The trend of taking up environmental responsibility is fast catching on around the world, be it in homes, educational institutes, corporate houses, and government offices.
While it can be overwhelming to switch to green products that can help reduce waste, conserve energy, and improve air and water quality, it is not beyond the bounds of possibility.
Whenever one talks about environment-friendly alternatives, the general perception is that it is an expensive affair. But what if we tell you that you can go green and be cost-efficient about it?
It’s time you stopped feeling guilty or making excuses for not switching over to green products. Following ten eco-alternatives can transform your home into a sustainable place without burning a hole in your pocket.
Use These 10 Solutions To Turn Your Home Into an Eco-Friendly Space for Less Than Rs. 1,000!
1) Bamboo Toothbrush
- Start Your Day The Green Way
- Ditch plastic toothbrush for an eco-friendly one
Doctors recommend that you change your toothbrush every three months. Assuming that the entire Indian urban populace (more than 400 million people according to TERI) discards toothbrush for four times in a year, a whopping 1600 million plastic brushes are added to the landfills every year.
If this figure is alarming, then switch to biodegradable alternatives. Bamboo toothbrushes are sustainable, and when discarded, they easily biodegrade, unlike plastic. Bamboo toothbrushes generally come with a compostable brush handle that looks appealing and is all-natural.
The bristles are infused with charcoal as it binds bacteria and keeps teeth clean.
You can get a bamboo toothbrush at only Rs 100
2) Manage Kitchen Waste
- Composting helps process kitchen waste
More than 60% percent of the waste in the landfill is biodegradable which means that it could have been processed instead of ending up in the landfills thus avoiding overflowing of garbage dumps at Deonar in Mumbai and Ghazipur in Delhi.
If you are wondering how your actions can help, then all you have to do is to stop giving your kitchen waste to municipal workers and start treating it yourself.
You can procure a cost-friendly and hassle-free composter at home. Look for a composter that occupies less space and isn’t time-consuming. All you have to do is deposit the kitchen waste like vegetable, tea bags, fruits, etc. in the unit and follow the process mentioned.
Composting at home will also give you manure that you can use in gardening.
You can opt for a light-weight and odourless composter here that will convert your kitchen waste into rich-nutrient manure in just 4-6 weeks.
3) Give an Eco-friendly Twist To House Cleaning
- Cleaning agents might be harmful to health
According to a report by Norway’s Bergen University mentioned in a BBC article, inhaling chemical-laced cleaning agents is worse than smoking 20 cigarettes a day. Experts have said inhaling cleaning chemicals can damage the airways and speed up the decline of our lungs.
Conscious about your family’s health? Natural cleaning agents are safe, non-toxic and biodegradable.
From natural floor cleaners to toilet cleaners, you can go for greener and healthier options here.
4) Why Cloth Bags Are Necessary
- Ditch plastic bags
It is 2050 and 12 billion tonnes of plastic litter is present in landfills around the world, and 99 per cent of the sea-birds have ingested plastic. Sounds like a doomed plastic-full future, doesn’t it?
According to a United Nations report, 10 million plastic bags are consumed per minute worldwide. If tied together, these discarded plastic bags are enough to wrap around the earth seven times.
Refusing a plastic bag is the easiest step you can take towards a safe environment. Make a conscious effort to carry a cloth bag every time you step out for shopping. Foldable bags do not occupy space and are lightweight. To make the job easier for you, there are reusable cloth bags available that have convenient compartments for easy shopping and storage.
You can purchase a durable and sturdy cloth bag with six in-built pockets for an eco-conscious shopping here.
5) Make Your Red Days Greener
- Switch to menstrual cups.
Five days in every menstruating women’s life are painful. To add to that, not everyone is comfortable with the conventional sanitary napkins available. Redness, rashes, and itchiness caused due to pads made from plastic affect both, personal health and environment.
One sanitary pad takes up to 800 years to decompose, and the current disposal methods are dangerous. The regular practice is to wrap it in a newspaper and discard it in the garbage dumps. These pads also end up reaching our water bodies and clog the drains when flushed in the toilet, something that one should definitely refrain from doing. The disposal method also affects the health of a sanitation worker who has to handle the waste pads.
You can eliminate all these problems in one go by switching to eco-friendly options like menstrual cups. One menstrual cup can be used for at least ten years. This means saving the environment and your money.