5 Surprising Ways To Be Eco-Friendly
Posted on: 4 June 2015
Everyone wants to know how they can be more environmentally conscious. Whether it's using cloth bags at the store, or buying green products, there are small steps you can take to help the environment. Here are five surprising ways you can be environment friendly:
1. Freecycling
You know about recycling, but what about freecycling? Freecycling is a great way to keep unwanted items out of landfills. Unlike donation, where you give away your unwanted objects, you give away your stuff and get something you need in return. This is also a great way to save money.
2. Dry cleaning
Did you know there are environment friendly dry cleaners? These dry cleaners don't use harmful chemicals. Instead, they use a method called wet cleaning. In wet cleaning, clothing is placed in gentle washing machines and treated with biodegradable soaps. The machine only spins a handful of times a minute, allowing for thorough cleaning while treating the delicate fabrics with care.
3. Car wash
This tip may be the most surprising, but to use less water, you should go to a professional car wash. While this seems counter intuitive, using the car wash instead of washing your car at home saves water. An at home car wash can use as much as 150 gallons of water, compared with a commercial car wash which uses only 50 gallons. Also, commercial car washes must properly dispose of or reuse their water. When you wash your car at home, the soap and chemicals from your car can contaminate the environment.
4. Big comforters
When you choose a comforter for the beds in your home, pick one that is one size bigger than the bed. So if you have a queen, choose a king, and for your kids, choose a full comforter for their twin beds. This not only increases comfort if you toss and turn or if your partner steals the covers, but it decreases energy usage. The bigger comforter traps body heat more efficiently, which allows you to turn down your thermostat in the winter.
5. Font
Switching fonts can save printer ink, which is particularly helpful to the environment and landfills. Even with recycling programs, 10 million ink cartridges end up in landfills every year. A young high school student figured out that by using the font "Garamond", printer ink use is reduced by 24%. This means less ink refills for you, and less ink packs that end up in landfills.
These are five surprising ways to go green. Help the earth by using one of these tips this month.
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