Save the planet

Support local breweries and pubs

In the UK we consume an average 95 litres of beer per person per year, but 83 per cent of it comes from only four multinational brewing companies. The ingredients in a locally-produced beer might travel a total distance of 600 miles during production, but beer from a large brewery can be transported as many as 24,000 miles, belching out CO all along the way.

Campaign For Real Ale also has details on supporting small breweries in order to stimulate local economies. Visit www.camra.org.uk or call 01727 867201 for more information.

Make your own cleaning products

For washing powder mix one cup of finely grated soap, one cup of washing soda and two tsp of lavender oil. To remove oil on clothing, rub white chalk into the stain before laundering. Use bicarbonate of soda to clean sinks and baths, vinegar to clean windows, washing soda crystals in water to clean floors, a paste of baking soda and water to clean ovens and microwaves, three parts olive oil to one part vinegar to polish furniture and soda paste to polish silver.

Use fragrance-free cleaners

Avoid cleaners that use synthetic musk fragrances. They are potential hormone disrupters and have been found in fish, mussels, human body fat and breast milk. Use products with citronella instead or open the windows and create a homely fragrance by boiling some cinnamon.

Donate your left-over paint

Did you know that of the 350 million litres of paint sold in the UK each year, 45 million litres remain unused? The Community Re-paint scheme run by Save Waste and Prosper runs paint collection schemes - sorting out paint and redistributing it to community projects, housing associations and schools. Visit www.communityrepaint.org.uk for more information or phone 0113 243 8777.

Rent power tools or share them with neighbours

That small cheap electric drill was probably made in a sweatshop on the other side of the world, its production and transportation consuming unnecessary amounts of energy and causing pollution.

Why not hire tools, or invest in more durable ones that can be pooled with neighbours? Letslink, the community sharing scheme, will help: www.letslinkuk.org Phone: 020 7607 7852.

Recycle curtains

Curtains are resource-intensive in the amount of material they require - so don't leave them to fester in the garage or dump them in the rubbish. Find your nearest textile recycler at www.wastepoint.co.uk/wasteconnect, Phone: 01686 640 600. Or get in touch with the Curtain Exchange at www.curtainexchange.net Why don't you buy a pair of vintage recycled curtains from them rather than a new pair?

Use short bursts of water from the tap when you brush your teeth

You can waste up to 4.5 litres of water by just leaving the tap on while brushing your teeth. Just using short bursts of water to rinse your toothbrush can save 80 per cent of the water that you normally use.

Why use drinking water for flushing the toilet, washing your clothes and watering your plants?

Use rainwater instead! Flushing the loo accounts for more than a third of our water use, laundry for 12 per cent and irrigation for seven per cent.

To really make a difference, invest in a rainwater collection system that will enable you to use rainwater for all these activities. Contact the Centre of Alternative Technology for advice, www.cat.org.uk Phone: 01654 702 400.

Get composting

Compost bins are easy to get hold of at garden centres, but even better, make your own from old tyres, scrap timber, bricks or wire mesh. By building your own bin you can recycle materials, which might otherwise find their way to the scrap heap.

Give your flowers coffee and watch them grow

Did you know that coffee-grounds are perfect compost material? Next time you're about to empty the coffee pot, tip it onto the flowerbeds instead of the bin. If you use a paper filter - that can go on the compost heap too!

Have an ethical wedding list

This is a great opportunity to introduce some of your friends to the benefits of green life. Ask for a wind-up radio or solar powered garden lights. You can set up a wedding list at www.ethicalmatters.co.uk or www.greenfibres.com

Choose non-toxic flowers

Flowers are laced with pesticides - so much so that when you sniff a commercially-grown rose you breathe in a small amount of toxic fumes. Buy local, farm or garden-grown flowers instead.

Buy second-hand baby clothes

Second-hand baby clothes are cheaper, as well as being well-worn and more comfy.

If you aren't keeping baby clothes for future children of your own, pass them on again to friends or take them into your local charity shop.

You can also buy and sell unwanted baby items on the Internet. Visit www.baby-things.com and www.preloved.co.uk/go/gaga or get information on local nearly new- sales from the National Childbirth Trust www.nctpregnancyandbabycare.com Phone: 0870 770 3236.

Bin disposable nappies

With cotton nappies, you'll bear more of the environmental cost in terms of water and energy (if you wash them at home) but this is very little compared with nappy production costs and will make a substantial saving to the environment.

The financial cost of disposable nappies per child per year has been estimated to be £1,200. But the cost of keeping one child in shaped cloth nappies has been estimated to be £300, and that includes washing. Think what you could do with an extra £900 a year!

Take old magazines to your doctor

Doctors' surgeries don't have large budgets to spend on magazines, but we could all do with something to read while we're waiting for our appointment. So, whether it's Cosmopolitan or The Ecologist, take your old copies down to your local surgeries.

Recycle CDs

CDs are made from polycarbonate; a non-renewable, non-biodegradable petroleum-based product that usually ends up in landfills. Now there's a company - Polymer Reprocessors - that takes these CDs and turns them into items such as burglar alarm boxes, street lighting, and lenses. Visit www.polymer-reprocessors.co.uk

Invest in a slow cooker

A slow cooker uses little more electricity than a light bulb - and makes delicious slow-cooked energy-efficient meals.

Peel before you cook

Friends Of The Earth estimates that half of all UK fruit and vegetables sold contain pesticide residues, some of which can accumulate in our bodies and harm our hormone systems. Recent pesticide studies have revealed that pesticides found in unpeeled potatoes can exceed the safety level for toddlers by a staggering 21 times! So when you're preparing fruit and vegetables for children, make sure you peel them first.

Taken from Go Mad! Go Make A Difference 2: Over 500 Daily Ways To Save The Planet, published by Think Publishing price £6.99. On sale at bookshops or from www.wildlifebooks.com

Updated: 09:08 Thursday, November 13, 2003