If you are looking to live a little lighter and reduce your impact on the planet, see below for our helpful hints, tips and links to some local groups and organisations that can help you. We have information on sustainable travel, using less energy, recycling, reducing water consumption, sustainable food, benefits of eating less meat, and tips on how to reduce plastic pollution. Big changes can take time, but by incorporating some of these tips into your daily life you will soon notice how much cleaner and greener your choices become and this will have enormous benefits to the environment.
Helpful Hints and Tips

Be Water Wise
An average Wessex Water customer uses 140 litres per day. Do you have a meter, if so you can see how you compare with the average and set yourself a target. The World Health Organisation recommends a minimum of 20 litres per person per day in order to maintain health and hygiene. In the UK we are advised to drink 2 litres a day, but all our water is fit to drink, and a quarter goes straight down the toilet! If you don’t have a water meter yet, Wessex Water can fit one for free. Find out if you should get one here, then see how much you can save. Ten tips for saving water Further information at Wessex Water

Discover easy steps to greener living
Easy steps to greener living with Dorset Green Living Project. Sustainable Dorset’s Green Living Project has been awarded £10,000 by the National Lottery Community Fund to launch a project that may potentially help up to 160 households around Dorset reduce their carbon footprint. Groups of between 6-8 local households will come together to work through the Dorset Green Living Guide. This manual is based on the guide developed by Transition Streets (formerly Transition Together) to give households the tools and information to help them minimise their carbon footprint and save money at the same time. Each group will meet every 2 to 4 weeks to discuss each chapter and choose which lifestyle changes or minor home improvements to complete within the following month. The idea behind it is a group effort and run in a fair and organised way, so each group will agree at the beginning who will host each chapter and at which house, so that no one person feels overburdened with responsibility. The chapters cover basic principles of green living such as reducing energy and water consumption, eating more plant-based foods that are local and organic, reducing waste, using greener means of transport and community building. The idea […]

Dorset Council Residents’ Survey – Share Your Views on Sustainability and More
To access the survey click: this link

Eat Food You Can Trust
Eat food you can trust from producers you know. With one in four lorries on the road carrying food, choosing local not only means you can know where it comes from, you will also be supporting the local economy and reducing food miles. You can also: Further information at Local Food or Sustainable Food Cities

Eat Less Meat
The Environmental Benefits of Eating Less Meat. It is becoming increasingly well known that reducing our consumption of meat and animal products can be a healthier option for us and is also much better for the planet. Animal agriculture is one of the most damaging activities for our planet, and including the byproducts of animals, accounts for up to 51% of global carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. The illustration below shows the environmental impact of our food choices by comparing the daily carbon footprints of different diets, each with varying degrees of meat consumption. The levels of meat used in the meat-eater groups: High meat-eater (100grams or more per day) Medium meat-eaters (50 – 99 grams per day) Low meat-eater (less than 50 grams per day) To give you an idea of these quantities, a quarter pound burger is 113 grams and a chicken breast around 150 grams. As you can see, changing from a medium-meat diet to a vegan diet reduces one’s Carbon Foodprint by almost half. Even reducing from high-meat to low-meat diet has a saving of 35%. It is clear that changing our eating habits can bring about a substantial reduction to our personal carbon footprints, […]

November News from Dorset Sustainable Palm Oil Community
It has been a great few weeks for the Dorset Sustainable Palm Oil Community. We have had three new champions sign up in the last couple of weeks (the Prince of Wales First School in Dorchester, Arts University Bournemouth and Just 1 Swap, a zero-waste shop in Boscombe), joining Bournemouth University, St Osmund’s Middle School and others! We have also been very busy talking to more potential champions (so hopefully watch this space!). We were so delighted to see the Chester Sustainable Palm Oil City initiative as a finalist in the Earthshot Prize! What a phenomenal achievement for all involved. I hear on the grapevine that more communities are joining including Lichfield – all good news for getting the message out to as many people as possible that sustainable palm oil is a solution to protecting and restoring nature. We have a brilliant 3 page article in the Marshwood Vale, a community magazine covering West Dorset, East Devon and South Somerset. The article can be found here. Additionally, we have had a blog written about the initiative by the Dorchester BID (Business Improvement District) – read all about it here. We are hoping that this will be taken up by […]

Reduce your Plastic
More than 8 million tons of plastic are dumped into our oceans every year! Packaging accounts for just over 40% of total plastic usage. Over 100 billion plastic beverage bottles are sold in the U.S alone each year. Annually approximately 500 billion plastic bags are used worldwide each with a “working life” of a mere 15 minutes. Here are some simple ideas for you to adopt to reduce your plastic usage and waste: Take your own bag to the shops Drink tap water and carry it in your own stainless steel bottle Don’t buy body scrubs – those tiny beads are usually made of plastic Choose fruit and vegetables that are not wrapped in plastic Don’t use ‘single use’ plates, knives, forks etc. wash up after you eat. Wherever you can, choose liquid products that can be re-filled rather than bought new etc. Refuse plastic straws in your drinks, try stainless steel or paper. If you can’t find an alternative to single-use plastic, make sure you recycle it Don’t celebrate with balloon releases, the chances are the balloons will land in the ocean, choking seabirds, turtles and marine mammals. Use crystal deodorants – they last far longer, are more effective […]

Travel Wisely
Travelling for pleasure is fun, we get to go to different places, and meet up with friends and family.

Use Less Energy at Home
Most homes in the UK are heated by oil or gas, these are fossil fuels that have been laid down under the earth over millions of years. The World Health Organisation recommends that we live at a minimum temperature of 18°C, but we can still conserve these fuels. When you switch on a light or appliance you are drawing electricity from the national grid. This electricity is generated from a range of sources: around 66% fossil fuels, 21% nuclear and 13% renewable, this balance changes constantly to view it now click here. Further information at Wessex Energy

Watch Your Waste
On average people in Dorset throw away or recycle around 500kg of waste per year. The council is currently rolling out an improved kerbside recycling scheme, collecting recyclables, food and garden waste – to read all about how this works and what happens to your waste click here You could also: Further information at Dorset Waste Partnership