The winner for the Go Green contest is Nia from Unlisted One. Thank you Nia for the ideas! As I already have your address, I will send it to you as soon as tomorrow.

Nia wrote:

1) Woman Cosmetics
Some of the content in cosmetics and beauty products can contaminate our environment. This is because these products are not supposed to degrade in human body so they can fulfill their function. However, they are not degrading once they get into the environment. As an alternative, we can choose a natural choice such as a home made beauty remedies. For tips, just visit http://www.wholeliving.com/article/beautyremediesb0407fob_t1?autonomy_kw=psoriasis&rsc=header_2 or http://allnaturalbeauty.us/hbr_hair_skin_body.htm.

10) Gifts
Use your creativity in gift giving, including making homemade gifts (using recycle items such as newspaper, old megazine etc) or even giving away an unused gift. You can even used an empty cereal box to make a homemade cards and re-used the wrapping paper. This can reduce the paper usage.

2) Household items
Try to buy your household needs in bulk and buy a refill once it is finish. This will not only save your money but also the environment by reducing wastage to the environment. Usually, I will buy a big container of shower bath cream that is suitable for the whole family (including my baby) and I will buy a refill for it later.

3) Babies
For babies, use cloth diaper instead of normal diapers. Every child adds a minimum of 6500 disposable diapers (30% of which is non biodegradable) to our environment.
Soiled diapers will also contain many pounds of raw fecal matter with viruses that can contaminate our water supplies and wild life. To manufacture disposable diapers will also use large quantities of wood pulp from trees, which can also effect the environment.

4) Choose un-processed food
One of my colleagues used to tell me, try to eat more un-processed food instead of the process one. She told me it is for our health but I can see her principle will also save our environment. Why? Because the lesser processing for the food is, the fewer resources used to get it to your plate.

5) Use online banking
Some of us will still go to the bank to settle their bills, or pay for their credit cards. Why not doing it all at the comfort of your house? By doing it online, you can save paper usage (which origin is from a tree) when you use the online billing instead of the hardcopy one. You can also save on fuel by not going all way to the bank to settle all your payment.

6) Make it green
Plant more trees in your neighbourhood,the average tree can remove 50 pounds of carbon from the air in one year during photosynthesis. After mowing your lawn, leave the grass clipping there instead of scooping it into a plastic bag. It will reduce the amount of waste and can act as a natural fertilizer which is safe and healthy for the environment.

7) Solar power
Try to use gadgets that run on solar power. This can be done for radios, chargers for phones and laptops. By doing this, you are actually saving more on the energy usage.

Donate electrical item

Purchase long-lasting products that can be reused or refilled, such as rechargeable batteries, handphone, laptop etc. Donates used electronics to be reused by schools, non-profit organization or families that could not afford for a new one. This will extends the lives of these products and keeps them out of the landfills. If you are using a disposable items such as batteries, you can always recycle it.

9) Reduce plastic waste
Use shopping bag when you are out for shopping. Shopping centre such as Tesco, Giant and Jusco do sell this type of bag. Reduce plastic waste as it shows that 66% – 80% marine litter is plastic which is very long lasting. This plastic waste is a threat for our marine life.

Thank you also to bain, muminmalaysia, Rara, Covert_Operations’78, Arcturus, dwimaya and mama mia for the comments, ideas and suggestions.