By now your New Year’s Resolutions for 2012 will most likely have been forgotten, nothing more than a distant memory and a blurry haze of broken promises, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Instead, set yourself a New Year’s Resolution that is simple, achievable and beneficial for the environment. That is, to take an active approach to reducing your carbon footprint.

Step 1: Limit your intake of processed foods or in stereotypical New Year’s Resolution terms, make more friends.

Limiting your intake of processed food means you’re reducing the amount of plastic wrapping you consume while improving your health and general wellbeing. Fruit and vegetables are friends not foes and a fun way to welcome them into your life and lessen the amount of processed food you eat is to plant a vegetable garden.

Step 2: Opt for an environmentally friendly mode of transport or exercise more.

Why sit cooped up in a car, with your legs wedged behind a chair or underneath a steering wheel when you could be experiencing the wind in your hair and the warmth of the sunshine on your face. Choose cycling over other forms of transport and not only will you reduce the level of pollution entering the atmosphere but you’ll get fit while doing so.

Step 3: Keep cool this summer: use cold water to wash your clothes instead of hot.

Switching to cold water to do your washing saves $$$ and energy. How will it save you money you ask? Well when you wash with cold water you are only using energy to run the machine and no energy to heat the water. It’s as simple as that. There are some clothes with tough stains or grease that will require a hot water wash so separate these and do them all in one wash to limit your hot water usage.

Don’t forget our AWARE laundry powders and Orange Power laundry liquids are completely environmentally responsible and garden safe.

Step 4: Spend more time online. That’s right, MORE time online. Switch all your bills over to your email account.

Receiving letters in the mail is fun. Who doesn’t like opening a handwritten letter and delighting at the tales inside? On the other hand though, no one likes coming home from a long and tiring day of work to a mailbox full of bills. Reserve your mailbox for the fun things like postcards from travelling friends, letters from your Grandma and pizza coupons and switch all your bills over to your email account. You’ll no longer need to sigh when you open the mailbox and saving some trees in the process isn’t too bad either.

Step 5: Re-cycling? Refresh your memory on the recycling process.

Everyone knows the benefits of recycling paper, glass and the likes but did you know organic waste that includes food scraps makes up about 47 percent of Australia’s household waste? A simple way to combat this wastage is to green up that thumb of yours. Start a compost heap or worm farm in your garden to recycle your food scraps and you’ll not only be doing the environment a favour but your flower bed will love you too.

So if you want to boast to your friends that you set a New Year’s Resolution you were actually able to fulfil then take our 2012 carbon foot print challenge and get back to basics around the home.