In recent months the topic around changing your lifestyle to make it eco-friendlier has been popular and for good reason.

The planet is struggling with pollution; 8 million metric tonnes of plastic ends up in our oceans each year, and carbon dioxide levels in the air are at their highest in 650,000 years. You can’t become zero waste overnight living in a plastic heavy world. But there are things you can do to help eliminate single-use plastics, reduce your waste and become more sustainable.

Watching your air miles

Flying contributes to around 13-15% of the UK’s impact of greenhouse gas emissions. On average the British person takes a short haul flight every two years and long haul every five years. Only a minority of regular flyers causes a substantial slice of UK emissions. So it is safe to safe you don’t need to give up your holidays just yet.

Firemizer and Firebuilder

Make your stove more environmentally friendly. Firebuilder is 100% green, made from recycled cardboard, contains no chemicals and emits no foul smells when burning. Firemizer can reduce fuel usage and reduce particulate emissions by 72%

Burning wood and coal

Bio-bean makes Coffee Logs that are an alternative for burning seasoned logs or coal. These logs are made from coffee grounds and are very environmentally friendly. The UK produces hundreds of thousands of tonnes of waste coffee grounds every year, most of which is disposed of via landfill where it emits methane, a greenhouse gas that is 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide. – Bio-bean. You can use these logs with Firemizer, read our review here!

Things you didn’t know contain plastic

• Biodegradable cutlery – This looks like it helps the environment hence the word biodegradable. However, these contain a mixture of corn starch and plastic. These can’t be composted by a regular old joe, the bioplastic needs to be broken down using very high heat. An alternative could be bamboo cutlery since these contain no plastic and are easily affordable.
• Tea bags – Plastic is used to seal the tea bag so they don’t come open in the box or in your tea. This also means they aren’t fully 100% biodegradable so composting them will leave bits of microplastic in the soil. However, not all tea bags contain plastic some use a byproduct of corn starch to seal their teabags. Unfortunately, these are still not suitable to be composted in your home.
• Coffee Cups – Takeaway coffee cups are hard to recycle mainly due to the plastic lining inside the cup designed to make the cup leakproof. An alternative would be a reusable coffee cup and you normally get money off your coffee for using one.

With all this in mind, it just about doing what you can for the environment whether that’s big or small changes. Everyone has to start somewhere!

References

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/apr/06/aviation-q-and-a

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-43739043

https://moralfibres.co.uk/is-there-plastic-in-your-tea/

https://ecolunchboxes.com/blogs/news/when-compostable-is-sometimes-worse-than-plastic

On cold days there is nothing better than sitting in front of a warm fire or enjoying summer evenings sitting outside by the fire-pit. What makes this even better is sharing it with your four-legged friends. As it is national pet month we thought to share some tips an precautions you can take for keeping your home fire safe for your pets.

Prevent Fires

• Pet-proof your home. Check your home for any items that a pet could accidentally trigger a fire, for instance, items that could be knocked over, candles, loose wires, stoves/ knobs and plant lights.
• Extinguish open flames. You should never leave open flames unattended especially if you have a pet that can knock items over easily. Perhaps use a flameless candle or other alternatives.
• No climbing. Discourage pets from climbing on work surfaces, especially in the kitchen. Cats tend to be quite curious and placing a stove knob cover could help prevent fires.
• Chose ceramic over glass. If you leave food or water outside don’t use a glass bowl as this can create a magnifying effect and start a fire from the suns rays. Ceramics are safer and just as sturdy.

Prepare for the worst

Practice escape routes with your pets and make sure collars ID tags, microchips are up to date and their leash is readily available if you have to make an escape.

Use pet alert window stickers. These nifty stickers are placed on your windows at the front and back of your house to let firefighters know how many pets are in your home and their names. Should anything happen this can save firefighters time when looking for your pets.

Keep Puppies and kittens secure, since they are so young they will want to explore the house, especially when you are out. To keep them out of mischief, keep them confined to a safe area.

For your older pets, it is best to make note of where they like to hide. This can help save you time if you need to leave the house in the event of a fire.

Animal specifics

Other than using common sense and having the essentials at hand, for instance, food and water. Here are some extra tips to help your pet in case there is a fire.

Birds – get them accustomed to being in a bird carrier, drape a damp sheet over the carrier to block out soot and dust as their lungs are fragile.

Cats – get them accursed to a carrier as this is crucial to get them out the house fast. Keep their collar and microchip updated.

Dogs – keep their collar and microchip up to date and include your contact information. Keep them on a leash so you don’t get separated. If possible install a doggy door so in anything happens while you are out they can escape safely.

Fish – keep emergency supplies, for instance, spare tank, sponge filters, heaters and portable power supplies. Don’t scoop your fish with leaving the house as the shock could kill them. Let the firefighters know where it is so they can prioritise that room for extinguishing.

Rodents and small mammals – either use a carrier or a cloth bag to transport your pet. Keep your pets in separate carries if possible just in case they need to be in there for a longer period of time.

Snakes – they are quite comfortable in a cloth bag that has a suitable latch so they don’t escape. If it is cold they’ll need a heat source so prepare a heat pad in your bag.

Frogs – have quarantine tanks ready for an emergency, if it is cold it will need heating and insulation. Use a heating pad, towels or extra clothes to wrap around the tank. If you can’t access Clean water make sure you have a few bottles or spray bottles.

Did you know that Firebuilder is pet-friendly as well as child-friendly? As it is made only from recycled cardboard and contains no other chemicals it is perfectly safe if your dog decides to have a chew!