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What you can do
See how you can make a positive difference.
There are plenty of things that we can do to lighten our individual footprint on our planet. Below we have listed lots of ways you can help to create a Green Future for North Lincolnshire.
What can residents do?
See our information below for lots of hints and tips on how you can save energy, save water, what you can recycle, how to apply for warmer home grants and much more. Learn about your own personal carbon footprint and ways you can reduce it by searching the internet or your preferred App store for ‘climate footprint tracker’.
What can businesses do?
Local businesses can take advantage of grants and support to improve their carbon footprint. Available schemes can be located using the Advice and Grant Scheme finder.
The SME Climate Hub supports small to medium sized companies to take climate action and build resilient businesses for the future. They provide lots of guidance on what businesses can do to be more climate friendly.
What can schools and community groups do?
There are lots of organisations offering some great resources to schools and community groups on how to take climate action. Take a look at the following sites to see how they could help; Lets Go Zero, Climate Ambassadors or Climate Action – Locality.
Be more energy efficient
Saving energy at home is a great place to start. Draughtproofing and improving insulation will make your home cosier and cheaper to heat.
Try to keep your thermostat around 19°C, and choose LED lightbulbs and appliances with high efficiency ratings to keep your electric consumption down.
For information about how to save money on fuel bills and grants and loans to help you heat your home efficiently visit our Housing support and financial assistance webpage. There is lots of useful advice relating to improving your home efficiency on the Energy Saving Trust Home energy efficiency webpage.
Save energy at home
Unplug your gadget chargers when you’re not using them. If a charger feels warm when it’s plugged in but not attached to a device, it’s still using energy.
Devices like televisions, microwaves, scanners, and printers use standby power, even when off.
A single computer and monitor left on 24 hours a day will cost around £45 a year. Switching them off when not in use and enabling standby features could reduce this to less than £10 a year each and prolong the lifespan of equipment.
Visit the Energy Saving Trust website and follow their tips and advice for quick and easy ways to save energy, lower your bills and reduce your carbon footprint.
Switch to low-energy light bulbs
Changing traditional light bulbs to energy-saving equivalents can make a big difference to your electricity bills.
Traditional 40W, 60W and 100W bulbs have equivalent low-energy versions, which are rated approximately 8W, 10W and 15-20W respectively. By replacing a 40W traditional bulb with an 8W low-energy one, you have immediately cut your use by 80% for that bulb.
Save water when using your washing machine
- Only wash full loads. Washing machines operate at maximum efficiency when the drum is full. If you tend not to fill the drum you should was less frequently or consider buying a washing machine with a smaller drum.
- Use cotton wash instead of synthetic wash. To avoid creasing, synthetic wash programmes use fifty per cent more water than cotton washes.
- Do not use extra rinse. If your washing programme is set to use extra rinse, this will obviously use more water than necessary. The purpose of extra rinse is to ensure the fabric softener is completely removed for the benefit of people with sensitive skin.
- When you buy a new washing machine, check the water icon on the energy efficiency label.
For further information about how to save water and money, visit the Energy Saving Trust website.
Saving water
- Try to fill the kettle with only what is needed, this will save water and energy.
- Using the lid on saucepans reduces the amount of water lost through evaporation. It also helps your lovely veg cook quicker.
- Experiment with the settings on your dishwasher, many modern machines offer ‘Eco’ or ‘Economy’ setting.
- Turn off the water whilst brushing my teeth – according to waterwise.org – a running tap wastes over six litres per minute, meaning if adults brush their teeth the NHS recommended twice a day for two minutes – they could be wasting over 24 litres of water a day – more than is used in the average modern dishwasher cycle
Visit the Waterwise.org website for more ideas on saving water.
Be energy efficient with your fridge and freezer
Don’t leave the door open longer than necessary. Defrost frozen food in your fridge. Frozen food will act like an ice pack to help cool the fridge, reducing the amount of electricity the fridge needs to use to keep cool.
For optimum energy efficiency, aim to keep your fridge and freezer at least three quarters full. You could fill them with bottles of water to take up space. But don’t overfill – fridges and freezers work by circulating air around the compartments. If they’re too full, air won’t be able to circulate, and the appliance will use more energy to keep cold.
Read information on good food habits on the Love Food, Hate Waste website.
Shopping
Picking products with less plastic packaging, like loose fruit and vegetables, is a great way to help tackle climate change by reducing plastic waste.
We throw away around 290,000 tonnes of plastic bags and wrapping every year in the UK. This material makes up nearly a quarter of consumer packaging, yet only 6% is recycled. Putting plastic bags and wrappings in your red bin contaminates the waste and costs us every month – take your bags and wrappings to your local supermarket and store for recycling. Find your nearest location on the recyclenow website.
Read information on good food habits on the Love Food, Hate Waste website.
Make better choices when shopping
Choose good-quality products that will last, use them for longer and try to repair before you replace.
Use refillable products where possible. Find out how to buy refillables such as washing-up liquid and shower gel, and which supermarkets sell packaging-free products.
Wasting food feeds climate change
It’s time for action – small changes to save your food from the bin make a huge difference to our planet. Lots of hints and tips on the Love Food Hate Waste website.
Reduce, reuse or recycle
Ways to reduce, reuse or recycle your household waste in North Lincolnshire. What you can put in your bins and boxes, and what happens to your recycling and donate unwanted clothing to clothing banks in your area. Check our dedicated recycling pages for more information.
- Reduce, reuse or recycle page
- A-Z of waste and recycling
- What happens next to waste and recycling
- Bins, waste and recycling FAQs
- Clothing banks – The Salvation Army and The Firefighters Charity will happily take your unwanted clothes and textiles to redistribute to those in need.
