Spring is fast approaching, and it is time to complete an annual Spring cleanse on anything from our wardrobe to our garden. However, while it is important to de-clutter our homes for a fresh beginning to the year – it is crucial to contemplate the effects such a thing can have on the Earth and make a change about it, starting this Spring.
Due to the chilly winter weather, we may have been restricted in doing certain things and left our homes to pile up with unnecessary items. Nonetheless, now that the weather is growing warmer and the seasons are changing, it is a fantastic opportunity to clean up. We can refresh our homes in a multitude of ways. To give a few examples: we can pick out pieces from our closets that we no longer wear to lighten our wardrobe; remove furniture to declutter our rooms and; collect unneeded greens from our gardens.
Alongside our spring cleaning, it is essential to acknowledge ways to clean our homes without damaging the Earth because the Local authority collected waste management - annual results provided by GOV.UK states, “in 2020, total ‘waste from households’ increased to 22.6 million tonnes from 2019 when it was 22.1 million tonnes. This is equivalent to 399 kg per person, up from 392 kg per person in 2019, an increase of 1.8 percent.” This proves that we must bring about the use of waste management concepts to deal with vast amounts of household waste efficiently. Poor waste management contributes to climate change, air pollution and can directly affect many ecosystems and thus harm the Earth.
Three popular waste management concepts include recycling, reusing, and reselling. The London Borough of Hounslow has provided blue and red bins for residents to recycle their rubbish which then is taken to “Hounslow’s state-of-the-art waste and recycling centre on Southall Lane, where we sort your recycling.” as mentioned on the Borough’s website. This means that less rubbish is put into our black wheelie bins and, as a result, getting rid of rubbish sustainably. Nonetheless, if you do not have access to such resources, recycling needless materials can be done at local dumps. For instance, Townmead Road Re-use and Recycling Centre in Richmond provides a place for people to bring their rubbish. Afterward, it is conveniently sorted into material groups and recycled.
Additionally, reusing clothing and food waste is a wonderful way to put materials deemed unnecessary to use and give them a new purpose. Instead of throwing away clothes, you can turn them into wipes and use them to clean. On top of that, food waste can be used as compost not only in your garden but for others as well. ShareWaste is an online website where you can find local areas willing to take in food waste and use it as compost; providing a pathway for excess food to be utilised. Another inventive website is DoNation; the website informs readers on why composting is crucial. For instance, “Composting your food waste can save almost 150 kg CO2 over the course of a year through a reduction in greenhouse gas emitted from landfill sites." Moreover, you can pledge on DoNation to compost for periods– encouraging people to help and nourish the Earth.
Lastly, reselling is a fantastic way to be creative with unneeded items. There is a wide range of apps available to resell things from clothing to household items, which is a straightforward way to make extra cash as well as repurpose things and give new life to them before throwing them into landfills. A few examples of such apps are eBay, Facebook marketplace, Depop, and Thrifted.
By using the season of Spring to start helping the environment, we are actively taking steps towards a cleaner Earth. Stop Garbage, an online blog about helping the environment, states “Recycling waste saves over 30% of energy in the production of new packaging or materials” in company with how recycling reduces water pollution. In being mindful of where our rubbish goes in time for an annual house cleaning, we are one step closer to cleaning the Earth.
