While most people are in agreement that it’s more important than ever to be environmentally conscious, it can undoubtedly be a bit tricky at times. Even if you’re good at conserving energy and not wasting food, perhaps you don’t recycle as much as you could, or don’t always make the most ethical shopping decisions. Thankfully there are a number of apps that can help illuminate our blind spots – here’s a selection of the very best.
Composting
As well as reducing garden and food waste, composting helps improve your soil, helping plants grow. While composting is straightforward, if you haven’t done it before you might be unsure about how to start. Compost Works is a great app that helps you calculate what you should be adding to your compost heap to keep the carbon and nitrogen levels well balanced. Meanwhile Home Compostingoffers a more comprehensive introduction to composting, giving advice on the types of compost bins available and even instructions on how to make you own.
Ethical shopping
Even with the best intentions, trying to make ethical purchasing decisions can be difficult. Luckily there are a couple of apps that can help guide you. The Good Shopping Guide is a UK-based ethical shopping guide, with league tables for products in seven sections including Food & Drink, Health & Beauty and Fashion. American shoppers will want to download the GoodGuide app, which allows you to make sure green ingredients are used and how ethical the manufacturer is.
Food
More than 200 million tonnes of food is wasted each year across the globe. In America, it’s thought the average family four wastes $1,350 annually (and that’s a conservative estimate). Love Food Hate Waste is a British app, but anyone can use its meal planner to help plan meals and leftovers for the following fortnight. If on the off chance you happen to work in a professional kitchen, the Wise up on Waste app from Unilever aims to help you reduce waste by 20% by adopting small everyday actions.
Saving Energy
If you want to get kids a head start when it comes to energy saving download JouleBug, which turns energy-saving into a game by offering achievements for fulfilling certain actions. It’s not just fun for children though; many adults will also find the app informative and useful. A number of smart thermostats such as Hive and Nest Learning Thermostat are also available, allowing you, among other things, to remotely control the temperature in your home. While the hardware will set you back initially, it should pay for itself thanks to the energy savings. Check directly with your energy supplier to see if they recommend a particular thermostat, as they will often offer to install them for free.
Driving
According to the Energy Saving Trust in the UK, motorists are wasting as much as 15% of their fuel because of inefficient driving. The FuelGoodapp uses GPS to calculate how you could make savings based on the car you drive, while offering a number of handy hints for fuel-efficient driving.
Recycling
American residents should download iRecycle, a fantastic app that helps you find local recycling facilities across the country. Recyclebankis another American-only app that rewards users for recycling. UK users meanwhile may be lucky enough to live in an area with a dedicated app designed by their local council (Recycle for Southampton and Recycle for Greater Manchesterbeing just two examples). These will remind you about collection days and provide information about your nearest recycling points.
Written by Lionel Thain of online competition site MyOffers. You can win petrol, insurance, or even cars by visiting them at MyOffers.co.uk.
Article Submitted By Community Writer.
