such as Oxfam. Each working
donated handset will get £5, or enough to provide a mosquito net to
protect a child from malaria.
All Kent Household waste recycling centres also accept mobile
phones for re-use or recycling for parts.
For more information on recycling your mobile phone look at
Oxfam's Bring Bring campaign (link opens in
a new window).
18. Use both sides of the paper
If next time you read a book you found every other page blank,
you would probably think, half my book's missing. And then
hopefully, soon after that you'd think, what a waste of paper.
Currently over 350 million trees are cut down every year for the
paper that's used in UK offices alone.
So think before you print that document for the Monday morning
meeting on separate pages. You can adjust to print double sided
every time in a click of the mouse and, save 50% in your paper
output.
19. Print in draft quality
How many times have you printed something and not referred to it
again? Or printed something and only shown it to a few colleagues.
Where possible eliminate printing or, if needed, simply switch the
printing set up on your computer to print in draft quality. You
will still be able to read it, but you'll extend the life of your
cartridge.
20. Use more emails
The days of the paperless office may not yet be upon us, but we
can all do our bit to get there. So why not send that memo via
email, or why not send an e-card instead of a paper one? After all,
it's the thought that counts, not the material. If you add up the
cost in waste over an entire year's celebrations it really does
make a difference.
21. Cancel junk mail - Mailing Preference Service
At present, Britons receive nearly 4 billion pieces of direct
mail every year. Of which 78,000 tonnes ends up in UK landfill
sites. Nearly a third of this mail is unread because it's
irrelevant to you. So why not take control of the post you
receive.
Sign up to the Mail Preference Service (MPS) and only receive
mail shots which are relevant to you. 1.2 million consumers already
subscribe to the MPS, which cuts their direct mail by about
95%.
You can register free of charge via the
MPS
website (link opens in a new window) or request an application
form by phoning 0845 703 4599.
22. Re-use your books
Do you really need to hang on to all of your old books? You
could pass them on to your local hospital or charity shop and give
the book a new lease of life.
Alternatively, you could just leave them lying on a park bench.
A scheme called BookCrossing allows you to register a book at a web
site and then set them free "in the wild" for other people to read,
review and release once again. Who knows where your books could end
up?
Check out the BookCrossing website (link opens in a new
window).
23. Recycle your cartridges
As a nation we currently consign two million printer cartridges
to landfill every year. So next time they run out, don't consign
your old printer cartridges to landfill. Instead, contact either
local charities such as scout groups, or national charities such as
Oxfam or Greensource who can recycle them and then re-sell
them.
In this way you can help raise money for local schemes or third
world development.
By recycling your cartridges you'll join a list which includes
Buckingham Palace, 10 Downing street and Arsenal FC.
For further information visit the
Greensource
website (link opens in a new window).
24. Volunteer
If you want to help protect, conserve and enhance Kent's
environment, then there are many opportunities to get involved.
There are hands-on tasks like tree planting or clearing ponds. Or
you can help behind the scenes in campaigning and fund raising.
Whatever your interest or background, there are many
organisations who will welcome your help in greening Kent.
For more information look at our
volunteering pages.
25. Act on something
Do just that; act on one of these suggestions.
We hope there is something here for everybody, from simply
turning off the tap next time you brush your teeth, to hands-on
clearing of local ponds. Getting involved to save your environment
and to green Kent has never been easier, more fun, or
cost-effective.
So go on, act on something. |