25 things you can do at home to help the planet, from quick hacks to renovation ideas (House & Garden) | Katie Treggiden Skip to content

25 things you can do at home to help the planet, from quick hacks to renovation ideas (House & Garden)

Katie Treggiden, the founder and director of Making Change Circular, suggests things we can do at home to help lessen our load on this endangered planet

Image: Rose Blake
  • Plant for biodiversity with a green roof or wildflower meadow. Common poppies, corn marigolds and ox-eye daisies will attract pollinating butterflies and bees. Add a log pile for insects and fungi, and a pond for frogs and dragonflies.
  • Look for certifications to back up eco claims. Grown in Britain or FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) accreditation are a safe bet for wooden furniture; GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) and GoodWeave provide ethical endorsements for textiles and rugs; and B Corp demonstrates care for people as well as the planet.
  • Reduce reliance on bottled water with a Black+Blum active charcoal water filter and add fizz with an isicreamwhippers.co.uk.
  • One day, we shall marvel at the fact that people used to flush their loos with clean drinking water – consider installing a greywater harvesting system. You can save water by putting a pebble-filled Ziploc bag into your existing cistern, or install low-flush toilets and low-flow taps and showerheads.
Image: Rose Blake
  • Sleep easy by investing in a Naturalmat mattress, hand-crafted using natural and organic fibres in its solar-powered workshop. Top with a duvet by EarthKind, made with 100 per cent recycled feathers and down.
  • There are different ways to generate your own energy to heat your house, such as solar panels and ground- or air-source heat pumps. But if this is not possible, think about switching to a green energy supplier. Which? magazine recommends 100 GreenEcotricityGood Energy and Octopus.
  • Aluminium foil beats cling film for storing leftovers or packing lunches, because it can be recycled (gather pieces into a bundle the size of a tennis ball before putting them into your recycling). Even better are washable solutions like linen bowl and jar covers and the reusable sandwich wraps, from Helen Round.
  • Employ passive house design principles in a newbuild or major renovation to maximise natural light, heat and ventilation, and to reduce energy usage. You could even seek Passivhaus (for newbuilds) or EnerPHit (for retrofit projects) certification – the Passivhaus Trust is a helpful resource.
Image: Rose Blake
  • Take your own containers to a zero-waste shop in your area. These sell dry goods and also cleaning products without packaging. Invest in Kilner jars and display your virtue on open shelving.
  • Before you replace something, try repairing it. There are now repair cafés all over the world (with more than 350 in the UK). These will pair you with an expert – from an electrical whizz to a dab hand in reupholstery – to help you.
Image: Rose Blake
  • Optimise the natural light in your home with mirrors and pale-coloured window treatments, and keep your windows clean and clear of overhanging foliage outside in order to reduce reliance on electric lighting.
  • Put your eco decisions on auto-pilot with a subscription service. Who Gives A Crap donates half the profits from its bamboo loo roll to provide access to clean water and toilets in developing nations. Wonky Coffee collects, repackages and rehomes dented coffee pods that might otherwise end up going to landfill.
  • Design your garden with drought-tolerant plants to reduce the need for watering; create permeable paths to allow storm-water run-off to filter through; and capture rainwater with a water butt.
  • Sourcing hard-landscaping materials produced locally, such as wood grown nearby or stone quarried in your area, gives you more transparency and reduces the carbon footprint associated with shipping.
  • Fill your home with plants to improve the air quality. A 1989 NASA clean air study found that ivy (Hedera helix) and bamboo palm (Chamae-dorea seifrizii) are among the many houseplants that help to defuse toxic chemicals like formaldehyde and benzene.
  • To understand the role of carbon in the climate crisis and how you can reduce your footprint, take a one-day course with the Carbon Literacy Project. Look for one taking place near you, or sign up for an online course.
  • Instead of buying new furniture, choose vintage or antique, or pieces made from second-life materials. Smile Plastics offers kitchen work-tops created using a range of recycled materials – from white goods to yogurt pots.
  • Green Deal is a UK government initiative to help homeowners with energy saving improvements (look for the logo – a green house with a tick on the roof). You can commission a Green Deal assessor to visit you at home, investigate your energy usage and provide a Green Deal advice report. This will include efficiency recommendations and money-saving tips, as well as likely costs for making changes (for which you can get a loan).
Image: Rose Blake
  • If you are buying new, support local craftspeople. Artisans are more likely to make by hand in small batches and offer repairs, which reduces waste.
  • The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac (Manilla Press, £12.99) describes two versions of life in 2050 – the first based on what will be happening if we carry on as normal, and the second if we do everything we can to combat climate change. It recommends three mindset changes and 10 actions to bring about ‘the future we choose’.
  • Turn food waste into compost with a counter-top composter in your kitchen. The Reencle has gained attention, but currently has limited availability in the UK (try RobotShop). The Lomi Classic is another option.
  • Depending on the listed status and construction of your house, you can invest in loft and cavity-wall insulation. Or make internal interventions, such as using rugs and draught excluders to reduce the cold and keep heat in with thermal blinds.
  • If you have an electric vehicle, why not install a solar-powered charging station? Assuming five hours of direct sunlight, four 290-watt panels on the roof of a garage should power 20 miles a day.
  • The toxic chemicals found in many cleaning products pollute water systems. Opt for brands like Ecover or Smol – or make your own. Friends of the Earth suggests cleaning windows with 60ml white vinegar in 1 litre warm water. Use 240ml vinegar and add 125ml bicarbonate of soda for an all-purpose household cleaner. To make a dishwasher liquid, mix 125ml water and 125ml Castile liquid soap, then add 1tsp lemon juice, three drops of tea tree extract and 60ml white vinegar; add 2tbsp to the compartment in place of a dishwasher tablet.
  • Choose paint with no – or low levels of – VOCs (volatile organic compounds), which are harmful to the environment and your health. YesColours uses recyclable pouches with no added VOCs or microplastics; Coat and Edward Bulmer Natural Paint offer ‘low VOC’ products; and Graphenstone paint is ‘trace VOC only – under 0.1%’.

Katie Treggiden is the founder and director of Making Design Circular, an online learning platform and membership community for creatives making imperfect progress towards environmental sustainability: makingdesigncircular.org

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Katie Treggiden is also the founder and director of Making Design Circular — an international membership community and online learning platform for environmentally conscious designers, makers, artists and craftspeople.
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