Skip to content
Every single person has the power to change the world. It just depends on how much you care. Living sustainably is the sum of many small actions from a great number of people. We've shortlisted 100 ways to make your life more environmentally friendly.
Give your old furniture a new home and avoid unnecessary waste. Find a charity willing to accept your old furniture or homewares. Choose from Vinnies, Salvation Army, Fred Hollows or others. If you need the cash, find an online marketplace to list your items. The main goal here is to extend the productive life of your furniture.
Before making a purchase, read up on the company you are buying from. Do they have a worthy mission and reason for existing or are they 100% focused on profit? In today's world, customers have high expectations on the companies they use. Rightly so! You should support companies that align with your personal values and with a honourable cause.
Quick mental check: is your coffee table full of magazines that you don't even read? Do yourself a favour and opt out from these subscriptions. If you feel you can't, consider opting out of physical subscriptions and going 100% digital.
They can save up to 50% on your energy usage. This means more money in your back pocket and reduced carbon emissions. Neat. Check out the Energy Star website for more information on this. Specifically, we recommend switching incandescent light bulbs for more economical bulbs which can save up to 75% electricity.
Open your windows (and doors) if it's hot. This will help create natural and cooling air flow into your house. If it's freezing cold, keep them shut. This will help regulate the temperature of your house without needing to artificially control it with energy sapping air conditioning.
But if you have to use AC, combine usage with ceiling fans to circulate the air from your AC throughout the house more efficiently. This will allow you to lower the fan speed on the AC itself and rely more on the more energy efficient ceiling fan.
Insulation keeps the air in your home from escaping through walls and ceilings. Making sure its optimised will have a huge impact on energy costs all year long. Seal the ducts around vents and registers as it is not uncommon to lose 20% of cooled air through here.
Home electronics such as TVs, cable boxes, Blu-Ray players, speakers, consoles and so on use energy even when they’re turned off. Consider unplugging items that won’t be used regularly or get a power strip with switches to save even more energy.
There are government subsidies available for installation of solar panels which can offset your upfront costs. Tap into savings in the long run plus take an important step to becoming a green household.
Peel back curtains and let natural light in where you can to avoid use of electrical lights.
And learn how to dispose of used batteries.
1.5 billion plastic lighters end up in landfill every year. Switch to matches which you can compost after use.
Coconut oil can be used for moisturising, shaving, cooking, makeup removal and more. So it's kind of a household superhero.
Vote for climate change policies. Read and understand what your local government is investing in regarding green initiatives and get involved. There is an environmental and societal cost to not acting. Be the change you want to see in the world. Lol so cliché but it's true.
Not all foods are created equal. It’s more taxing on the environment to eat a lot of meat for example. Specifically, cows command 10x more resources than chickens to farm. Try going vegetarian a few meals a week or substitute beef for chicken more often. Ditch processed food while you’re at it. Organic is a bit more costly but it supports green organisations and it's better for you.
Reading is great and a core building block of knowledge. But all the printing of paper required to create a book is unsustainable. Swap to digital versions instead. If you are into reading hard copies, try borrowing from your local library or buy second hand.
They say you’re the sum of the closest 5 people in your life. This impacts you in ways you may not have ever considered. Surround yourself with positive and ambitious people. Great things will follow!
Every day. Exercise and meditation are an amazing combination for your general wellbeing and positivity.
Get involved with forest preservation and green movements like Plastic Free July and Clean Up Australia. The community is what holds together our societies across our great country. Give a helping hand. Leave the planet in a better state than when you arrived.
Decline all paper/plastic straws from venues while you're out and about. Use eco-friendly alternatives like bamboo, metal and glass instead.
Nuff said.
Wowee letterboxes sure do fill up quick with crap. Banish all junk mail by installing a "No junk mail" sign on your letterbox. The trees will thank you.
Materialism is at an all time high in today's society. One of the ways you can cut back on unnecessary consumerism is to gift experiences rather than objects. We reckon a nice balance in the middle is gifting a plant.
Grocers and retailers will often provide single use plastic bags which is a big no bueno. Do yourself a favour and invest in reusable canvas shopping bags.
Speaking of groceries...buy them online and in bulk to avoid overdriving.
