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If you are someone who very much wants to be as eco-friendly as possible, then this should apply to all areas of your life. If you are a keen gardener, then this is one area where you will certainly want to think about this. The good news is that it is pretty simple to ensure you are keeping on being eco-friendly while gardening, but there are some elements of this that might require a little help or assistance.

In this post, we are going to take a look specifically at how you can look after your lawn better while also being more eco-friendly. As long as you have thought about some of the following, you should find that those two goals can be met at once, so it’s really worth looking into.

Use Water Protection

One of the major things you might want to do is to use techniques that center around something known as water protection. A lot of people don’t know about this, and yet it can be a really effective and hugely important thing to be aware of. Water protection is all about making sure that you are keeping water usage to a minimum, so that includes conserving water through means such as rainwater, as well as ensuring you are choosing plants that require less water in the first place. When it comes to your lawn, you can choose a grass that doesn’t need quite as much water – for instance, you could have a lawn of Corsica mint, which requires very little.

At the same time, you should take great care with sprinkler systems. While these can be useful in making the lawn look great and lush, they can also waste a lot of water if you are not careful. It’s not that you shouldn’t use them at all, but be careful and try to put them on a minimal timer if you can. Otherwise, you might end up using way too much water, which is not so good for the planet.

If you can use these water protection methods, you’ll be doing a lot more already.

Be Careful With Which Tools You Use

In terms of being eco-friendly, a major part of this is ensuring that you are keeping your energy usage as low as possible. And when it comes to that in the garden, and especially with caring for your lawn, that means you’ll need to focus on what tools you are using and which you would rather not use. If you can make the right decisions here, you should find that you can use tools which are much more energy-conserving than others, for example using an electric mower rather than a petrol-powered one. These small changes really do make a difference to how much energy you use, and therefore how eco-friendly your gardening and lawn care really is. Paying attention to this kind of stuff can make all the difference in the world.

Get Some Professional Help

There are many good reasons to get professionals to help with your lawn care, but one of the main ones is that they are going to be able to work on it much more efficiently than you might be able to. When you have people who really know what they’re doing working on your lawn, that inevitably means that you are going to have a situation where much less energy is being expended. Most professionals these days purposefully aim to work in an eco-friendly manner too, so you’ll find that this makes a surprisingly big difference on the whole. So seek out that help with your lawn if you want to both have a great lawn and look after the planet a little better.

Look After The Soil

In general, lawn care is actually going to help your ability to be eco-friendly, and it all comes down to this: looking after the soil. When you have looked after your soil properly, you are going to find that you are much more likely to keep your eco-friendliness up, so that is something that you should certainly bear in mind in all of this. If you make sure to take care of the soil, not putting anything into it which might harm it, you are actually actively helping the environment as a whole too, so this is something that you should definitely focus on as best as you can.

Those are just some of the things to do to have a more eco-friendly approach to your own lawn care.

Most of us would not be able to live easily without our tech. Whether it is our phones that allow us to stay in touch with the people we love or the computers that enable us to run our businesses, we all have a range of devices that we rely on.

So when it comes to being green, giving up our tech is probably not an option, but what we can do is find ways to be more sustainable with our tech, and below I have set out a few ideas of how you can get started with that:

#1: Fix your devices

One of the simplest things you can do to be more sustainable with your tech is to stop throwing it away so easily. Since technology is so affordable, many of us, when our tech stops working, will immediately throw it away and buy a brand new shiny device in its place. This is not exactly sustainable! 

What we should be doing instead is fixing the problems if we can; we should be working out what to do with those sound issues on our Mac or how we can fix our Windows computers after the blue screen of death rears its head. Of course, not every issue will be fixable, but many of them are and by doing that instead of simply buying a new one, we can lower our carbon footprint significantly, and save money at the same time.

#2: Recycle your devices

Of course, there will come a point when your tech devices do reach the end of their lives. When this happens, the worst thing you can possibly do is simply throw them in the trash. If you do that, they will almost certainly end up at the dump where they will leach chemicals into the ground and cause all manner of problems for the planet and local wildlife.

What you should do is to check out local recycling schemes which can take your old smartphones, tablets, and computers and either refurbish them or strip them of various parts to use again in new devices. They will also be able to dispose of any tech waste in a much more environmentally-friendly way. Yes, it will take you a bit more effort than simply tossing your tech in the trash, but it is a really important way that you can live green and make a difference, and again, some of these recycling schemes can make you money as they will pay you a modest price for any tech you hand over for recycling.

#3: Buy ethical tech

Yes, it is possible to buy ethical tech, especially when it comes to smartphones. These are a handful of companies out there that are producing devices using materials that have been ethically sourced to have as little impact on the planet, and the people who are involved in the manufacturer, as possible. 

Fairphone is currently the best-known provider of ethical smartphones, and by choosing them you can ensure that your choice of tech has as little impact as possible on the planet, humans, and animals alike. It feels good to use tech like that.

#4: Turn off the charger

One really simple thing that we can all do to be more sustainable with our tech is to turn off our chargers and unplug them when they are not in use, So many people will unplug their phone from the charger, but leave the charger itself plugged in. We do this without thinking twice about the fact it will still be using energy, energy that will be completely wasted because there is nothing for it to do.

