As the weather warms, many take on the annual task of spring cleaning to freshen up their living space. Have you ever wondered about the impact that your cleaning habits have on the environment? Here are five tips to help you turn spring cleaning into a less environmentally harmful activity.
- Have you decided to give up some of your belongings and are looking forward to getting rid of them? Do it responsibly. If possible, update damaged items – repair, mend, restore. This will help in not contributing to the 5.4 million tons of waste accumulated in Lithuania per year (Statistics Lithuania, 2018). If you no longer need those items, keep in mind that they may be useful to others. Talk to your loved ones, place an ad on social media or in the Vinted online store – there will definitely be people who will need that item. And if that doesn’t happen, remember that you can always donate them to a local thrift store.
- If you need to throw away some items, make sure you know how to get rid of them correctly. Take unusable medicine to the nearest pharmacy, deliver textile products to the nearest textile collection container, and contact EMP Recycling for the removal of household appliances.
You can find a map of various waste collection sites here:
https://atliekos.lt/…/didelio-gabarito-atlieku…/
More information about electronics and metal collection can be found here: https://emp.lt/ - Proper recycling not only prevents the growth of already overcrowded landfills but also saves the country’s non-renewable resources that would be used to produce new products. It is important to mention that incorrect sorting is harmful to nature, so it is important to know how to do it correctly.
You can find the correct sorting memory prepared by “Žaliasis taškas” here:
https://www.zaliasistaskas.lt/teisingo-rusojimo-atmintine/ - When choosing cleaning products, pay close attention to their ingredients and their impact on the environment. With the water drained from households into the sewer, together comes a wide variety of cleaning products, detergents, and detergents, which also contain several types of hazardous chemicals. Phthalates, perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and alkylphenols (APs) are found in household chemicals. Phthalates have a negative effect on health, and the most serious negative effect of PFCs is long-term damage to nature, as it is a substance that has remained in the atmosphere for more than a century and contributes to global warming.
One of the tools that make it easier to choose cleaning products is special eco-labels. Organic and environmentally friendly products made in the European Union (EU) countries are marked with the EU flower mark, such products made in Scandinavia are marked with the Nordic Swan, and in Germany with the Blue Angel.
More information about environmentally friendly cleaning products can be found here: https://vbplatforma.org/…/1396104373_ekoatmintine.pdf - Once the house is tidy, the cabinets are emptied and the shelves are polished, you often want to “treat” yourself to a new purchase. Before heading to the store, think critically about whether you really need a new shirt, a new pair of shoes, or other home interior details? Such spontaneous purchases not only waste your money but also contribute to the myriad of unused and quickly forgotten goods – they end up in the country’s landfills, where they emit environmentally harmful gases that contribute to climate change.