Eco-Friendly Apartment Living
Each year during the month of April, we shine a spotlight on the health of our planet as we celebrate Earth Day. Environmental sciences continue to progress, educating us further on what practices can benefit local ecosystems and the global climate. Earth Day is a perfect reminder to take stock of our daily practices at home and find new and unique ways to curate a more sustainable lifestyle. The products we use in our apartments, how we dispose of trash and recycling, and the amount of energy we consume are small practices that can make a big impact on our environment. Read below to find a list of a few helpful tips and tricks to eco-friendly apartment living!
Second Hand Solutions
When it’s time for the next home purge, donating items still in usable condition can help to protect the environment from unnecessary waste. Donation centers also give those who may not be able to afford retail prices the opportunity to furnish their home with quality items. Many thrift stores are owned by charitable organizations, such as the Goodwill, Salvation Army, Assistance League and more, so donations benefit not only the environment, but important local causes as well. It can be hard to get rid of larger items, as junk removal services often cost upwards of a couple hundred dollars just to give up your old furniture. However, many charitable organizations offer affordable or free furniture removal and pickup, as they benefit from the donations. Check out this guide for a list of organizations that pick up large items from your home.
Alternatively, when planning to furnish or redecorate your apartment, consider shopping at your local thrift stores. Second hand shopping is a fast growing trend as thrift store chains expand and more people discover the thrill of the thrift hunt. Second hand shops, such as donation centers and consignment stores, offer consumers a sustainable alternative to big retailers, giving items a second life and keeping them out of the landfills. Second-hand shops offer a variety of unique items from big furniture pieces to small accents, often at far below retail value. Expert guides like this one from Treehugger can help first-time-thrifters learn how to pick out quality items that are worth the investment!
Conservation and Efficiency
Increasing your home’s water and energy efficiency is perhaps one of the most crucial steps in living sustainably. Here are just a few that we recommend!
Be conscientious about shower lengths and frequency of baths. Extra long showers send gallons of unnecessary water down the drain. Keeping your shower to only the necessary length can protect clean, usable water from going to waste. Many people also enjoy the luxury of a long bath as a way to relax, unwind, or even relieve aching muscles. While baths are occasionally beneficial to our health, consider making them an “every once in a while” indulgence to conserve water, unless they are a personal necessity. Aside from the duration of showers and baths, there are multiple daily habits that we can conscientiously adjust. Turning off the water while brushing your teeth or scrubbing your hands can save hundreds of gallons monthly. When preparing a meal, rinse vegetables in a bowl instead of under running water, using the same water to wash all produce. The water can then be reused for indoor or outdoor plants. Alert the community maintenance team right away of any leaky toilets or faucets to stop the water waste and prevent water damage. There are many helpful ways to keep apartments water efficient! Check out this list from the Environmental Protection Agency for a more extensive guide of ways to conserve water at home.
Energy conservation is also crucial to making your apartment more environmentally friendly. Simply unplugging electric devices when not in use can reduce the amount of energy output in your home greatly. To be mindful of unplugging items too often and potentially damaging outlets, try using power strips or smart plugs. Power strips turn off with the flick of a switch to stop the energy flow, while a smart plug operates similarly but with an added bonus! Smart plugs are controlled either with a mobile device or smart home device like echo dot and Google home, giving the user convenient access to turn off outlets from another room or even when out of the house. This feature is extremely beneficial for those off-chance moments of leaving a bagel in the toaster or an empty coffee pot in the machine. Simply turn off the outlet from the office and have peace of mind that the home is safe and energy efficient! Switching over to LED light bulbs is a quick and straightforward step to improve energy efficiency on home lighting. Making the switch to energy efficient light bulbs positively impacts the environment while saving money on utilities in the long run! Lastly, remember to turn off the lights when leaving the room and reduce light use to only the necessary ones at night. Using less light at night can help conserve energy and contribute to better sleeping patterns!
Live Waste Free
Waste is currently one of the biggest enemies to climate and environmental conservation, especially single use plastics. This is why EarthDay.org has named the theme of Earth Day 2024 “Planet vs. Plastics” with their plan to reduce earth’s plastics by 60% by 2040. Each of us has the opportunity to play a crucial role at home to reduce waste by following a few simple steps and guidelines!