#5: Turn off devices

Of course, it is not just chargers that we leave turned on when they are not in use, many of us will leave laptops, computers, tablets and all manner of devices switched on even when we are not using them. Powering then down is a great way to conserve energy without much effort, Yes you might have to go through the turning on process again, but that’s a small price to pay in order to help the planet, right?

#6: Use an environmentally-friendly web browser

Most of us connect to the internet multiple times a day and each time, we will use a web browser to do so. What many of us do not realize is that there are eco-friendly web browsers out there that will do good things for the environment every time we use them. Ecosia is a good example as they will use the money generated from your search to plant trees all over the planet. Not only that, but they use 100 percent renewable energy to run their servers in the first place, which means their impact on the planet is negligible when compared to big search engineers like Google and Bing.

#7: Delete your emails

If you are one of those people who has saved every email you have sent or received since email became a thing, you could be harming the planet without even realizing it. How can that be? Every email is stored on a server and every server uses a significant amount of energy to run. The fewer emails we all have stored, the less energy email providers like Google will need to use, and the better it will be for the planet as a whole.

#8: Use physical storage

Instead of saving your photos and documents in the cloud, invest in a hard drive to keep them on instead. Why? For the same reasons that you should think about deleting your emails – servers require a lot of energy to run. If you really must use the cloud, look for an ethical green cloud company that should at least minimize the environmental impact.

As you can see, there are lots of things you can do to be more sustainable with your tech, and even if you cannot manage to do them all, making an effort to incorporate some of these ideas into our life will still be a huge help to the planet. Do what you can when you can.

When you focus on sustainable living, it becomes essential to understand how long it will take for some of the materials inside your home to decompose. 

Food waste, for instance, makes up roughly 40% of household waste. Organic waste can decompose safely inside a compost container in your backyard. You can even use it in your garden to protect plants and nourish the soil. Organic matters, such as tree leaves, will need up to a year to decompose, but they can also go in your compost bin. 

Other materials need to be recycled, such as paper or recyclable plastic. 

But there is no one-way solution when it comes to complex materials, such as metal. Metal has been one of the most commonly reused materials throughout history. Our ancestors frequently melted old or broken metal pieces to create something new. So, historically, we know that there is more to metal than meets the eyes. However, it can be tricky to figure out how to use metal sustainably when it comes to everyday life. 

Buy second hand

Unlike paper or organic fibers, metal can be extremely sturdy and long-lasting. It’s not uncommon for archeologists to discover screws, nails, and metal jewelry dating back several centuries. In other words, with the right amount of care, some types of metal can last for centuries!

Therefore, it makes sense to consider your metal purchasing habits. Some metal items can be safely purchased second-hand, such as:

• Copper sets for cooking (The French say you make the best soup in old pots, and we can see where they’re coming from)
• Metal parts for classic cars
• Specialist screws and nails for unique building needs
• Etc.

Recycle what you don’t need

It’s a no-brainer: Metal doesn’t decompose like other materials. Smaller metal pieces, such as tin cans, will gradually turn to rust and flake away into the air. However, metal is not biodegradable. Microorganisms don’t consume metal particles, which is why some pieces may never degrade even after 500 years. 

However, you can consider reaching out to a scrap metal recycling center that is dedicated to processing the material effectively. As mentioned, metal can be reused safely with the right smelting process. Therefore, the old metal toaster that doesn’t work anymore could find a new life once you bring it to a specialist place. 

Remember: As metal doesn’t naturally decompose, it should not end up in landfills. The presence of metal could change the composition of the soil and the air, affecting the local wildlife. 

Upcycle what you can

There is more life in metal than what meets the eye. Upcycling enables you to inject new life into an object that is too old, damaged, or outdated to fulfill its original functions. Upcycling requires experienced DIY skills as you will need to transform the item into something new and unexpected. Needless to say, it is a favorite for creative DIY enthusiasts!

Metal upcycling projects typically include cutting, smelting, and cleaning old metal pieces. It’s important to understand that you will need specialist tools to upcycle former metal items. However, the possibilities are endless when you know what you are doing. Take of look at some of these beautiful creations by sustainable artists. From transforming an old radiator into a chair or creating musical instruments from decommissioned guns, there are plenty of elegant, stylish, and imaginative solutions. 

Learn to care for your metal units

Metal objects are susceptible to rust formation. Most households tend to get rid of rusted metal because they are concerned about health risks. Rust can stain the skin; however, touching rust is not associated with any health hazard. Tetanus, which is commonly associated with rust, is not caused by the presence of rust. Tetanus is an infection that can find its way to your system through broken skin. A scratch from a rusty nail, for instance, will not cause Tetanus. Yet, the bacteria can be found close to rusty items. 

Nevertheless, you can keep your metal items for longer with the right amount of care. Rust tends to develop in the presence of moisture and heat. Store your metal items in a well-ventilated environment and at a stable temperature. Ideally, metals should be kept away from materials that can give acidic vapors, such as wood. You might also find it useful to learn from experienced metalworkers how to care for different metals. Exterior metals, such as your garden gate or decorative features, should be frequently treated with lacquer, beeswax, or paint. Moving metal parts need to be lubricated with a specialist product to prevent rust and maintain functions. Finally, avoid chemical products that could be corrosive to the material. 

Are you ready to make metal a part of your sustainable household? Metal requires the right amount of care, whether you wish to maintain it, dispose of it, or even transform it into something new.