- October 5, 2017
- in Commercial Cleaning
- by Alionservice
- 339
- 0
Easy, tactical tips and smart environmental moves, from cutting back on food waste to optimizing your laundry routine to maintaining a truly green yard.
I have zero outdoor space and can drop off food scraps for composting at my local farmers market, but I wanted to see if I could compost in my apartment. I tried several indoor options, including the Vitamix Food Cycler, AED 400; the Lomi Home Composter, AED 499; and a few vermicompost bins, where worms do the work. The Simple human Compost Caddy, AED 50, which I was already using to collect food scraps, proved to be best: It fits in the freezer and keeps smells and bugs at bay. I then schlep the scraps to the market, happy to know that they are going back into the ground here in New York. Some cities offer a drop-off or pickup service, and commercial composting companies will pick up residential food waste for a fee..
Want to live a more sustainable life but think it requires too much effort—or just don’t know where to start? We’re here to help. We’ve found dozens of simple steps you can take to be greener and save a lot of money around the house. Try a few of the tips here to start, then dig into our rapidly expanding resources, including:
- CR’s Sustainable Living Guide
- Test Your Eco Smarts With Our Quick Quiz
- Make Sure You Buy a Reliable Appliance
Plus: Look for CR’s Green Choice designation, which identifies the products in our ratings that are better for the earth—and your wallet. We’ve added Green Choice to our washing machine and dishwasher ratings, and more product categories will get the designation soon.
And watch this list of 10 tips grow. We’ll keep adding to it, in part with your help. Share what works in your home and we’ll include some of your best ideas. First up, check out what we’ve assembled so far. Let’s go.
1. Make Your Own Sparkling Water
DIY carbonation can save you cash. Based on our calculations, a family that drinks 5 liters of seltzer a week and switches from store-bought to making their own with a soda maker would save AED 195 over two years—and spare 520 single-use plastic bottles. (This is based on using the highly rated Soda Stream Terra, AED 80 at some retailers.) Use our interactive tool to see when your family would start to save.
2. Give Leftovers New Life
Taking leftovers home from a restaurant reduces food waste and maximizes the value of your dollars spent dining out. If you’re ditching the doggie bag because certain foods aren’t as good reheated, know that we found that an air fryer can bring even loaded nachos, tacos, and other foods typically thought impossible to resuscitate back to their original glory.
3. Embrace a Kinder K-Cup
If you use single-use coffee pods, try trading those for a reusable K-Cup filter. Keurig makes its own, but you can also get one from Déli Brü, Di Oro, Fill N Save, Maxware, or Perfect Pod. And you’ll save big: The average price for a pound of ground coffee in the UAE breaks down to about 18 cents a cup. Compare that with Keurig K-Cups, which cost roughly 74 cents a cup. Based on two coffee drinkers enjoying one cup every morning, you’ll save almost AED 400 a year with the reusable filter, which can go into the dishwasher when you’re done. (If you still have disposables, here’s our guide to recycling coffee pods.)
4. Don’t Forget Your Reusable Mug
Grabbing coffee out? Starbucks and Peet’s, among other coffee chains and shops, offer a small discount if you bring your own mug. In our tests of insulated travel mugs, the 16-ounce Zojirushi kept drinks hot for an astonishing 13.5 hours—6 hours longer than the closest competitor and far longer than the Yeti Rambler.
5. Try a Water Filter Pitcher
If you buy purified bottled water because you aren’t happy with what comes out of your tap, try a high-quality water filter pitcher. Take the top-rated Brita Rapids Stream. For a AED 25 investment, this pitcher filters up to 40 gallons of water per cartridge (replacements cost AED 7 each). That’s about equal to the amount of water in 303 plastic bottles (16.9-ounce), or more than twenty-five 12-packs.
6. Use Rechargeable Batteries Right
Yes, they cost twice as much (or more) as single-use batteries, but you can recharge them hundreds of times. To get the most savings, use rechargeables in devices that require frequent battery changes, such as your computer mouse and remote controls for toys, advises Shanika Whitehurst, CR’s associate director of sustainability. Disposables are better for products with a low energy pull, such as smoke detectors, clocks, and your TV’s remote control.
7. Set a Timer When You Preheat the Grill
“If you’re heating your entire gas grill, a 10-minute preheat ensures good performance,” says CR test engineer Larry Ciufo. “Anything longer than that is likely to be a waste of gas.” Prep everything you plan to cook before you heat your grill, then set a 10-minute timer on your phone so you don’t burn through extra propane.
8. Light Only the Grill Burners You Need
Think of your gas grill as a stove. You’d never turn on all the burners to boil pasta. And when you’re in the market for a new grill, consider how many burners you typically use: Unless you’re always feeding a crowd, a smaller grill is likely to feed your household, plus a few guests, just fine. Many of the small gas grills in our ratings cost less than AED 200 and can hold up to 18 burger patties. Large grills with unused burners take longer to heat, wasting propane and generating more greenhouse gases every time you cook.
9. Maintain Your Mattress
Get more life from the mattress you have by rotating it or flipping it (depending on manufacturer guidance) at least twice a year. And follow our mattress cleaning advice. When it’s time to replace it, don’t be fooled by terms such as “natural” or even “organic.” The two most meaningful standards are the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) and the Global Organic Latex Standard (GOLS) certification
10. Extend the Life of Your Clothes
People typically keep a garment for about two years. Extending that to three years, by taking good care of your clothing, reduces its carbon, water, and waste footprint by 20 to 30 percent—and you’ll save because you’re not having to replace items so frequently. To get more wear out of clothes, first, wash garments less often and/or use shorter or more gentle wash cycles. When it’s time to lauder, try the soak function. It fills the tub and lets the detergent work without much (or any) agitation before it runs a shorter wash-and-spin cycle. Decreased agitation reduces wear and tear on clothes. And when it comes to protecting delicate fabrics, use mesh laundry bags.
