Taking care of our planet has become increasingly popular as signs of climate change take over. Knowing how to make sustainable changes towards creating an environmental impact. The best resource is knowledge and the most powerful tool towards change. Read about different sustainable goals to integrate into your life, your home, and daily routines. You’ll find that you’ll end up saving money as well as becoming more green.
Discover Energy Audits with Solar Energy and ONIT Home
Try our Free Energy Audit to make sure your home is performing at optimum energy efficiency. We’ll inspect every nook and cranny of your home to make sure it’s best serving your needs. We’ll also give you tips on lowering your energy bills, conserving energy, and creating a more efficient space. To learn more about how we can help you maintain a top performing home, visit us online to get started!
Reduce Your Waste
Reducing your waste is a great step towards your environmental impact. There are so many small changes you can make around the home, on the go, or in your everyday activities. Here are some of the best ways to reduce your waste and reduce your environmental impact.
Buy Less at the Grocery Store
Raise your hand if you’ve ever bought too much at a grocery store, resulting in you throwing away food? It’s okay…we’re raising our hands too. This is something that we’re all guilty of, but unfortunately, it creates an abundance of waste.
While there are times and places for massive grocery hauls, it sometimes leads to an increased amount of waste in your household. Instead of buying a lot of items that aren’t necessary, switch to purchasing items that last you a few days and you know that you will use it.
Shop Local
Buying locally leads to environmental advantages and it’s a great way to support your local economy. Here are some ways it helps with your environmental impact according to Go Green:
- Reduces your food miles. When you buy local, you’re purchasing foods and goods produced in your community. When you shop at a grocery store, you’re purchasing foods that were produced from over 1,500 miles away before reaching your home. This leads to lower fuel consumption, decreased air pollution, and shipping and packing facilities.
- Fresher produce: buying and eating local leads to products that are organic, hormone free, and pesticide free. This is beneficial to both the environment and the consumer. Knowing that products are going from farm to table leads to less waste.
- Protects local land from being sold to local developers. This in turn helps protect your local wildlife from any disturbances due to building out land into commercial or residential property.
- Supporting the local workforce through supporting local farmers, growers, and creators. Additionally, it creates other local job opportunities to help sustain the farm due to consumer demand.
Using Reusable Bags
Every time you go to the store, skip the plastic bags and use a reusable option. Knowing that it takes 1,000 years for plastic bags to decompose in our landfills makes this an easy change for an environmental impact. Here’s a list of some great reusable and sustainable bags to integrate into your daily life:
- FRAKTA, SLUKIS and KNALLA Bags by IKEA
- The Everyday Tote by June’s
- Chico Reusable Tote
- Custom Earth
- Amazon
- Tote Bag Factory
- Standard Baggu and the Baggu Giant Pocket Tote
Cut Down on Plastic and Disposable Items
In the same fashion as using reusable bags, the goal of sustainability is to reduce our waste and plastic usage. There are so many quick and easy ways to get rid of plastic from your life and replace it with alternatives. Check out these great tips and tricks to help you reduce your plastic footprint.
Ditch the Plastic Straws
Not only are you saving the turtles, but you’re saving the plastic buildup in our landfills. Instead of a plastic straw, opt for a reusable straw made from stainless steel or glass! Plenty of companies, like Disney, are also using paper straws instead of plastic, as they decompose easier and don’t harm our marine life.
Pay Attention to Item’s Packaging
Buy items that come in boxes or recycled materials, rather than plastic. There are items such as laundry detergent, food items, personal items, or cleaning products.
Additionally, go for products that aren’t in any form of packaging! Buy items from bulk bins and fill with reusable bags or a container. Items like cereal, pasta, rice, and candies can all be purchased through bulk bins instead of plastic bags. This cuts down on unnecessary packaging and waste.
Skip the Convenience of Frozen Food and Premade Juice
Avoid buying frozen fruits, vegetables and meals. Instead, buy fresh and whatever you don’t eat, freeze! Doing this allows you to make sure the food is properly cleaned and without added preservatives. This cuts down on unnecessary plastic packaging and food waste.
Another option is to make your own juice. So many juices are provided in plastic containers and are filled with unnecessary corn syrup and sugar. There are options for juicers that won’t break the bank, allowing you to buy your fruit and vegetables and make your own juice. This is also a great way to decrease your waste output! If you have fruits and vegetables that are going to go bad, turn it into juice instead of throwing them out.
