Reduce Your Carbon Footprint And Save Money In Your Budget
Swapping to environmentally friendly kitchen products in our home has changed the way we think about our world.
Low-waste living not only protects our environment it allows consumers to reduce monthly budget expenses.
Have you ever thought about how much kitchen paper towel you throw in the garbage bin?
In our house, it was quite a bit not to mention the costs of buying it at near $18 for a club pack at Costco.
People want ways to reduce waste in their house and we’re working on changing the way we think about our environment.
Reduce Costs With Environmentally Friendly Kitchen Products
I’m not a zero-waste blogger however we’ve begun reducing our carbon footprint by using environmentally friendly kitchen products.
Living a no-waste lifestyle would be a great way to go however for many of us baby-steps is important to not get overwhelmed with the process.
Although the effects of reducing your carbon footprint may seem small if everyone participated just a little, it would help.
Think about budgeting for a moment and how all of the small expenses can add up to one big expense.
It’s no different if we take steps to rethink the way companies manufacture products and our purchasing power as consumers for our home and office.
With conscious consumption, it doesn’t necessarily mean just the kitchen as there are an array of areas in our lives we can reduce, reuse, and recycle.
When I moved to Canada I was no stranger to recycling as we practice it in the UK where they are very strict about it.
Living in Canada is no different an in our city we use recycle bins for organics, recyclables, and garbage.
This has allowed us to not only teach ourselves about our carbon footprint but also our son.
Reducing Your Carbon Footprint
What is a carbon footprint?
Greenhouse emissions occur on their own but as humans, and our actions contribute to it greatly.
Your carbon footprint is your impact on the environment and what you are contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.
Simple actions like driving your car or using electricity and even household products all attribute to your carbon footprint.
By reducing your carbon footprint by walking to work, monitoring electricity usage, and following a recycling program you can impact the earth’s atmosphere.
When we recycle it allows us to use products over and over thus lowering the energy for new products and transportation.
It also limits the amount of space being taken up at the landfill which continues to be a huge concern in Canada.
In the latest online report that I found from the Conference Board of Canada;
- Quebec is the only province that ranks well on the international report card for GHG emissions, placing 7th and receiving an “A” grade.
- Alberta and Saskatchewan score “D–” grades with much higher per capita GHG emissions than the worst-ranked peer country, Australia.
- Overall, Canada’s per capita GHG emissions are very high, earning Canada a “D”—only the U.S. and Australia fare worse.
How To Calculate Your Carbon Footprint
How can you calculate your carbon footprint?
Carbon footprint calculations are typically based on annual emissions from the previous 12 months, according to the carbonfootprint.com website.
You can calculate your carbon footprint using their free online calculator tool on Canadian Budget Binder.
Just scroll to the bottom of the Free Budget Binder Printables Page to the Free Online Calculator section.
15 Environmentally Friendly Kitchen Products We Swapped
Some of the best zero-waste products you’ll find in our house are in the kitchen as that is one of the first areas we’ve been working on.
Environmentally friendly kitchen products came to light once we had our son as we realized how bad we needed change.
Our kitchen was overflowing with waste and we continually were buying products that we didn’t need to.
These days we’ve made a few simple changes to the way we purchase kitchen products and now save money and slice a bit off our carbon footprint.
Being environmentally friendly is important to us as parents as we want our son to realize the impact we will all make on our future.
Below are 15 environmentally friendly kitchen products that we’ve purchased on Amazon Canada or are suggesting as they are similar to what we have for our kitchen.
Stainless Steel Straws
Swap Plastic Straws for Stainless Steel Straws
Reusable Fabric Bags
Swap Plastic Bags for Reusable Fabric Bags
Reusable Mesh Produce Bags
Swap Plastic Produce Bags for Mesh Produce Bags
Fabric Kitchen Dish Towels
Swap Paper Towel for Fabric Kitchen Towels
Stainless Steel Coffee Mug
Swap Plastic Coffee Cups for Stainless Steel Mugs
Bamboo Cutlery Set
Swap Plastic Cuttlery for Bamboo Cuttlery
Eco-Friendly Plastic Bees Wax Wrap
Swap Plastic Wrap for Eco-Friendly Bees-Wax
Reusable Mesh Tea Bags
Swap Tea Bags for Reusable Tea Bags
Stainless Steel Water Bottles
Swap Plastic Water Bottle for Stainless Steel Water Bottle
Glass Jars
Swap Plastic Containers For Glass Containers and Jars
Manual Coffee and Spice Grinder
Swap Electric Coffee Grinder to a Hand Grinder (In-laws gifted)
French Press Coffee Maker
Swap Coffee Maker to a French Press (Value Village find $5)
Reusable Snack Bags
Swap Plastic Snack Bags for Reusable Snack Bags
Reusable Sandwich Wrap
Invest in Reusable Sandwich Wraps
Washable Cloth Coffee Filter
Invest in Reusable Coffee Filters
Your Environment For Today And For Your Tomorrow
The up-front investment to purchase some of the environmentally friendly kitchen products may be too much but think long-term.
As with investing in your retirement savings consider what you are purchasing today to yield savings in your budget for tomorrow.
Take your time and build your environmentally friendly kitchen products like we are.
You don’t have to rush out and buy everything new as we tend to look at second-hand shops or online buy and sell websites.
Even garage sales during the summer months might score you a few good deals to update your eco-friendly kitchen.
Discussion:
What have you done to reduce your carbon footprint?
Have you swapped to any environmentally friendly kitchen products?
Share your comments below as I’d love to hear about how you plan to impact our environment.
Mr.CBB
Barrie Templeton says
We have a basket for the coffee maker, with a plastic frame and a stainless-steel mesh body, which is washable in the dishwasher (maybe), but I just rinse dump the grounds in the compost bin and rinse out the basket. The basket is at least 12 years old, and has replaced untold numbers of coffee filters.
For the lady without organic recycling service, a compost bin is a good investment (assuming you have a yard!). Coffee grounds can be put directly into the garden buy raking lightly. Tea bags can go into a compost bin, but if you don’t mind fiddling a bit, the leaves can be freed and directly added to the soil.
Della Ferguson says
In my household, we have done some of these items, such as the reusable mesh bags and glass jars. We use the glass jars for drinks and have purchased mason jar lids (with holes), as well as for pasta, baking supplies, etc.
Unfortunately, where I live, we don’t have organic recycling so that all ends up in the garbage. We recycle what we can though.