Switch your brown bin for a FREE composter
Composting recycles your daily plant and food waste, along with other organic materials such as grass cuttings, tea bags and coffee grounds. You can also mix in shredded cardboard and untreated wood ash.
This decomposes over time to produce a mixture rich in nutrients to feed your soil and nourish your garden.
This scheme gives you the option of exchanging your brown bin with a new free 330 litre home composter, focussing your efforts on recycling a greater range of household waste rather than throwing food waste away.
A ten litre bag of compost can cost between £3 and £4 so you could save up to £115 on average by making your own using one of the 330 litre bins.
Read more about what you can and cannot include in your composter and sign up now for the exchange on our Home Composting webpage.
In the garden
Grow edible plants for your family.
Buy peat free compost and plants grown in peat free compost.
Use natural pest control not harmful herbicides/insecticides.
Leave a pile of small branches as a habitat for beetles/hedgehogs.
Lots of hints and tips on the RHS website.
Bee Hotel
Honey bees are the kind that constructs hives, and they make up only 15% of the bee population. The remaining 85%, known as solitary bees, mostly wander around and reside on burrows, cracks, hollows, and holes.
By constructing a bee hotel, you provide a habitat to these bees. This allows them to breed and ensure that they don’t go extinct.
Learn how to make your own bee hotel on the RSPB website.
Travelling to work
Walking, cycling, using public transport or car sharing will reduce emissions, improve our health and can also save you money.
Plus less air pollution means fewer cases of asthma, cancer and heart disease.
Read more on the Cycling UK website.
Volunteer your time
- Take a look at ideas to volunteer your time and help your community.
- Join thousands of people and communities across the UK connecting to nature on their doorsteps and contributing to its protection. Join The Conservation Trust volunteers. Connecting people and green spaces to deliver lasting outcomes for both.
- Volunteering for health and wellbeing:
- Green Gym – Outdoor Exercise That Makes A Difference With TCV
- Churchyards:
- Caring For God’s Acre – Protecting wildlife, preserving heritage, involving people
- Nextdoor Nature in Lincolnshire:
- Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust is supporting communities, that have little connection to nature in their neighbourhoods, to make small changes to their backyards, streets, parks and pockets of open space that encourage wildlife to move back in. Collectively these will provide more wild spaces that benefit nature and help to improve residents’ health and wellbeing.
Nextdoor Nature is a National Lottery Heritage Fund project run by the Wildlife Trusts nationally and delivered by local Wildlife Trusts. Contact: sfysh@lincstrust.co.uk
Volunteer with Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust
- Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust – Volunteers of all ages contribute to the Trust’s work bringing a range of skills, interests, time and enthusiasm. There is a range of voluntary opportunities, from surveying wildflowers to putting up fencing, assisting in a visitor centre or helping children enjoy a minibeast hunt.You don’t need to be an expert! We have opportunities at all levels and necessary training can be provided.
Litter Pickers
Local people, community groups, charities, clubs, businesses and town and parish councils in North Lincolnshire are being called on to join the growing army of Litter Heroes who have had enough of other people’s rubbish and want to help take action against it.
If you would like to get involved in the big clean up, email neighbourhoodservices@northlincs.gov.uk or call 01724 297000. The council can offer support including providing litter picking equipment and removing the rubbish you collect.
To join the Litter Heroes register at www.keepbritaintidy.org. This will ensure that all clean-ups in North Lincolnshire are recognised and are shown on the map along with others taking place up and down the country. You will also be able to download a guide and get advice and tips.
Share your litter picks using the hashtag #OneGreenFuture #BigBagChallenge
Government grants for heat pumps
Heat pumps are three times more energy efficient than traditional gas boilers, meaning they will substantially reduce the carbon footprint of your home. Because they run on electricity, there’s also potential to make significant bill savings by using smart tariffs with cheaper off-peak rates.
The government offers a £7,500 grant towards installing a heat pump across England and Wales through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme. Further information is available on the Energy Efficient Home campaign website.
Make your home smarter, greener, and more energy efficient.
Change to an electric vehicle
The council is taking progressive action to reduce its emissions by delivering on its environmental strategy; A Green Future. The rollout of electric vehicle charge points in all areas of North Lincolnshire plays a key part in the delivery
What are the benefits of switching to an electric vehicle?
- Reduced pollution mile for mile, with the ability to have a true zero emission vehicle.
- Reduction in noise pollution, as the vehicles are almost silent, enhancing the tranquillity of the environment.
- Exempt from road tax and congestion charges.
- Lower running costs.
- Significantly lower running costs.
- A better driving experience.
Read more on the Electric Vehicle Charging webpage.
Cycling
Cycling can make you feel good about life – whether you want to improve your fitness, help to improve the environment or have a little fun with your family, cycling is the ideal activity. Visit our Cycling in North Lincolnshire webpage for more information.
Walking
There are many walks to be found within North Lincolnshire. You can be sure to find a walk to suit any ability or age. What makes walking in North Lincolnshire so special is you never know what you might stumble across. Walks in North Lincolnshire take in the mysterious and breath-taking; from historic airfields to a 12th Century Abbey.
View the list of Walking the Way to Health walks on the Walking in North Lincolnshire web page. Additional information is also available on the Visit North Lincolnshire website.
Parkrun/walk
Fancy a walk, jog or run in one of our local parks? Join one of the Parkruns; a five kilometre timed walk, jog or run that happen across the country at 9am every Saturday morning. Further information is available on the Parkrun page.