30 ways to make a difference

  We love to find quick and easy eco friendly alternatives and the Furoshiki method of cloth wrapping is a perfect example of that! This Japanese cloth wrapping tecnique is wonderful for using up old scarves or scraps of material you have around the house. Wrapping paper is often single use and difficult to recycle or degrade because  of some of the materials used to make it. This includes glitter or the plastic lining much wrapping paper utilises. Cloth on the other hand can be used time and time again. Other alternatives include re using old brown paper bags or making use of  old gift boxes or shoe boxes. Old jam jars or tins are great for  gifting homemade cookies or other goods and  little cloth tote bags are a fantastic alternative to gift bags which are also usually lined with pesky plastic! There are so many ways to get creative with alternative gifting options that don't require wrapping at all! Why not visit our earlier post on gifting expereinces inste...

Find your nearest street library and get involved in the book sharing community. Share your books, read them and pass them on. Encourage others to read and share their books too. Sharing books reduces waste while promoting literacy in your local community. What may be unwanted for one, will be treasure for another. #streetlibraryaustralia #streetlibrary

  Choose tap water – take a refillable water bottle with you wherever you go. Do not purchase single use plastic water bottles, they are too costly. It takes 3 litres of water and 250ml of oil to produce 1 litre of bottled water, this makes it more expensive than tap water . Less than 20 per cent of plastic gets recycled in Australia . By choosing refillable water bottles you are making the right choice and reducing waste. #reduceplastics #choosetap

 Making cleaning rags out of old unused clothing items is a quick and easy way  to repurpose something you might otherwise throw away and end up in landfill.  We hope you found this little video a helpful tool in creating your own cleaning rags.  If you arn't sure your t-shirts are ready to be downgraded to the cleaning cupboard just yet,  why not have a look at our post on mending and give them a new lease on life intead? 

  Organise clothes swaps in and around your community to reduce waste, and save yourself some money too! Did you know that the average person only wears about 40% of their clothes? Next time you feel bored with your wardrobe why not swap out an item instead of buying something new? Check out The Fashion Advocate for more sustainable fashion ideas!