Sustainability Goals For 2024

I realise it's now the end of January and 2024 is essentially in full swing, but I tend to use January as a month for getting prepared for the year ahead as well as living a little slower and cutting myself some slack (because January is hard enough without having millions of goals to achieve as well amiright?).

I've looked back at my sustainability goals from last year and have to admit that the results are very poor. I could probably simply rewrite that post and publish it again for this year. I think I was perhaps being a little overambitious especially as 2023 was my first full calendar year as a parent; the fact that I had put 'reduce food waste' as a goal clearly showed that we hadn't started our weaning journey yet.

I am going to write different goals for 2024, both because my expectations and my focus has shifted. While I didn't do well at the goals I set last year there were other areas I did excel in so I'm going to focus more on what I think I can achieve rather than what I'd love to but most probably won't. 

Reusable baby wipes // For the first year of parenting we were pretty solid at using reusable wipes at home (for both bum and face - separate wipes I hasten to add!) and only used baby wipes when we were out and about. Just past the year mark I'm ashamed to say we gave up on reusable nappies; partly because the ones we have don't really seem to fit Bobby anymore (despite the fact they're supposed to be birth to potty training nappies) and partly because disposables last longer and toddlers don't exactly love having their nappy changed. There was absolutely no reason for us to also give up on reusable wipes, but for some reason we never got round to sorting a system for disposable nappies with reusable wipes, which is something I am absolutely going to change this year. 

Become more active in writing to my local council/MP // I hate the fact that we live in an area where food waste can't go in our brown bin. We bought our own small food waste bin, but are yet to even use it because we're a little clueless when it comes to composting and don't really have the time or money to invest in any sort of composting system ourselves. So first on my list is writing to the local council to ask them why and if they'd consider collecting it. I'd also like to write to my MP about environmental issues, which is something I've never done before. I'm the type of person who sits quietly in the corner and makes my own changes without causing much of a fuss and I suppose I'd like to make more of a fuss this year! 

Make my own cleaning products // We've used Smol for our cleaning sprays for a couple of years now (you buy the bottles at the start of your plan then simply buy solid refills that you mix with water, reducing single-use plastic and also pollution from shipping as the refills are so much smaller and lighter), but I'd like to cancel our subscription and use our existing spray bottles to make our own cleaning products. Despite being sold heaps of chemicals, it turns out that most of the time you only really need vinegar, lemon juice and baking soda to keep your house clean. 

I'll leave it at three goals; less than last year, but hopefully that means I've got more of a chance to actually give them a good go!

Amy x