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Tips For
Shopping Greener
by Nick Vassilev
There are many ways to start shopping greener.
* No more plastic bags - or at least use fewer. Use your own reusable bags
for carrying your shopping. Admittedly, the plastic shopping bags are useful for
wrapping nasty rubbish, so maybe you can still have a few for this purpose. Or
reuse the ones you have stashed away somewhere (or that you see blowing in the
wind). If you haven't got around to getting reusable carry bags, (a) get around
to it immediately with no more excuses (b) recycle any plastic bags you get
given, (c) opt for paper bags or cardboard boxes if you have the option.
* If you only need a few things and the shops aren't that far away, then
walk or bike. Take a back-pack to carry your odds and ends if you bike! If you
walk and have a child in a pram or pushchair, you will discover that pushchairs
have quite a bit of carrying capacity.
* Alternatively, only shop once a week rather than just popping down to the
shops whenever you run out of loo paper or coffee. This will require planning
and writing a shopping list. Shopping once a week is also good financial sense.
It is only human to succumb to temptation and throw in a few extras, so shopping
once a week reduces the occurrence of this to once a week.
* Buy in bulk. This means that you have less packaging to deal with. And
it's usually cheaper. This doesn't always mean buying the king-sized packs.
Sometimes, visiting the bulk-buy bins is all that's needed (sneaky tip - save
and reuse ziplock bags each time you visit, if you can!). You can also club
together with other people vegetable co-op style to bulk buy staples like salt
and flour at wholesale prices from the factory.
* Don't nip from supermarket to supermarket to get the specials from each
one, as this means you're using more petrol per shopping trip. Do your homework
and find the one that offers the lowest all-round prices. However, you will have
to balance this against distance travelled - no point travelling for an hour
just because the carrots are 50p cheaper per kilo at Supermarket X.
* Buy things in recyclable containers where possible. Tins are recyclable,
and so are containers made from more robust plastic (e.g. ice cream containers,
PET bottles, yoghurt bottles). And buy things with as little packaging as
possible to reduce waste. Excess and unnecessary packaging shoved on by the
store is one of the biggest nuisances of modern supermarkets. Resist the
temptation to return all the unwanted packaging to the store, even if it gets
you mad... hang on a minute; that sounds like a good option for a protest
campaign!
* Buy locally grown produce that's in season. This, like many other of the
green shopping tips, is also cheaper.
* Put your money where your mouth is, as much as possible, when it comes to
issues like free-range vs. cage eggs, or free-range vs. battery farmed pork.
Nick Vassilev is the founder of Anyclean, a successful cleaning
company based in London, UK. His extensive knowledge about the cleaning industry
helps him provide excellent cleaning
services London and increased value for money to his clients. |
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