Find a Way to Use Reusable Items
Switch out disposable lighters for matches, refillable long-stemmed lighters, or a rechargeable lighter (yes, you read that right! You can charge your lighter through the USB port). Another easy reusable item is to use reusable razor blades instead of reusable razors. Keep the attachment and just replace the head when you’re ready. There are subscription companies that offer services to deliver razor heads right to your door. A great choice for this is a company called Billie, as they ship items in compostable materials and in bulk.
Go to places that let you use reusable items, rather than plastic. Did you know that Starbucks allows guests to use their personal reusable mugs in lieu of paper or plastic cups? Starbucks brought back this popular sustainability choice on June 22, so go out and buy your reusable mug today! Additionally, they offer $0.10 off your drink, every time you use a refillable option.
Solar Energy
Another way to make a difference is understanding the environmental impact of solar panels. Using this form of renewable energy works to lessen your carbon footprint in a few different ways. Solar energy is a renewable resource, shifting the sun’s rays into a usable energy source. The sun is the most abundant source of renewable energy. In fact, you could power the earth for one day just by using 0.1% of the sun’s energy.
This is a clean and inexpensive way to power your home, rather than relying on fossil fuels and other forms of energy that release pollutants into the atmosphere. While going solar may seem like a long process, companies like ONIT Home make it quick and affordable for your family, all while providing a professionally installed system. Visit us online to learn more.
Skip Fast Fashion Trends
Let’s talk about fast fashion, as it’s the second leading cause of pollution, right behind the oil industry. This is a business model that uses cheap labor and material to source clothing at a rapid pace. The clothing isn’t great quality, as it’s made quickly to follow celebrity trends, fashion shows, or social media trends seemingly overnight to capitalize on a market.
The trend of fast fashion is a major contribution to climate change because it sources cheap material and cuts environmentally friendly corners to meet the growing needs. Companies like Shein, Topshop, Nike, and Urban Outfitters are known for their use of fast fashion.
Visit a Thrift Shop
Instead of buying items that lead to pollution, visit a local thrift shop for all your clothing needs. Not only is this great for the environment, but it’s definitely helpful to your wallet. Thrift shops have lower prices for clothing and goods, leaving more money in your wallet, and less waste in our landfills.
Skip the Plastic Bottles
We know the detrimental effects of plastic. Other than the cost impact of bottled water, the environmental impact is enormous. Habits of Waste is a company dedicated to stopping the unnecessary waste and promoting better habits. They estimate that the average American is using 167 disposable water bottles a year, while only recycling an average of 38.
So let’s do some math:
- The United States population is 329.5 million people according to the 2020 census.
- 329.5 million people x 167 bottles a year = 55.3 billion water bottles per year
- 329.5 million people x 38 recycled bottles = 12.5 billion recycled bottles per year
- 55.3 billion water bottles – 12.5 billion recycled bottles = 42.8 billion bottles in our landfills per year
As previously stated, plastic takes thousands of years to decompose. That is one billion dollars worth of plastic just sitting in landfills.
How ONIT Home Can Help Lessen Your Environmental Impact with A Water Filtration System
Switching to the whole home softening and filtration system with ONIT Home reduces your expenses, lowers your environmental impact, and helps you save up to $870 every year. Here’s how you can make huge savings.
- $324 annually by eliminating bottled water purchases. Having an ONIT water system filters your tap water into high-quality water, giving you the taste you want, without the recurring cost of bottled water. The average person buys 43.7 gallons of bottled water every year, and the more people in your household equals more gallons of bottled water purchased annually.
- $420 every year on cleaning products. Having soft water makes your detergent and cleaning products more efficient. Therefore, you will use up to 50% less of your products around your home, saving you those extra grocery store trips.
- $36 every year on energy consumption. If you’ve ever looked at your electric bill, you’ll see that your water heater can account for around 13% of your monthly bill. If you have hard water in your home, your water heaters are working harder to warm up the water because of the mineral buildup. Having soft water reduces your energy consumption by up to 20%.
- Lastly, you’re able to save up to $90/year on your plumbing and appliance maintenance. Having soft water reduces the buildup, keeping your pipes from clogging. Reducing hard water problems can help you save up to 75% every year.
To get started today, visit us online or give us a call at 1-833-433-0331. We look forward to helping you ditch the plastic bottles and unfiltered water, and move forward with an environmentally friendly option.
ONIT Home is your one-stop shop to create a space for families to enjoy. Bundle your purchases together for a $1,500 voucher to be used with our water filtration, security systems, or solar panels. Or, receive a $2,000 security system for $1,000 with a purchase of a water filtration system. Ready to go solar? Every solar panel system comes with a free home security and water filtration system! Call us today to take advantage of this bundle package.