Eco News

lifestyle Eco News

Sustainable Crimbo

This year Dunelm has taken steps to create a sustainable Christmas for every home, removing glitter from all decorations and foliage and using alternative techniques, such as beading and sequin embellishment. The retailer has also eliminated 400kg of plastic from its wrapping paper and crackers have also had a makeover, with all throw-away and plastic gifts removed and replaced with items you can use and keep.

CLEAN HEAT

Low carbon more efficient heating systems such as heat pumps will be no more expensive – and in many cases may end up cheaper – to buy and run than gas boilers, under government plans. Through the Heat and Buildings Strategy, the government has set out its plan to incentivise people to install low-carbon heating systems in a simple, fair and cheap way as they come to replace their old boilers over the coming decade. This will significantly reduce the UK’s dependency on fossil fuels and exposure to global price spikes, whilst supporting up to 240,000 jobs across the UK by 2035. New grants of £5,000 will be available from April next year to encourage homeowners to install more efficient, low carbon heating systems – like heat pumps that do not emit carbon when used – through a new £450 million 3-year Boiler Upgrade Scheme.

DID YOU KNOW…

Life In Orpington is printed using vegetable-based inks and we also print on FSC® certified paper, meaning it has been sourced from sustainably managed forests. In addition, every tree felled for paper is replaced by significant growth of new trees in Forestry Commission managed forests.

We stock an amazing A – Z of Organic, Natural and Plastic free products

Almonds, Baking Sheets, Colombian Coffee, Dish Cloths, Ear Buds, Five Varieties of Flour, Gluten Free Pasta, Herbs, Individual Toothbrushes, Juicy Prunes, Kilner Jars, Lentils, Mango Strips, Non-Bio Laundry Liquid, Oats, Pistachios, Quintessential kitchen products, Rice (Arborio and Basmati), Spices, Teas, Unrefined Cane Sugar, Vinegars, Wax Wraps, Xtraordinary Service, Yeast (quick dried), Zero waste necessities’

Orpington Market: Tuesdays and Fridays 9am to 2pm

THE ORGANIC OPTION

Organic Christmas trees are highly beneficial for both humans and the environment. Magic of Foresters, in Barnet Wood Road, Bromley, is the only UK organic Christmas Tree farm certified by the Soil Association.

Typically, non-organic trees are sprayed in nasty pesticides, herbicides and hormone inhibitors. These pollute the groundwater, harm humans and wildlife and are generally not something you want to be around or have in your home.

Organic trees, by contrast, provide a flourishing environment for threatened creatures such as bees, insects and worms. They allow the soil microbiome to flourish and increase the ability to take in, and store, carbon. In fact, organic trees are even good enough to eat – Nordmann Fir are seen as a delicacy in Scandinavia. So, when you choose an organic Christmas tree you are not only supporting the environment but bringing a beautifully fresh, ‘air purifier’ tree into your house.