Buying and using products that have minimal impact on the environment aids in the reduction of your homes carbon footprint, can save you money, and help your home and local environment towards a sustainable future. Think about where you source any products you purchase such as food, office supplies and cleaning products, but also consider other types of purchases such as services from sub-contractors, utility suppliers and investments.The use of local or organic food, even growing your own, or local crafts such as pottery, furniture etc. benefits the guest but also contributes to the local community.
When purchasing from suppliers or directly, it cna help to take the following quesitons into consideration:
Do they avoid harmful materials and practices in their manufacturing processes?
Do they source products from local manufacturers?
Do they avoid harmful materials and practices in their manufacturing processes?
Are you selecting products that are reusable, refillable, and more durable or repairable?
This creates less waste and is more cost-effective than disposable or single-use products in the long run
Buying recycled products
"Recycled" products are products containing recovered materials. There are two types of recycled materials:
"Pre-consumer" - recovered materials, such as mill or factory trimmings, damaged products or overruns, that are commonly generated by manufacturers and put back into the manufacturing process.
"Post-consumer" - recovered materials that have been used by consumers, separated from trash and collected in recycling programs before being remanufactured.
Grow your own fruit and veg – organically if possible. This helps to not only. Also, use your resources – fruit trees growing in the grounds, for example.
If you can’t produce your own food, you could buy it locally - from a neighbouring farm, a local cooperative, or the local market. This way people in your immediate community benefit from your business, and you’ve not contributed to global warning as your food hasn’t travelled miles by air or freight. Simple steps like this can really help to strengthen local enonomies and production infrastructures, and helps the whole community towards local sustainablility.
Keep your own animals – if not for meat then perhaps a few chickens for eggs? The more food and produce that comes directly from your home then the less needs to be transported and outsourced from further afield.
Support traditional methods of agriculture by not buying food that isn’t indigenous. Tourists are often seen as wanting steak in French Polynesia, so local farming methods have been destroyed because farmers have started keeping cows to keep up with demand. Introducing foreign species can also cause ecological problems to local ecosystems and wildlife, which can have a knock on effect for crops and agriculture in the locality.
Buy seasonally available food and support the Slow Food movement. The Slow Food movement 'aims to achieve long-term change in the thematic areas of biodiversity (preserving threatened foods and strengthening local economies through assisting small-scale producers and building short-supply chains), taste education (creating a better understanding and appreciation of the important connection between health, local food culture and agriculture) and food communities (connecting producers to consumers, creating awareness that showcases sustainable agriculture and artisan food production)." (http://slowfood.org.uk/Cms/Page/our-mission)
Buy organic food where possible, and where produce just isn't available locally, support the Fair Trade Movement.
Don’t just source food locally; you can also buy furniture, painting, linens, candles, for example.
Buy FSC certified timber products to ensure that they are from a sustainable source.
Or buy toiletries that aren’t tested on animals, or products that contain natural ingredients.
Think about packaging too – the less the better!
