The Green Kitchen
The kitchen is considered the heart of the home - it's where meals are prepared, eaten and the
dishes washed, where coffee is brewed and newspapers are read. It's also where 15% of the
world's green house gases are created.
The idea of a 'green' kitchen is simple really - it's looking at ways of running this part of
the household in a manner that won't impact too heavily on the world around us. Australians
produce 15 tonnes of greenhouse gases each year, that's amongst the highest in the world.
This is all common sense, we're not asking you to make big sacrifices or spend lots of money.
The opposite, just think about what you're doing and you could save dollars. If we all shop,
eat and recycle wisely the world will be a better place.
Buy biodegradable cleaning products, or revert back to old-fashioned methods such as bicard soda
and lemon juice to clean the kitchen. Buy yourself that new oven you've been promising yourself, just make sure it's a self-cleaning one, that way there's no more nasty spray-on poisonous cleaners. Ensure your fridge is energy efficient and consider swapping to 'green' electricity, ask your supply company. Most importantly stop accepting those plastic bags now.
Recycling, composting, saving energy, using water wisely and purchasing food in the best way possible all has a real impact and is relatively easy to do. Above all remember the three Rs: reduce, recycle and reuse.
Purchasing
This is where it all starts, what you buy and how much you buy affects the environment.
From energy efficient appliances to purchasing items produced by sustainable methods and
minimising the use of plastic bags there are several things everyone can do.
Think about what's it made from:
Is it made from recyclable products?
Can it be recycled?
Is there another brand using less packaging?
Does it use unbleached paper/cardboard?
Is it made from a sustainable supply?
Only buy what you need, up to 15% of all food purchased is simply just thrown away. Take your own
string or canvas bags, refuse plastic bags at all times and reuse any that you have.
Consider repairing or borrowing appliances instead of buying new ones. Buy yourself a better
environment, call 1800 803 772 for a Shop Smart Buy green booklet.
Always buy:
Organic or biodynamic, all food produced by sustainable agriculture
Refills packs
In bulk
Biodegradable cleaning products
And use own containers and mugs for takeaway food and drinks Packaging/storage
We need to understand the environmental impact of what we buy, consider the options before we buy
and make the best choice for the environment and ourselves. The weekly shop at the supermarket
can contain up to $10 worth of packaging. When buying packaged products look for recyclable
packaging so as to lessen landfills, which omit greenhouse gases. Also buy in bulk and store
ingredients in glass jars or plastic containers.
The school lunch is one area for concern, ask your school to implement a general waste, paper
and a glass rubbish system. And to consider adopting a mulch centre for food scraps. Buy
sandwich bags and ask your children to bring them home again, rinse and reuse. Pack crisps
and biscuits in sealable containers (reward children that bring them home). I estimated that
I was using 1-2 metres of plastic each week in school lunches. Multiply that by 2 million
children in Australia and you'll see why we're filling our tips faster than we can find new ones.
Try to :
Find alternatives to glad wrap and foil
Refuse excess packaging and paper
Avoid packaged convenience food
Buy fresh food wherever possible
Energy Efficiency
Not only is energy efficiency good for the environment, but it's good for your pocket too.
Choice Magazine tells us that 50% of households make no attempt to conserve water what so ever.
While many of us have learnt not to hose the driveway there are many other ways we can save.
18 million tonnes of waste goes to landfill each year, per head we are second only to America in
the world, pretty bad for a 'green' country.
Use microwaves where possible as they omit less greenhouse gases, gas stoves next for preference
and avoid electric stoves if possible. Ensure you use the right size saucepan for the job and
it fits the heat source correctly. Don't keep the beer too cold either, if you reduce your
fridge temperature by just 1°C it omits an extra 50kg of greenhouse gas.
Try to:
Use lids on pots, save 20% energy
Simmer not boil
Don't over fill kettles and pots, boil just enough water
Reheat using the microwave
Thaw food before cooking
Cook in bulk
Avoid placing fridge in the sun or near the oven
Don't leave taps to run
Buy energy efficient appliances
Use green electricity; ask your supply company
Plant your own vegetable garden (transport generates greenhouse emissions)
Buy locally and buy seasonally Recycling
The rubbish from the average families' food and garden waste produces 1 tonne of greenhouse gas
each year. Simply things like making the full use of your bottle bin and paper collection,
starting a compost heap and collecting your corks to give them to the Girl Guides make a
difference. In the last decade they've collected 250 tonne's of corks and saved 250 tonne's of
potential landfill.
There are three important steps;
1. Reduce if we generate less waste in the first place, there are fewer problems to deal with
later.
2. Reuse a product several times finding new ways to use it can significantly reduce waste.
3. Recycle as much as possible an important way of limiting the amount of waste going to rubbish tips.
Get a copy of the TRUE FOOD GUIDE. Produced by Greenpeace this booklet informs us of companies
using genetically modified foods in processed products. At present there is no labelling law
requiring companies to declare use of GM foods. Greenpeace state that millions of Australians
are eating GM foods and are not aware of it. True Food ask us to call companies ask them to go
GE-free and guarantee that any animals used in making their products are not fed with GE feed.
Buy certified organic produce, or products labelled GE-free and fresh unprocessed foods.
Call 1800 815 151 or visit www.greenpeace.org.au/truefood for your copy.