Our Simple Sustainable Solutions

To educate and activate the environmental movement is one of the goals behind the people who came up with Earth Day and next year they will celebrate their 50th anniversary, but what are the small things we can do to help the planet around us?

Here are some of our simple ‘fleek tweaks’ and sustainable solutions that ANYONE can implement into their everyday:

Fight against food waste

Problem

A study by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations showed that every year an estimated 1/3 of all food produced globally is lost or goes to waste.

Sustainable Solution

Work out what you realistically need to eat for the week and buy accordingly, it takes a bit of trial and error but after a few weeks you’ll get the hang of it. We normally work out our average week and cut out 1-2 ‘meals’ just in case our plans change, and also plan out week so we eat the things with the shortest shelf-life at the beginning of the week. By planning ahead we also find we have more time in our week as we aren’t having to impulse by or head back to the shops if we run out of things.

Bag it up

Problem

Those supermarket ‘bags for life’ are in theory a clever idea, but how often do you pass by the shop and realise you left it on the back of the door, in that safe place, exactly where you would remember to pick it up...only you didn’t. Or you actually did remember it (mental high-five) but then proudly get it out in the supermarket only to discover there is already a hole in the bottom/side or the handles have stretched to the point of snapping?

A lot of these bags, we get from the supermarkets are bought with the best intentions but are more like a ‘bag for twice’ than a ‘bag for life’.

Sustainable Solution

Instead at Fleek we made a little investment into a small durable item. The same size as our wallet it neatly fits into our gym-bag, purse or oversized jeans pocket. We present to you - the foldaway bag. Yep we know it’s not rocket science but this little hack isn’t only better for the environment but for us over the course of the year it worked out more cost effective:

Foldaway shopper:£2.50

Cost of bag bought from the RNLI charity shop £2.50. Average use 2 times a week, owned for over a year, still going strong. 

  Bag for life:£5.20 

Cost per bag approx 10p. Based on average use of 2 times per bag, 2 shops a week.

Save by searching

Problem

This is one of those things where there isn’t so much of a problem, but there is a solution.

Sustainable Solution

"Let me just google it" or how about "let me just Ecosia it".

But what is Ecosia?

Ecosia is just like Google, Yahoo and Bing, a search engine, but the difference is they use their profits to plant trees. Like the major players, they use a similar model where they make money through the ad revenue, but unlike these big companies they use this money to do their bit for the environment with 80% of their monthly profit going towards planting trees in countries like Brazil, Ethiopia and Indonesia. We know it seemed to good to be true so we checked out their monthly finances (which they post online at Ecosia Financial Stats) and they all add up. Still want to learn more they also have a blog which catalogues how they are trying to change the world, one tree at a time.

If you liked this you may also enjoy our blog on homemade gnocchi, easy to make and great to freeze so you won't need to waste anything click here to read it.

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Slow-Living Retreat

Remember we still have a few spots left on our slow-living retreat at Lake Garda in June. Come and find your fleek by signing up now.

Spaces limited to 10 guests per retreat.

Dates: 20-23rd June 2019. Click here to book.