We can all make little changes in how we live that can help make a difference to the environment. Every choice that we make has an impact on the planet - good or bad. The good news is that you have the power to control most of your choices and so we can change the impact we make: from what you buy, eat, recycling and energy use, simple small steps can have an impact. We here at live it well have some hints, tips and suggestions to help you to begin to Care!

• Recycling your waste
• Reducing your Food Waste
• Save Water
• Reduce your Energy Use
• Reduce Pollution at home and in your community
• How to make your Gardens Greener and attract Wildlife
• Where to volunteer to help the Environment
• Calculate your Carbon Footprint

Recycling

Recycling is easy, it reduces waste; and helps protect the environment by saving energy, reducing pollution, cutting costs and preserving our natural resources. Unwanted or leftover food such as tea bags and potato peelings can be added straight to a compost heap, see how to make your garden greener. Here are some other suggestions on how you can recycle:

1. Recycle your unwanted items on Freecycle or go to the following link uk.freecycle.org. Freecycle have over 500 groups across the UK and they match people who want to get rid of items with people who can use them. Find your local group and recycle anything by going to their website by clicking here.
2. If you’re unsure what or where you can recycle what you dont need, go to Recycle Now or go to the following link: www.recyclenow.com and enter your details, and remember you can recycle mobile phones, printer cartridges, shoes, clothes as well as paper, tins and glass.
3. Save Trees: Print double-sided and use unwanted paper as scrap. Paper with a clean side can be made into notepads with a simple staple or a hole to tie a piece of string through it. These pads are great for doodles and notes, and remember if you are buying paper, buy recycled paper.
4. Get a “bag for life” and put it by the front door/in the car, ready for when you go shopping. Bags for life are an environmentally friendly alternative to plastic carrier bags. If plastic bags end up in landfill they will stay there for hundreds of years! If you do have any plastic carrier bags they can be recycled at plastic bag banks at most large supermarkets. Alternatively you could reuse them as another bag for life.
5. Buy quality items that last, repair broken items rather than throwing them away
6. Unwanted Clothes: Give any unwanted clothes to charity shops or to a Salvation Army recycling bank. A lot of our unwanted clothes go to the homeless to keep them warm or alternatively, the clothes are sent to developing countries. There’s always someone who will want that knitted jumper!

If you have any more suggestions or tips you want to share about recycling contact Live It Well by clicking here or go to our facebook page and share your ideas by clicking here.

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Food & Food waste

Not only can eating better make us healthier but by thinking about how we use our food and where it comes from we can also have a positive impact on the environment too.

1. Reduce your Food Mileage: Eat in season fruit and vegetables. This means that you reduce emission costs and the carbon footprint of food. Look for the little Red Tractor on products in your supermarket, The Red Tractor logo on pack means your food or drink has met these responsible production standards and is fully traceable back to independently inspected farms in the UK. Find out what food is in season now go to Eat Seasonably or go to the website here eatseasonably.co.uk
2. Have a Meat Free Monday try to have at least one meat free day per week. Why? Eating more vegetables is not only great for your health but also good for the planet too! UN’s top climate scientist Rajendra Pachauri states that “People should consider eating less meat as a way of combating global warming. UN figures suggest that meat production puts more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than transport.” For ways to go meat free for a day a week and to find out moreclick here or go to the following link: www.meatfreemondays.co.uk
3. Reduce your Food Waste - don’t buy and cook and more than you need, and use up leftovers. When you throw away food you are not just wasting the food, but also the resources such as energy, fuel, time and water that went into growing, harvesting, storing, transporting and cooking the food. Then it produces methane if buried in landfill sites. Love Food Hate Waste have some great suggestions as to how you can use your leftovers or how to store your food so it lasts longer. You can also do their online test to find how good you are at saving or wasting your food. go to the england.lovefoodhatewaste.com website to find out more

If you have any more suggestions or tips you want to share about eating well or reducing food waste tips contact Live It Well by clicking here or go to our facebook page and share your ideas by clicking here.

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Save Water

Saving water will not only help the environment but it will help save you money by reducing the cost of your water bills. Small changes to how you use water can make a lot of difference.

1. Take showers rather than baths, a five-minute regular shower uses over 60% less water than a bath. However, a power shower can use more water than a bath in less than five minutes. So, consider using whichever is most efficient based on what is available.
2. Wait for full loads - half load settings on washing machines and dishwashers don’t necessarily use half the amount of water and energy as a full load. In fact, frequently they use more than half. So, save water, energy and money by simply washing full loads only.
3. Turn off the tap - leaving water running while you brush your teeth, shave or wash your hands can waste up to 5 litres of water a minute. So consume less by turning on the taps right when you need water.
4. Use laundry balls - using laundry balls saves water and electricity by shortening the rinse cycle of a washing machine. If everyone in the Britain switched to laundry balls we could save 300,000 tonnes of detergent from entering Britain’s waterways.
5. Fill your cistern - by placing a brick, a lemonade of cola bottle filled with water or a simple device such as a ‘Hippo’ in your cistern, you reduce the amount of water required for flushing, saving up to three litres of water with every flush. If you are a South East Water customer you can request a free water saving device by going to the South East Water Website by clicking here or going to the following link: www.southeastwater.co.uk/contact-us/request-a-water-saving-device.
6. Replace washers - dripping taps can waste up to four litres of water each day. By replacing worn tap washers you can avoid this unnecessary waste and save money on your water bill as well!

