how to achieve your shopping pledges

Remember to take a bag with me when I go shopping

Why pledge?
Every year an estimated 134 plastic bags, per household, are given out in supermarkets - that's about 14 million in Wandsworth!

These plastic bags have a major environmental impact, including:

• taking up to 500 years to decompose in landfill
• causing harm to wildlife
• made from oil, a fossil fuel, which is running out
• every plastic bag saved is worth 62.5kg of carbon

Top tips

Do I really need a plastic bag?
The next time you're in a shop ask yourself this question. Many shops pack single items into an unnecessary plastic bag and research suggests most of these are discarded after only three minutes.

Take your own bag
Keep a used carrier bag with you at all times. That way, when you are shopping you will always have a bag to use. Try reusing old carrier bags, a supermarket bag for life or a cloth shopping bag.

Set up a 'bag pool' at work
Plastic bags are often brought back to work when staff bring their lunch back from the shops. Try placing a collection of plastic or cloth bags and a sign in an obvious location that staff pass on the way out to lunch.

Reuse plastic bags
There are many uses for old plastic bags, for example many people use plastic carrier bags as bin liners at home.

Write a shopping list and stop buying more food than I need

Why pledge?
In the UK we throw away about one third of all the food we buy - that's about 28,000 tonnes of food in Wandsworth!  This food ends up rotting in landfill, producing methane, one of the most potent greenhouse gases and a significant contributor to climate change. We are also wasting all the carbon generated when the food was produced, processed, transported and stored.  Throwing away food is also a considerable waste of money. Research suggests that each week a typical household throws away between £4.80 and £7.70 of food that could have been eaten. This is equivalent to £250-£400 a year or £15,000-£24,000 in a lifetime.

Top tips

Plan your menu for the week ahead

Stock take - check what ingredients you already have in the fridge and cupboards.

Is it really a bargain?
It's easy to be tempted into impulse buying more than we need by the lure of special offers such as buy one get one free. They seem like a moneysaver in the supermarket but sometimes these items end up being thrown away. Always write a shopping list- and stick to it!

Other tips on not wasting food:

Keep food at the right temperature in the fridge to prevent it going off.

Prepare food from scratch, keeping a note of portion sizes so you can judge quantities in the future

Make meal times routine, unpredictable meal times make planning shopping trips harder

Try to buy loose fruit and vegetable instead of pre-packaged – you can take what you need and save packaging

Buy products made from recycled materials, such as paper for my printer

Why pledge?
Choosing to buy products made from recycled materials is an important step in 'closing the loop' – it is often said that you are not recycling until you are buying recycled products.

The materials you place in the orange sack or orange bank are collected, sorted, sent for reprocessing and remanufactured into new products to be brought and used again. Buying recycled products is important - without demand for recycled products there will be nowhere for our materials to go.

Buying products made from recycled materials instead of products made from new materials also saves natural resources and green house gases. For example, producing recycled paper involves between 28% - 70% less energy consumption than virgin paper and uses less water.

Top tips

There is a huge range of products made from recycled materials. Start with recycled paper for your printer and then move on to more exciting products:

• aprons made from juice cartons

• fleeces made from plastic bottles

• wallets made from newspaper

• coasters made from circuit boards

Why pledge?
A glass milk bottle is re-used between 9 and 40 times and then recycled - saving all the plastic bottles or cartons that milk is sold in the shops.

Top tips

Find your local delivery at www.delivermilk.co.uk

Use green cleaning products

Why pledge?
Chemical based cleaning products can contaminate the air, water and food, and building up in natural ecosystems.

Top tips

Making the switch to environmentally friendly cleaning products is easy - there is now a wide range available from supermarkets, independent health food shops and on-line. Products include:

• washing up liquid
• dishwasher tablets
• rinse aid
• surface cleaners
• toilet cleaners
• lime scale remover
• floor cleaner
• washing powder
• fabric softener
• stain remover
• eco-balls (an environmentally friendly alternative to washing powder)

• Dryer ball (lift and separate washing in the tumble dryer, they can reduce drying by 25%)

• E-cloths (made from micro fibres that clean with water alone, eliminating the need for chemical based cleaning products. After use the cloths can be used washed and reused again and again).

Visit London Remade's Sustainable Products Directory. You can review products you find particularly useful and let other know.

The Green Guide is about changing our patterns of consumption and seeking out greener, natural and ethical alternatives to every conceivable type of product and service. Visit www.greenguide.co.uk

Save money and the environment by making your own cleaning products from natural ingredients. See the Low Impact Living Initiative for recipes.

Reduce my 'food miles' by buying seasonal fruit and vegetables produced in the UK whenever possible

Why pledge?

Flying our food in from all corners of the globe has a major impact on the environment. One basketful of imported food creates more CO2 than an average family's cooking for 6 months.

Shopping for seasonal food that has been produced in the UK can also save you money - you pay a premium for food that is scarcer and has travelled a long way. You can help support the local economy and because the food is fresher it is likely to taste better.

Where can I buy seasonal produce?

Become aware and check the labels on the food you buy in the supermarket to see where it has come from.

Try shopping at one of Wandsworth's local markets – they are a great place to pick up local produce:

• Hildreth Street, Balham, SW12 (trading 6 days a week, Monday to Saturday)
  
• Battersea High Street, SW11 (trading mainly on Saturday)
  
• Northcote Road, Battersea, SW11 (trading six days a week, Monday to Saturday)
  
• Putney Farmers' Market, St Mary's Church (trading every Friday 11am-3pm)
  
• Wandsworth Farmers' Market (a small farmers market trading every Saturday from 10am to 1 pm)
  
• Clapham Farmers Market, Bonneville Primary School, Bonneville Gardens, SW4 (Sunday 10am – 2pm)

Sign up to an organic fruit and vegetable delivery such as Abel and Cole or the Ethical Food Company.

Join or set up a food co-op – a group of like-minded people living in the same block or neighbourhood who buy in bulk to reduce the cost of buying organic or sustainably produced food. For more information visit www.sharedenergy.org.uk/Activities/.

Join a LETS (Local Exchange Trading Scheme) – members of the scheme exchange goods and services with each other using a pool system of credits. This can include locally produced produce. There is a LETS group operating in the Furzedown area, visit www.furzedown.net or email LETS@furzedown.net for more information.

Grow your own fruit and vegetables 

Food Up Front is working with residents to promote and initiate the use of front gardens and balconies to grow and share healthy natural food. Phone Seb on 0772 656 0703 or Zoe on 0795 755 274 or email info@foodupfront.org.

No garden? Consider joining the waiting list for an allotment plot near your home to grow your own fruit and vegetables.  More information on allotments  or visit www.londonallotments.net