Almost every day we can read news about air pollution, waste accumulation, microplastics in the water and other topics about human impact on the environment. In recent years, such news has become more frequent, but we are often unaware that we, as individuals, can contribute to a healthy environment.
Here we bring you 11 simple tips which can change our shopping ways and help save the environment:
- Bag and a shopping list
Always bring a list of things for shopping and your bag- so you would reduce the number of additional things which you do not need and plastic bags that you bring back home.
- FSC paper
All paper products should have FSC (or PEFC) mark on them. This mark means paper was obtained from sustainable sources, and can be found on napkins, baking paper, paper food packaging, paper bags, etc.
- Household chemicals without sign for danger
In our stores there is a large selection of household chemicals with a lot of products that do not contain any signs of danger, so it is not difficult to find quality products without these signs, whose prices do not differ much from products that are dangerous.
- Don’t forget the small crafts
A lot of clothes and shoes end up in a remote part of the closet because it no longer suits us, and we go shopping again. We suggest that you review all the remote corners of the wardrobe before buying, take out the wardrobe and think about what the tailor could fix for you. In this way, you will reduce waste production, save and support small businesses. This also applies to the shoemaker, in addition to replacing the stains, the shoemaker can also repair cracked hairpins, zippers and straps on the shoes.
- Electronic services
Everything is not for the garbage, don’t forget to call the electronics service before disposing any device. Repairing phones, TVs, and other home appliances can often be cheaper than buying new ones.
- Avoid impulsive shopping
People sometimes buy things they don’t need just because it’s a special offer or a discount and these things most often end up as waste. When you want to buy something on sale, think and differentiate between “do I need this?” and “do I want this?”
- Family packaging – less waste
Buy family food packages whenever possible. These packages are cheaper per unit of measure and have less packaging than standard packages
- Donate or recycle old wardrobe
Few examples from the Balkan region: Green Fest page in Serbia where you can find a map of organizations which accepts donated wardrobe, humanitarian organization Pomozi.ba from Sarajevo and Mozaik prijateljstva from Banja Luka which take clothes donation in B&H, initiative in Tirana, Albania called Clothes through solidarity and many more.
- Less plastic
We can do without: plastic cutlery, plastic bags with every purchase, plastic plates for storing food.
However, it is impossible to completely ban plastic out of use, but we can buy wisely. Avoid plastics with recycling label 3 because they can often contain plasticizers such as phthalates that are harmful to human health and the environment
- Use Scan4Chem application
With Scan4Chem you can scan the product barcode and send a request to the manufacturer for information about presence of hazardous chemicals in the product. Every manufacturer is LEGALLY OBLIGATED to ANSWER ANY CUSTOMER to this question.
The aim of the application is to put pressure on manufacturers and to indicate to them that consumers are aware of the existence of dangerous chemicals in the products, even when they are not stated on the declaration. In this way, consumers have a chance to get information and make informed choices when shopping. This will further lead companies to make efforts to eliminate these chemicals from their products.
Do not buy products for which you do not receive an answer, or the manufacturer confirms that it contains harmful substances.
You can download the app here: ANDROID and APPLE
- Choose LED
Although the price of LED bulbs is higher than the price of an ordinary light bulb, all calculations show that you will save by buying a LED bulb. How? LED bulbs last much longer than ordinary ones, and consume much less energy. Namely, ordinary light bulbs release a significant amount of heat. Their efficiency is less than 30% because over 70% of the energy consumed goes to the thermal energy they emit during operation. Some calculations show that using LED lights saves up to 6x more energy per illumination – and thus reduces your bill as well as environmental pollution caused by energy production.
Text source (on BHS language): http://alhem.rs/10-eco-friendly-saveta-za-kupovinu/
The original text was made by ALHem organisation from Belgrade which works on safer chemical alternatives. For more information follow their Facebook page.