Always shoot for second hand purchases as it will extend the lifetime of these products. Big ticks for purchasing local/ethically created products.
They're reusable. They're stylish. And you're not churning through plastic bottles dozens of times a year. Plastic bottles are a big nope from us. Try a bamboo water bottle.
The average person gets through 3 coffees a day. Most single-use coffee cups are lined with a fine film of polyethylene, which makes the cups liquid-proof but also difficult and expensive to reprocess. This ultimately means they end up in the trash, contributing massively to pollution each year. You should invest once in a reusable coffee cup and eliminate this unsustainable practice from your life.
Take the Footprint Calculator to analyse your eco footprint and learn how you can improve. This tool is seriously awesome and gives you revealing insights as to how you compare to the average person on carbon consumption.
Immersing yourself in local culture is epic. You get to experience authenticity at its best. Topping it off, eating and drinking local means you're supporting local commerce and not food and drink that has travelled from far away destinations. Even better if those establishments use reusable straws such as bamboo straws!
Easy one. You get to see and experience more of the city AND you are being more sustainable by avoiding car rentals or ride sharing.
Somewhat expanding on the previous tip but make sure you travel between cities on trains and buses. It's much more friendly on the environment compared to air and car travel.
If you go hiking, it’s best to do so with a local guide who can help you understand the local ecosystem. If you do go alone, always stick to marked trails to avoid harming native flora. Consider taking a bag along to pick up trash you see along your journey. We also recommend taking resuable bamboo cutlery set so that you don't have to use any disposables.
Most airlines offer carbon offsets before you purchase a flight somewhere. They don't cost too much and mean you'll be supporting green initiatives to offset carbon emissions produced from flying. You can read more about this on Climate Active.
I mean you don't wash your bed sheets daily at home. Come on. Why do so many of us let hotel staff wash sheet and towels plus vacuum the floors on the daily? This is a waste of electricity and cleaning supplies. Use the “Do not disturb” sign on the door of your hotel so housekeeping staff won’t clean your room every day.
And always take any unused toiletries home for later use. Hotel staff will toss these.
Hotels typically wash each guest’s clothes separately, regardless of how many items are involved. This wastes a whole bunch of water. If you are compelled to do this, at least give them a full load so the whole machine is used.
Vote with your feet by supporting ethically produced local goods and services. All over the world, you'll find dodgy salesman selling mass produced Chinese products that imitate being local. Or worse, agents selling items made from unsustainable hardwoods or endangered species. Avoid these guys at all costs and buy smarter. Plus it's always good to embrace local cultures.
These providers tap into alternative energy sources and optimise management of water and waste. Hotel staff tend to be local and the kitchen produce is no different.
Tip: Look for certifications from Eco Tourism Australia, Green Globe, Rainforest Alliance, and/or the Global Sustainable Tourism Council to ensure that they follow best practice for sustainability.
There's a few tourist favourites which ultimately end up supporting and funding unethical treatment of animals. Allow us to elaborate. Riding elephants is never OK. It’s actually incredibly bad for their bodies. These gracious creatures are put through the phajaan, a brutal training regime designed to be violent and spirit crushing. Another few examples. Despite popularity of bullfighting in Spain, bear-baiting in Pakistan, and cockfighting in parts of Latin America, all these events represent unethical treatment of animals. If you want to witness nature, go do so in its raw form via a safari or forest hike and so on.
Your tour operator should be responsible for the group during dives. Tell tale signs of unethical tour guides include those who allow divers to touch or stand on coral, chum the waters to attract fish and offer no insight as to local marine conservation efforts.
Ivory is the obvious one here. It's made from the tusks of elephants, walruses, hippos and narwhal. It's illegal to buy or sell ivory, and doing so means you are directly contributing to the death of one of these increasingly endangered animals. This eco-friendly tip extends to any product made from the exploitation of animals.
It's no secret that paper is made from trees yet office printing is still prominent (albeit declining) in Australia. Every minute,100 acres of rainforest is cleared worldwide. ANU research shows that the logging each hectare of the giant Eucalyptus regnans forests in Tasmania and Victoria releases over 1,000 tonnes of greenhouse pollution. You can play a small part in reducing the appetite for paper by reducing or stopping printing at your office.