If you have any more suggestions or tips you want to share about saving water contact Live It Well by clicking here or go to our facebook page and share your ideas by clicking here.

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Energy

Saving energy will not only help the environment but it will help save you money by reducing the cost of your energy bills, - here are some simple ways to make a big difference:

1. Switch off phone chargers when you are not using them.
2. Buy low energy light bulbs
3. Turn down the thermostat (even by a single degree), turn off the radiators in the hallway and wear more layers. The Energy Saving Trust website contains more tips and hints click here to find out more.
4. On or Off? Leaving televisions, stereos and computers on standby with the little red light showing still uses up electricity, even though they might look like they’re turned off. To stop this turn them off at the wall.
5. Lights out! Turning lights off when you’re not in the room (make sure no-one else is too!) can save a lot of energy.
6. Putting the kettle on Britons drink an amazing 60.2 billion cups of tea a day according to The Tea Council. That’s a lot of tea, and a lot of electricity too! That’s why it’s important to only boil as much water as you need in your kettle. It’s best to boil enough water for one cup, not three or five - plus you won’t have to wait as long for the kettle to boil!
7. Shopping: Many products are now helping you to reduce your energy use and your parents’ energy bills! Check new products for their efficiency grade and rating and keep an eye out for the Energy Efficiency Recommended logo.

The Energy Saving Trust have a lot of hints or tips about how to save more energy, to go to their website click here or go to the following link: www.energysavingtrust.org.uk

If you have any more suggestions or tips you want to share about saving energy contact Live It Well by clicking here or go to our facebook page and share your ideas by clicking here.

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Pollution

We have some simple steps and ways to make your community cleaner and greener and your home contain less harmful chemicals

1. Don’t drop litter: Birds and animals can mistake litter for food. Litter can end up in rivers and block drains, or in the sea and be eaten by fish. Also, some litter will stay around for thousands of years!
2. Save it! All of the electricity saving tips in the above section will also help reduce pollution.
3. On your bike Instead of taking the car get your bicycle out or take the ‘shoelace express’ - also known as walking.
4. Pleasing products: Many household cleaning products contain harmful chemicals which are washed down the drain. Buy eco-friendly products or even make your own from natural substances like vinegar and lemon juice. Friends of the Earth have some simple recipes for cleaning products which you can find by clicking here or you can see Readers Digest cleaning product recipes by clicking here.

If you have any more suggestions or tips you want to share about reducing pollution in your home and community contact Live It Well by clicking here or go to our facebook page and share your ideas by clicking here.

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Gardens and Wildlife

You don’t have to have a big garden to go greener; you could start composting, growing your own vegetables, or encouraging more wildlife. Even if you have no garden at all you can still grow herbs and tomatoes in window boxes or pots on a balcony.

1. Compost your food waste: Composting transforms your kitchen and garden waste into nutrient rich food to put back into your soil. Composting for just one year can save global warming gases equivalent to all the CO2 your kettle produces annual or your washing machine produces in three months. To find out more about composting and how to get started go to the Recycle Now website by going to the following link: www.recyclenow.com/home_composting
2. Grow your own vegetables: Why not reduce your foods carbon footprint by growing your own vegetables, its not only a way to get fresh product its something that you can involve children in too. which have an online guide to growing your own vegetables click here to find out more, or the BBC have some hints and tips of how to get started in the veg patch click here to find out more.
3. Make your garden or outside space wildlife friendly. No matter how big or small your outside space, everyone can make a difference and create a home for nature. The RSPB are offering a free guide about how you can make your outside space wildlife friendly to find out more click here or to go to the RSPB Website by following the link: http://homes.rspb.org.uk/

If you have any more suggestions or tips you want to share about making your garden greener contact Live It Well by clicking here or go to our facebook page and share your ideas by clicking here.

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Volunteer in the Environment

Why not volunteer to join a group that helps out the environment, its a great way of enjoying the outdoors, meeting people and connecting with the community and being active.

There are lots of Countryside Management Partnerships based all over Kent and Medway. These community based projects have different ways of getting you in touch with nature and are a great way of getting all of your Six Ways to Wellbeing in one activity. Follow the Countryside Management Partnerships link to go to the website.

Join a Green Gym - help the environment and get active, click here to find out more.

If you have any more suggestions or tips you want to share about volunteering for environmental projects locally contact Live It Well by clicking here or go to our facebook page and share your ideas by clicking here.

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Find out Your Carbon Footprint

Finding out how big your carbon footprint is is simple to do answer questions about your home, appliances and travel, get your results and find out hints and tips for reducing your footprint. Click here to go to the carbon calculator or go to the following link: www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx

Live It Well want to hear from you if you have any suggestions or hints or tips on how to Care: Planet contact Live It Well by clicking here or go to our facebook page and share your ideas by clicking here.

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