While waste free home products are not yet readily available at all retailers, there are an increasing number of options for switching home goods to eco friendly products. Choose brands that produce sustainable products with paper and biodegradable packaging whenever possible, as these can often be disposed of in green waste. For home cleaning supplies, try a few recipes for alternatives to plastic bottles of chemical cleaners. For example, vinegar and baking soda create a safer alternative to bleach, and lemon can break down build up on stainless steel. Purchase reusable spray bottles and containers (bonus points for glass!) and fill up on homemade carpet deodorizer, room freshener, and window cleaner with ingredients that can likely already be found around the house. Next, keep reusable grocery bags in a handy spot where you can remember to grab them on your way out. Tote bags can be nicely organized near the front door by storing them in an entryway table drawer or a magazine holder! In addition to sturdy tote bags, have a few mesh produce bags to replace the excessive amounts of plastic bags used in grocery store trips.
In the past few years, food delivery has become a staple, almost daily part of our lives. There’s no denying that the convenience of ordering food to our doorstep saves us much needed time otherwise spent preparing, cooking and cleaning for meals. However, food delivery services are contributing copious amounts of single use plastic to our landfills and increasing carbon output to the atmosphere with thousands of drivers delivering food all day long. If you are able, consider replacing a few delivery meals in your week with meal prepping or fresh made meals! Not only is homemade food better nutritionally and environmentally, but saves hundreds of dollars monthly.
It’s no secret that single use water bottles are infamous culprits of plastic waste build up. Luckily, reusable beverage containers are some of the hot items on the market right now, offering a plethora of trendy options, such as the Hydro Flask spring line of All Around travel tumblers! Stainless steel water bottles are durable, able to last for years if well taken care of, which in turn reduces the number of single use water bottles disposed of. Stainless steel is also fully recyclable! Not only are they more sustainable, but stainless steel is a healthier option as compared to single use plastic, as they do not have microplastics and chemicals that contaminate the water if left in the sun. Pair that with a tap water filter like a countertop BRITA water dispenser, and you can cut out bottled water entirely, making a long term savings!
A great way to reduce waste in your home is to opt out of paper mail wherever possible. Anymore, almost every system allows for your bills to be sent to your email or directly to an account to be paid online. Online bills are convenient and easy, cutting down the use of hundreds of sheets of paper, and are much easier to file. If you have not done so already, ask your community manager about switching to online rent payments through your resident portal and help your community in their efforts to go green! Another great way to reduce paper waste is to opt out of junk mail. Every day, our mailboxes get stuffed with irrelevant credit card pre-approval letters, campaign flyers, and advertisements. If you want to cut out junk mail from filling your inbox, consider going online to opt out! The Federal Trade Commission offers a helpful guide on how to opt out of junk mail for years to come. By cutting down unnecessary mailers, you can easily contribute to a healthier planet while saving yourself a whole lot of clutter!
Good Groceries
Healthy food is an essential part of living well. What food we buy and where it comes from all have an impact on the environment. Local farmers’ markets are a sustainable alternative to the grocery store for stocking your fridge with quality produce. Local small farms tend to use more sustainable practices than large scale farms and buying locally reduces carbon emissions vastly as compared to importing. When grocery stores import massive shipments of fruits and vegetables, produce gets damaged or spoils en route, producing massive amounts of food waste. Buying local means smaller batches of produce and fresher food, inevitably reducing the amount of food thrown in the garbage. Search for “local farmers market near me” to start shopping sustainably! If you want to learn how to compost and help decrease food waste even further, Going Zero Waste has a fantastic guide of how to do so from an apartment. Remember to abide by all rules of your lease agreement and check with your leasing office before putting anything new on your patio or getting large composting equipment for your apartment. Composting can get messy so make sure to abide by community regulations if adding it to your green practices!
As Earth Day approaches, it is important to take stock of your daily practices and how they affect our local ecosystems. Small daily habits make a big change long term to creating a healthier world for us all, starting within our own apartments. Looking for more tips for sustainable apartment living? We were named a local expert on ApartmentGuide. Read the full article here: Sustainable Living in an Apartment: 12 Practical Tips for Eco-Conscious Renters. Try out a few of these tips this month and let’s work together to create a better and stronger planet!