When people think of ways that they can reduce waste and energy consumption they usually think of the big things, like the cars that they drive, or the house that they heat and electrify. However, studies have shown that there are also small changes that people can make in their lifestyle which will make a collective dent in the amount of waste in the United Kingdom. Things like unplugging a mobile phone charger when it is not in use or turning a television off at the main switch can save millions in energy usage if everyone would do them. A recent report claims that even something as simple as a cup of tea can have dramatic effects on the environment.
This week WRAP, the government’s waste watchdog, released a study which illustrated a variety of small ways in which citizens in the United Kingdom can reduce their waste. While some groups claim that massive restructuring needs to be done in British homes, WRAP says there are small ways that each and every person can make a difference. One small example WRAP offers goes to those who don’t finish a cup of tea. According to WRAP, an enormous amount of waste is created by people who re-boil an entire kettle of water rather than re-heating the cup they didn’t finish.
According to the WRAP study it takes nearly one hundred and fifty grams of CO2 emissions to make a cup of white coffee from scratch, which is around the same amount it takes to drive a mile in a car. It takes only about thirty grams to re-heat a cup of tea or coffee in the microwave.
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