Staying cool, saving water and wasting less food

Welcome to the August edition of Green Steps. This month’s edition has tips on staying cool, saving water and reducing food waste. We hope you find it useful.

Everybody be cool

How do you keep your home cool when it’s hot outside?

The Centre for Sustainable Energy has tips to keep your house and yourself cool, including:

• Shutting curtains and windows on south-facing walls to keep the hot air and sun out
• Using a fan to move cooler air around your house
• Placing frozen bottles of water in strategic places around your house to cool the air

Also, it’s worth remembering if you have a dog to make sure they can stay cool. The RSPCA has advice on their website.

Water we going to do?

The Environment Agency has warned that urgent action is needed to avoid England being 5 billion litres a day short of water demand by 2055.

While this is partially to do with leaks and other infrastructure issues, which are beyond our control, we can all do our bit to minimise water waste.

The WWF has 10 tips on saving water in your home.

Reduce food waste, save money

Ahead of the introduction of food waste collections in 2026, it’s worth considering how much food you currently waste and reducing that.

According to Love Food Hate Waste:

• 60% of food waste comes from UK homes
• 18 million tonnes of CO2 are generated by UK homes from wasted food and drink
• 8 meals could be saved each week if we stopped binning our food at home

If you can develop good food habits, like planning your shops, sticking to your list and storing your food properly after you buy it, you can make a big difference to the amount you throw away.