5 Eco-friendly Activities You Can Do At Your Home!

​In our quest to make our planet better, every initiative, how much even small, matters.

On days like Earth Day and World Environment Day, we are flooded with messages to save Earth.

We even forward many inspirational quotes and wishes to our family and friends. Celebrating Earth, its environment, and everything it provides us is good. The bigger question, however, is:

Should we celebrate Earth only on designated days and return to our non-eco-friendly routine on other days?

Well, definitely not.

We can celebrate our planet each day and do our part to improve it. As they say, charity begins at home; similarly, change to improve our planet should also start from no place better than your home.

Here we have 5 do-it-yourself (DIY) eco-friendly activities that can be easily done around the year at your home!

Activity 1 - Probe Your Kitchen

This activity will help you understand all the food items in your kitchen and identify all that is non-organic.

You’ll be surprised that many food items, like pulses, cereals, and edible oil, may not be certified organic.

So, next time you are stocking up your kitchen, you will know which items need replacing with a certified organic food brand.

Pro-tip: Certified organic food products usually have one or more organic certifications on their packaging. Examples of organic certifications include:

1. Jaivik Bharat
2. India Organic
3. PGS-India Organic
4. USDA Organic
5. European Union (EU) Organic​
   

Activity 2 - Probe Your Wardrobe

It takes around 2700 litres of water to make 1 cotton t-shirt!

Let’s understand this better. An average adult will consume the same amount of water in 900 days, which is almost two and a half years!

By looking at your current wardrobe, you will understand whether your clothes, bags, and footwear are from a sustainable fashion brand or not.

If not, opt for sustainable fashion, cruelty-free footwear, and eco-friendly bags and accessories when shopping next.

Here are some sustainable fashion brands to check out:

• Clothing - House of Anita Dongre, Earthy Route
• Footwear - Paaduks, Neeman's
• Bags - EcoRight

Activity 3 - Segregate Waste Right at the Source

Start this activity by answering the following questions:

1. Does your home have a dedicated dustbin for wet waste?
2. Does your home have a dedicated dustbin for dry waste?

If your answer is 'No' to even one question, it’s time to do some shopping and buy dedicated dustbins for your home.

Segregating the waste at source helps in efficiently recycling them, and you can even use wet waste to make compost that can be used in your garden.

Almost all municipalities across India encourage citizens to segregate waste at source, and if you want your city to be eco-friendly, this is a small thing you can do from your end.

For your convenience, we have curated some dustbins. You may select from these or purchase from your neighbourhood shop.

Wet waste dustbin

Kuber Industries Blue Plastic Dustbin with Lid 10 L

Dry waste dustbin

Nilkamal 12 L Home Paddle Dustbin

Twin dustbin (for wet and dry waste)

Nilkamal 10 Liter Twin Dustbin

Activity 4 - Start Composting Wet Waste

Now that you have started segregating waste, you can take the next step and start composting wet waste at your home.

This is one of the most impactful eco-friendly activities because:

1. You are lessening the burden on landfills.
2. Most vehicles that collect and transport wet waste run on fossil fuels. By composting wet waste, you are reducing the need to transport it.
3. The manure obtained can be used to enrich your home garden or parks in your vicinity.

Purpose-driven companies like Daily Dump started their journey with a mission to encourage people to compost wet waste. Today, they offer several innovative products that will help you kickstart your composting journey.

Activity 5 - Become a Plant Parent

Indian culture and homes since ages have always been inclined towards eco-friendliness.

You might have seen Tulsi (Ocimum tenuiflorum) plant in many Indian households. But with rapid urbanisation and our buildings growing vertically, many people stopped planting trees.

There were several reasons for it, the main one being locating nurseries in crowded urban cities and taking the time to visit them.

But thanks to an ever-increasing digital economy, now you can become a plant parent without even visiting a nursery. You can order plants of your choice from companies like Ugaoo and get them home delivered along with the garden accessories you want.

So, now you have no more excuses not to plant a tree.

There’s always space for at least one plant in your home 🪴

Every Eco-friendly Activity Matters

Let nobody tell you. What will you achieve by just planting one tree or choosing sustainable clothing over fast fashion?

We see all positive changes around us because of doers and not naysayers.

In Indian culture, there’s a saying, ‘boond boond se ghara bharta hai’, which means drop by drop fills the jug.

Every eco-friendly initiative matters; no matter how much ever small, it all eventually adds up to make our planet better.