While it's easy to implement basic green living habits in your home, like recycling and composting, it can be a bit harder to up the ante and really go green. If you want to be kinder to the planet this year, the team at BentallGreenOak Residential Services has some ways you can decrease your footprint in your apartment.
Use Less Power and Heat
A great way to reduce your energy use is to turn off the lights -- especially when you go out, and even when you're at home. If you switch to energy efficient light bulbs, it's easy to use less energy while leaving the lights on. If your apartment has temperature control, remember that condos and highrises tend to experience greater ambient heat from neighbouring apartments, resulting in less of a need for the thermostat to be cranked way up in fall, spring and winter. Dress warmly and set the temperature low. Find out more.
Bags, bags, bags
Despite having easy and cheap access to cloth grocery bags, it's still hard to avoid plastic. The trick is to work cloth bags into your daily routine. Pack one with you daily. Tuck it into your backpack, purse, or glove compartment. You never know when you'll go shopping and it'll help reduce the need for plastic. Read more.
Compost
While composting can be a tricky (and stinky) practice to maintain, especially in apartments, there are a few simple ways to make it part of your regular routine. Keep a good stock of compostable bags at home to line your bin. Once the bin gets dirty, it's really tough to clean out. Second, freeze that compost. It reduces odours and potential for fruit flies or spills. Get more info here.
Reduce Bottled Water Use
You may have seen the terrifying islands of plastic floating in the Caribbean and Pacific recently. Culprit #1: plastic water bottles. While all plastic can be recycled, much of it doesn't make it to the bin. And water companies are notorious for nickel and diming second and third world countries for their pristine water resources. Support your local city water program and drink tap water. Check it out.
Cold Cycle Washing & Less Water for Flushing
Washing your clothes in cold water (as well as during off-peak hours) uses less energy, and gets clothes just as clean. Meanwhile, toilet flushing (while certainly unavoidable in some situations) can be both delayed ("if it's yellow, let it mellow"), and/or reduced in terms of water use by placing a jar (1ltr or more) into the back of the toilet tank. As the jar stays full even upon flushing, it causes the tank area to be smaller and thus refill with less water. See more.
The BentallGreenOak Residential Services blog team hopes this list gives you some ideas for how to reduce your environmental impact in 2018. To learn more about our Forever Green program, and get more information about BentallGreenOak properties in your city, please visit our website.