Tip: For the printing paper that you do have in the office, check the back of the box or with your employer if it is recycled.
If you can work from home, you’ll reduce your carbon footprint (and save money!) through less transport.
Buckle up with your work colleagues on the way in. It's more economical plus you can build better working relationships. Catch public transport if you don't want to carpool.
Another simple tip to reduce time in-transit. Zoom, Google and Microsoft Teams are all great options for online meetings.
Challenge your team and employer to consider environmental impact of business operations. Make suggestions and offer support.
75-90% of energy is dedicated to heating up your washer without significant improvements to the quality of wash. Switch to cold water and save. It's better for silks and delicates anyway!
Another energy saving tip. Hang out your clothing on a washing line or in direct sunlight.
Air-fresheners tend to pollute the air. You can seek out sustainably sourced essential oils as a natural alternative.
If you're painting a bedroom, consider what paint type you use. Most contain harmful VOC’s or volatile organic compounds. By choosing a low-VOC or VOC free paint, you’re helping the planet
Similar to point 23, we know. It's worth saying though! Instead of buying new, check our online marketplaces for hidden gems. Touch up any purchases with paint or by applying a light sanding and voilà, you have successfully recycled furniture.
Apparently we spend 33 years of our lives sleeping. Woah, that’s a lot! May as well do it in eco-friendly bamboo bed linen or other materials such as hemp or organic cotton. Your mattress topper and mattress protectors can also pass the sustainability test if you choose the right materials (bamboo and other organic/recyclable materials).
Tip: Learn exactly what is a mattress topper or how often should you wash your sheets in our recent journal entries.
They use 75 percent less electricity! Less electricity means less carbon emissions. You know the drill.
House plants purify the air and also look unreal.
As an example, you can simultaneously prepare boiling water with pasta while steaming vegetables above.
Disposables suck. Do this please.
Lemon juice can clean most stains off benchtops and the like. Leave it for a few minutes before wiping clean. Liquid gold!
When not used for composting, coffee grounds make for a great pest repellent. Coffee grounds can also be used to clean food remnants off pots and pants when mixed with warm water.
Opening the door prolongs cooking time and wastes valuable energy.
Dishwashers take as much as 22 litres per cycle so no need to waste all that H20. Wash by hand if you desperately need a kitchen item cleaned.
Scrape food wastage into a bin with a reusable cloth or sponge. This will majorly cut down on your water usage.
80% less energy is consumed relative to conventional ovens.
Your grandparents got by with a lil’ elbow grease and by being hands-on while cooking. You can do it too!
They're not only great cleaners, but both are non-toxic and remarkably cheap.
For the love of god, DO NOT use disposable plastic containers.
It won’t leave behind paper remnants like paper towels do. This act also extends the productive use of your newspaper. Of course it goes without saying that we recommend online newspapers but hey, if ya got em, right?
We're talkin' a combination of baking soda and vinegar. Step aside harmful and artificial chemical cleaners. Step one, manually remove what you can from the drain, then add the vinegar mixture. Let it sit for 15-30 minutes before running hot water down the drain.
The super ingredient use cases for soda and vinegar continue to add up. You can maintain a sparkling clean toilet with a mixture of baking soda and vinegar. Scrub the toilet once a week and add dish soap to the mix if needed for tougher stains.
Sticky floors are a big no-no. Try this organic cleaning cocktail on your floors next time you clean - baking soda, lemon juice and warm water. Avoid harmful chemical packed cleaning agents.
A full bath may be luxurious and relaxing, but it’s also very wasteful. An average bathtub can take up to 265 litres of water to fill, while a 5-minute shower uses just 35-95 litres.
It costs around $20. Bunnings sells them. This simple screw-on attachment can reduce your water usage by 50-70%!
All that water pouring down the drain each shower has served only one purpose. Why not make it two? Place a bucket at your shower to catch excess water. Use this on your garden or to flush the toilet.
Toilets manufactured before the 90's use at least 13 litres per flush. Modern and water conscious toilets use less than 4.8 litres per flush. That's savings of 60%. A new toilet may cost a few hundred bucks plus installation, but it will save you several thousand dollars in water consumption over its lifetime.
