If you have been following along with these posts, then each month I am trying to do something new to help protect and preserve our world/environment. Obviously these 2 months have been a strange time with COVID-19 pandemic.
March, I tried our my local supermarkets environmentally friendly cleaning product. I used the Eco Active toilet cleaner, Eco active bathroom and Eco Active kitchen cleaners. What makes them more friendly is they are made from plant based ingredients. The bottles are made from 45% recycled plastic and are 100% recyclable. The ingredients are biodegradable. It has been awarded the Ecolabel.
The toilet cleaner was not as bright but smells nice. It is long lasting but not as effective as keeping limescale at bay. I would need to use something on top of this or find another product that can do both. I will use up the rest of the bottle but won't re-buy.
The kitchen and bathroom cleaner both smell great, grapefruit and sea minerals. They are price comparable so I'm happy to make the switch over to these permanently. The only downside is they are not always in stock.
April, with reduced bin collections has led to a lot more recycling and sensible shopping as items have not been so freely available. We have bought products that need to be terra cycled but we do not have a terra recycling point near us, which means unfortunately it needs to go in the waste bin. Buying larger quantities means buying less plastic bottles so buying in bulk has saved too.
We also have decluttered the home and have some bags to donate to the charity shops when they re-open. Its all piled up in the cupboard ready to go.
We have barely used the car, so we have saved on emissions, petrol and even saved on car washing. We SORNed one of our cars for this time as husband is not travelling for work - this has saved money and emissions too.
Unfortunately due to shopping restrictions we have had to use more plastic bags. We do try to re-use these around the home and for shopping but it is a lot of plastic that's entered our home. We get our shopping delivered, which means it is packed in bags. If we go to the shops, we take our own.
The impact of COVID-19 has had on the environment has been really positive. It's lovely not to have so much traffic around and to hear the wildlife. It is great how air pollution has improved. It has made me think about using the car less and travelling in the UK for holidays. It has made me think more about our carbon footprint. A big lifestytle change has had a big impact on the benefit to our world but I feel it will be short lived. When we can go out and our normal returns, when we're back to our daily grind, how much of this change will remain? The change haos not happened through choice but due to ta virus maybe the positive impact on the environment will impact people's choices going forward, knowing it makes a difference.
I do believe, as Christians we are called to be good stewards of what God has given us, He has given us this planet and looking after it is an important job.