Rethinking how you use your kitchen will allow you to leave a smaller carbon footprint. Unfortunately, many people who want to have a more environmentally-friendly kitchen don’t know where to start this process. If you count yourself among those who could use a little coaching in this area, you’ll appreciate the following three tips. 

Choose Energy-Efficient Appliances

The kind of appliances you select makes a big impact on how much energy you use in the kitchen. You should consider investing in appliances that are energy-efficient, but you should also do more than that. For example, if you have a stew to prepare, don’t cook it on the stovetop. Instead, pull out the slow cooker and do it in there. It requires less energy than the stove does, and the clean-up could be easier as well.

When you’re considering appliances for your kitchen, look not only at your big appliances but also the secondary items like the toaster. Careful selection of these items could save a lot of energy.

Composting

Composting has a number of significant benefits. If you plant a garden and add your own compost to the ground, the soil will be much richer in nutrients. Less of your garbage will go into landfills. In light of these benefits, it’s worth it to set up a composting system.

If you’re not yet composting, your garbage disposal offers you an alternative for getting rid of food waste. However, that doesn’t mean everything should go in there. SouthGate Companies says that non-food items such as bones and popcorn kernels shouldn’t be put through the disposal. This causes a lot of wear and tear on the system, which makes it break down sooner.

Embrace Reusables

Richly Rooted advises that employing reusable containers</a> means that you won’t automatically turn to throw-away sandwich bags and the like. However, there’s more to it than that. If you use items like beans and rice, buy them in bulk and store them in glass jars or metal containers. This saves you from having to continually bring small, disposable bags of these items home. Those bags create excess waste that eventually ends up in a landfill. To prevent even more waste, you can also wash and reuse sponges and invest in a lunchbox and thermos.

Making your kitchen more environmentally friendly takes some forethought. It also takes some investment. Good energy-efficient appliances make a big difference when your utility bill comes each month. Additionally, composting and employing reusable items can save you money while helping keep your waste to a minimum.