Oh where do we begin. There's so many products in the bathroom that are unsustainable. One notorious culprit is your plastic toothbrush which is disposed of circa 4 times a year, taking up to 500 years to break down. You can swap out most plastic products for eco-friendly alternatives like bamboo.
There's nifty trees which are what we call "deciduous". This simply means the tree sheds leaves in winter and grows them in summer. Enjoy the best of both worlds with deciduous trees as the leaves will provide shade to your house in summer while also allowing warmth to shine through during the cold of winter.
This tip is more relevant to those building new homes but also applicable for anyone in the process of rethinking their garden layout. Simply put, there's a lot of water wastage on gardens. The EPA reports a typical family home uses about 30% of water supply to keep their garden green. We suggest you do some research or consult a landscape architect to help you design an outdoor area suitable for your home, climate and level of eco commitment.
This is a great tip to minimise evaporation and maximise effectiveness.
They typically work better in your climate anyway. Bird fan? Plant brightly coloured flowers if you want to attract birds. Natural springs, birdbaths, or ponds, will also help to attract birds and other wildlife.
Water tanks are fantastic for capturing water running off your roof. They come in many different shapes and sizes, storing from 2000 litres to as much as 22,000 litres. Install one so you can use the rain water to accomodate all your gardening needs.
Yogurt cups, egg cartons, and toilet paper rolls are great for starting your seeds indoors. Give them a good clean and poke drainage holes in the bottom before planting.
Collect non-meat food scraps and plant debris in an outside bin. Moisture, heat and air will help speed up the process. Compost becomes yummy nutrients for your soil. Check out our guide to composting to learn more.
Plant those fruits, vegetables and herbs. You might just have a bit of fun moving towards self sustained living.
PLA toothbrushes also work. These look awesome and can be composted at end-of-life permitting you remove the nylon bristles from the toothbrush head. We wrote a guide on how to recycle bamboo toothbrushes. If you're looking for kids bamboo toothbrushes, try these.
This is a bit of a tough one as diapers, even the eco-friendly ones, tend to have some small element of plastic in them. The best possible route is to find a compostable diaper service which collect your used diapers and take them to a composting facility, removing any plastic elements from the diaper before composting over a 3 month period.
Cut them in half to save even more if you can.
The less time indoors watching screens and using electricity, the better.
Hopefully someone in the fam can donate baby/kids clothes to you. Otherwise, ask and look around to see what you can buy that is second-hand. If you must buy new, look to purchase clothing made from sustainable materials such as bamboo. We carry sustinable bamboo socks and bamboo underwear if you are looking for some eco-friendly basics.
Vegetables are pretty hard to like as a kid. But if you can introduce them young enough, you'll give your family the best shot at eating healthily forever. Kids will be more open to vegetarian meals as a result and you will be able to mix in vegetarian meals a few nights a week. Great for reducing your family's carbon footprint.
Teach a man to fish as they say. Your children will eventually grow up and take over the world. If they appreciate and respect how to be eco-friendly this will flow through into their adult lives and create a lasting positive impact on our environment and planet.
Loads of flea collars contain carcinogens and definitely aren’t biodegradable.
Doggy doo can spread pathogens into waterways after heavy rain. Use biodegradable doggy bags and dispose of waste in the trash.
Indoor-only cats that have tested negative for toxoplasmosis are the exception. This parasite can negatively impact marine life. Check out this guide on how to dispose of cat faeces safely.
Bentonite clay uses a method called ship-mining which is a destructive process.
So many furry friends are treated poorly by breeders and animal shelters are often full. Adopt a pet next time you are looking for a new companion instead of buying from breeders.
Just like our tips on humans eating less beef, this too applies to animals. The production of beef is demanding on our resources relative to other sources of food.
Some shampoo and conditioners contain chemicals which can runoff and affect waterways. Look for organic alternatives.
So many are made of plastic. Go for the eco-friendly toys like rope. It's a classic anyway and your doggo will love it.
If you've learned just one thing from reading this post, maybe you can help others learn too. Help create awareness around environmentally-friendly living by sharing this post with your friends and family. Our planet will thank you!
