5 simple steps to a more sustainable life
Every day, more people are making sustainable changes to their lives. Consumers are increasingly making conscious decisions with sustainability and the environment in mind.
There are a lot of easy changes we can make at home to improve our sustainability, and UQ startups are leading the way in creating sustainable products and services.
1. Choose sustainable packaging options
Every year, Australians use an average of 130kg of plastic – and less than 12% of that gets recycled. You can make a difference by using reusable stainless steel, glass or bamboo containers, and swapping cling film for beeswax wraps or silicone food covers.
It can be more challenging to avoid plastic when you’re eating away from home, especially if you buy takeaway food. Uuvipak are on a mission to eradicate this waste with their 100% home-compostable cups and bowls, with support through the UQ Ventures program.
Made from organic waste without using any artificial reagents, Uuvipak products are vegan, 100% biodegradable and even edible.
Image: Uuvipak
2. Compost your food scraps
In Australia, half of our household rubbish is made up of food and garden waste. By composting your own organic waste, you can reduce the amount you send to landfill, which helps prevent greenhouse gas emissions.
When you use homemade compost in your garden, you’ll also improve your soil health, reduce the amount of chemical fertilisers you need to use, and reduce the need for water by an average of 30%.
If you want to take your composting to the next level, Monty is a world-first compost monitoring device. Originally developed through the ilab Accelerator program, Monty combines an in-compost device with a mobile app to make it easy to track your compost’s health.
Image: Department Group
3. Switch to eco-friendly cleaning products
Cleaning and skincare products are another easy area to improve your sustainability practices. Traditionally, liquid products like surface cleaners, detergents and hand washes are up to 95% water, which means they use a lot of excess packaging and transport emissions for something you can easily add at home.
By switching to a waterless product like Tirtyl, founded by UQ alums May Bandi and Lachlan Hill, you can reduce plastic waste and emissions, as well as choosing products that are better for you.
Tirtyl have also partnered with Plastic Bank to support plastic clean up in developing countries, with the equivalent of over 2.5 million bottles of plastic waste collected so far.
Image: Tirtyl
4. Make sustainable food choices
From eating less meat to saving your vegetable scraps for delicious homemade stock, there are lots of easy ways to make your food choices more sustainable.
For a more creative approach, try a coffee fruit energy bar from I am Grounded. Founded by UQ arts and journalism graduate Vanessa Murillo, together with Lachlan Powell, I am Grounded bars are created from coffee fruit, the fleshy part of the coffee berry that is normally discarded when coffee beans are harvested.
Around 20 billion kilos of coffee fruit is wasted every year, which increases greenhouse gas emissions and pollutes local river systems, so helping to divert some of this fruit from waste is a tasty way to help the environment.
Image: I am Grounded
5. Invest your money sustainably
Not all of the changes you make need to be material. Ethical investing, including investing in ways that match your environmental values, grew 42% between 2018 and 2020.
For a sustainable approach to ethical investing, you can try Bloom Impact Investing. Part of the 2021 Ventures ilab Accelerator program, it’s Australia’s first climate impact investing app.
Image: Adobe Stock / lovelyday12
About Ventures
UQ is passionate about enriching its entrepreneurial ecosystem and creating leaders of the future.
Through UQ Ventures, we offer students, staff, and alumni access to a suite of free programs to build skills in a hands-on environment. During your time at UQ, we can connect you with mentors and experts from around the world to help bring your ideas to life.
Ventures will support you at every stage of your entrepreneurial journey – from building your entrepreneurial mindset to solve real-world challenges, through to launching a startup or social enterprise. Through our Ventures ilab Accelerator program alone, we have helped more than 230 startup companies who have received more than $107 million in investments and grants.
Header image: Adobe Stock / sewcream
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