Tip Level: Intermediate

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Eat more vegetables

Introduction

What we eat makes an enormous difference to our carbon footprint but if we all followed the recommendations of the government’s Eatwell Guide we’d each have a much lower environmental impact and be healthier!

Why


According to a study by Oxford University, food production accounts for a quarter of all greenhouse gases and meat and other animal products are responsible for 58% of those, despite providing only a fifth of the calories we eat and drink. Eating less meat – especially beef and lamb – is one of the most effective ways to reduce numerous environmental impacts, including:

  • Deforestation to clear land for cattle grazing
  • Methane production by ruminants
  • Biodiversity impacts of large-scale monoculture to provide animal feed

Eating more plants and less meat is good for your health. Processed and red meat is linked to heart disease, bowel cancer and other illnesses.

How?

If you don’t want to cut out meat entirely, try having one or two meat-free days each week. With the money you save, you could spend a little more on better quality local meat and dairy products which won’t be contributing to biodiversity loss in places like the Amazon rainforest.

Many shops now stock a wide range of plant-based milk alternatives. Oat milk is widely considered to have the lowest environmental impact.

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Fly less

Introduction

Even if you take other measures to reduce your carbon emissions, a single flight can wipe out those savings.

Why


Until it was interrupted by COVID-19, aviation was the fastest-growing contributor to carbon dioxide emissions globally. Although aviation currently makes up less than 5% of global emissions, this is because most people on the planet have never been on a plane; these same people will be hit first and hardest by climate breakdown.

For those who can afford it, flying can make up the single largest part of their carbon footprint. And having been grounded for a few months, maybe it will be easier to break the habit.

How?

If you used to fly for pleasure, why not try holidaying in the UK? Or take a trip by train or ferry – both of which have substantially lower footprints than a flight. The Man in Seat 61 is a great source of inspiration for holidays by rail.

If your air travel was mainly for business, videoconferencing and other online meeting technologies are now well-adopted – even if some international meetings still need to be held face to face.

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Eco-driving

Introduction

For the times when you really must use your car, there are ways to make your journey more sustainable.

Why


The UK’s Driving Standards Agency has proved that better driving habits can reduce fuel consumption by over 8% – and that’s an 8% saving on fuel costs as well as carbon emissions.

How?

There are some simple tips that can help you improve fuel efficiency, for example remove any roof racks, don’t keep stuff you don’t need in your boot and keep your tyres at the correct pressure. Drive smoothly and gently, avoiding hard braking or acceleration and stick to the speed limits. For more information, check out this useful guide from the AA.

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Home Composting

Introduction

Food waste can produce valuable nutrients that will benefit your garden plants and the microorganisms in the soil. Why send your food waste away and then buy in fertiliser or compost?

Why


Research has found that almost half of the food waste in the average general waste bin could have been composted. Home composting avoids the transport impacts associated with kerb-side food-waste recycling, while still ensuring that the nutrients it contains are returned to the soil. For a gardener, food waste:

    • Saves money
    • Improves your soil
    • Turns a waste product into a valuable resource

“Composting at home can save global warming gases equivalent to all the carbon dioxide emissions your kettle produces annually.”

Compost is a nutrient-rich food product for your garden and will help improve soil structure, maintain moisture levels, and keep your soil’s pH balance in check while helping to suppress plant disease. It will have everything your plants need including nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium and it will help buffer soils that are very acidic or alkaline.

How?

You can make your own compost bin and there are plenty of guides on the internet, but an open compost container is likely to attract vermin and so a manufactured bin may be preferable. These should be placed on open soil so that worms and other creatures can get in. All your peelings and raw vegetable waste can go in, ideally in a 50:50 mix with garden waste. No animal products or cooked food should be added. It will take about 9-12 months for the compost at the bottom of the bin to turn into a crumbly, dark material, with an earthy, fresh aroma; most bins have a lower hatch for easy access.

Re3 offers a range of compost bins for Reading residents here:

https://getcomposting.com/en-gb/composters/

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Food waste fermentation

Introduction

Many people eat sour fermented foods such as yoghurt, salami and sauerkraut; cattle eat silage. These foods are soured and preserved by an acid made by the fermenting bacteria. Food waste preserved this way is eagerly devoured by the myriad creatures that live in soil.

Why


When fermented food waste is consumed by soil-living organisms they release and transform its nutrients into the form that plants need. Just as important, they live, multiply, eat one another and die, and their excretions and dead bodies add to “soil organic matter”. Their activities also improve soil texture for plant roots to grow. All this makes soil richer in carbon and more fertile.

When acidic fermentation is applied to food waste it is often known by a Japanese name: Bokashi. The fermentation bins used for the process are therefore often known as Bokashi Bins. Acidic fermentation accepts almost every kind of food waste, including cooked leftovers; the exception is large bones.

How?

Household fermentation happens in an airtight bin, which replaces your food waste bin and is kept indoors. You need two bins in practice, one being filled while the other finishes the previous batch. It needs the addition of specialist microorganisms, usually supplied in dried bran flakes.

As with all home waste processing activity, you’ll need to establish a routine based on how much waste you generate. It’s best to collect scraps in a kitchen caddy so that you aren’t letting air into the fermenting bin too often. As you go on you’ll improve your skills and knowledge; things like cutting up waste to avoid air pockets, how often to drain liquid from the bin, and so on.

When the bin is full, dig a small trench in the soil, tip the waste into it, mix it in, and cover it up with the removed soil. In a few weeks the waste will have “disappeared”, consumed by the complex ecosystem that inhabits soil. You may well discover a ball of worms vying for what remains: in effect you have made an in-soil wormery with native species.

The liquid released during fermentation is collected from a tap on the bin and can be diluted and used as a soil additive.

Re3 offers a Bokashi bin starter kit for Reading residents:

https://getcomposting.com/en-gb/blackwall-twin-pack-bokashi-bin-kcomslv2

See our Guide – Options-for-Creating-Soil-Food-at-home

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Worm Bins

Introduction

This is a simple process to convert vegetable waste into compost and liquid fertiliser. Worms eat the waste vegetables and their excretions form the compost and fertiliser.

Why


Worm bins make compost that is rich in nitrogen and potassium. Add it to the garden as a soil conditioner or make it part of a home potting medium. The liquid fertiliser needs to be diluted 1:10 with water and can then be sprayed over the soil in the garden or used as a foliar feed.

How?

There are DIY worm bin options on the web to build yourself. Make sure that there are drainage holes and ventilation holes in the construction. Alternatively, it’s possible to buy a system online for about £50, including the worms. You’ll receive a four stage container on legs with a bottom sump and tap to drain off liquid fertiliser, two layers of worm housing for the bedding and food scraps and a ventilated lid. In addition, you get a packet of bedding and a voucher for a packet of worms that you mail off as soon as you have set up the worm bin and are ready to start.

The worm bin should be located in a shady place, sheltered from heavy rain and close enough to the kitchen to visit frequently, before kitchen waste starts to rot in the caddy

The worm bin can take fruit and vegetable waste, cooked or uncooked, bread, egg shells, tea leaves, coffee grounds. Worms are vegetarian so no meat, fish or dairy. Shredded non-glossy paper can also go in as bedding plus moss, dead leaves or leafmould. The worms live in this and consume it so that it needs replacement.

Re3 offers a range of worm bins for Reading residents here:
https://getcomposting.com/en-gb/wormeries/