At home

Here are some things you can do in your own home to be an eco-friendly citizen.

Waste: put your dustbin on a diet!

• Consider borrowing or renting instead of buying. If you only use certain equipment occasionally, it's better to rent or borrow, with good examples being DIY or gardening equipment.

• Consider giving any clothing or items you no longer use to charitable or social rehabilitation organisations.

• Stick a "no advertising" sticker on your letterbox to contribute to reducing the volume of printed material. In doing so, you will clearly be showing that you no longer wish to receive advertising and will be avoiding throwing away approximately 35 kg of waste per family per year, (i.e. approximately 15 kg per person).

• Follow the waste sorting instructions given by your local council.

• Try your hand at composting. All you need to do is to use kitchen leftovers and waste to produce natural fertiliser. The resulting compost can be used to nourish a vegetable patch, a garden or window boxes.

• Stop using the plastic bags which certain store chains still give out free of charge, as these are difficult to recycle (unless you intend to reuse them as bin bags).

• When you purchase a new item of household electrical equipment, take your old equipment with you. The store has to take it off your hands free of charge.

• Opt for rechargeable batteries and take your old batteries with you when you visit the hypermarket. Just one battery can pollute 400,000 litres of water.

• Never pour away your leftover paint, solvent or other dangerous substances in a natural environment, down the sink or down the toilet. Instead, take them with you to the waste disposal site.

• Take your out-of-date medicines back to the chemist’s.

Reduce your water bill!

• Regularly check your water consumption, noting down the figures on the water meter. Several dozen litres a day can be wasted due to leaks.

• Use the water used to clean vegetables to water your plants. And use hot water to destroy the weeds in your garden.

• Use a two-stage toilet flushing system. This can halve the water consumption of your toilet, from 10 litres to between 3 and 6 litres per flush.

• Drink tap water rather than bottled water. This will make it possible to save up to 170,000 tonnes of plastic per year. By doing so, in just one year, each person who usually drinks bottled water could reduce his waste by 12 kg.

• Turn off the tap when washing hands, brushing teeth or shaving etc. In just three minutes around 20 litres of water are needlessly wasted.

• Take showers instead of baths. A shower consumes an average of 50 litres of water while a bath requires three times more.

• Install an aerating shower head. The injection of air bubbles gives the impression that you're using the same quantity of water, whereas in reality between 30 and 40% of the water is saved.

• Use your dishwasher when it is full. By only using the dishwasher when full, you will be saving water and the energy needed to heat it (80% of the energy consumption). Note: washing dishes by hand is more costly in terms of both energy and water.

• Use the recommended doses of washing powder. Using more powder does not give better results but increases water pollution. It goes without saying that you should use environmentally friendly washing powders.

Stop energy losses

• Lowering the heating temperature by 1 degree represents a reduction of 7% off your heating bill. Wear a light pullover at home during the winter rather than a T-shirt.

• Turn off the sleep modes on your electrical appliances (TV, computers, etc) and choose low energy light bulbs. According to the home in question, these measures can reduce energy consumption by 10%. Another handy solution is to plug your appliances into a multi-plug adapter with an on-off switch. By doing so, a simple click is all that’s needed to turn off all your equipment at the same time.

• Unplug the chargers for your electrical appliances (mobile phones, laptop computers, etc) when the batteries are fully charged. The appliances will otherwise consume electricity unnecessarily, which is then converted into heat, without gaining any additional battery time. This excess heat damages the electronic components which then age more quickly and the batteries gradually lose their capacity.

• Opt for sobriety when choosing your electrical goods and choose their sizes carefully. Replace your Class D washing machine by a Class A++ model. Don't forget to use the eco-cycle on your appliances and to wash at low temperatures.

• Don't be tempted by the dryer. Clothes dryers are extremely greedy where energy consumption is concerned. Whenever you can, dry your clothes on a line.

• Regularly defrost your freezer. Refrigerators and freezers are among the heaviest consumers of electricity. The consumption of a freezer increases by approximately 30% with 3 mm of ice around its walls, and doubles after 5 cm.

• Put a plate on top of your saucepans and turn off your hot plates and your oven a few minutes before the end of the cooking time, to take advantage of the accumulated heat. Use a hot plate which is smaller than your dishes in order to avoid heat loss. To heat up your food, where possible use the microwave instead of a traditional oven, which uses five times more energy.

Renewable energy

• If possible, don’t hesitate to install photovoltaic panels on the roof of your house. For more information go to your town hall. If you produce more electricity than you need you can sell it to EDF. Prices (“feed-in tariffs”) are now set quarterly, based on the capacity supplied the previous quarter.