A Greener Pet Hotel - Top 3 Tips

You may have seen a few weeks ago I did a blog about plastic pollution, particularly plastic waste in the pet product industry. Here at the Pet hotel I often find myself trying to reduce our waste, not an easy task when you consider how many pets live here as well as the humans!
But really we all know that waste and over consumption is a problem and what I feel (and I think other people do too) is that we are tired of hearing about all the problems, all the shocking images of rubbish strewn beaches. What we really want now are solutions!

There are my top 3 things that I have already done here at The Pet Hotel, that I think can be helpful for every pet owner. There are loads more but it's easy to be overwhelmed and it's much more achievable to make small changes stick. Some them will actually save you money as well as reduce your impact on the environment.

1. Compostable poo bags- There's really no reason now why you should not be using biodegradable or even compostable poo bags. Big, strong and home compostable. These poop bags are made from natural plant based materials. They are extra large and extra thick, they cater for almost all poop sizes and will break down once disposed of. Now these may seem more expensive than the all most see through tiny black bags you get from the pound shop (the RRP on theses is around £5.99 for 60) but I really do think that it's worth it. More than just its green credentials, These bags on rolls fit most poo bag holder, so you wont need to buy a new on. The size is large enough to deal with any dog poop I've had to deal with! And as any one who has used the very cheap poo bags will know, the horrible feeling that your fingers will go through the bag as your picking up a fresh poo, is no problem with these strong bags. There are several different pack sizes and even bags with handles which are available at my market stall and will soon be available from my web shop too.
   

---

2. Home made cleaner and disinfectant - This one is really easy and will save you money! I make my own cleaning spray for use for both the pets and around the house. The key ingredient is distilled white vinegar, buy the largest quantity you can manage, as this will give you the biggest saving. I buy around 20litres at a time on line, so far I have not needed to buy any more and that was over a year and half ago. I reuse the spray bottles from the cleaners I already had after they were empty and rinsed them out. For a general purpose spray you only need about 1 part vinegar to 10 parts water. Now if the thought of a vinegar smells puts you off (generally it makes me want chips!) you can add a few drops of essential oils (and really you just need a few drops) to get that nice smell. I put in used lemon and citrus peels in mine, which I collect from my local cafe!
If you're spending money on new cleaning sprays, for that "clean fresh" smell you really are just wasting your money and contributing to more plastic and chemicals being used and produced.

3. Switch to a green energy supplier -  Honestly this is one the best things we have done to reduce our overall foot print. As it turned out for us the cost of the tarif was actually less than we were paying with our previous big supplier. They supply 100% renewable electricity and 10% green gas. For every unit of or energy  that we use they make sure a unit is produced and put back into the grid by a renewable source. They source energy from solar, wind and hydro generators from across the country. The green gas they supply goes from renewable sources too, like farm and food waste.
They buy the energy from independent energy generators across the UK and where ever possible they have a direct relation with these generators to purchase their output. To cover any shortfalls, they purchase renewables from the wholesale market. Their energy sources vary from solar and wind to hydro or anaerobic digestion.
If you'd like to find out more about switching energy energy supplier please get in touch via the contact page :)