THE SWAG BLOG — Category_Environment

While you may be conscious of not wasting food to both save money and help the environment, your children are unlikely to give quite so much thought to these things. As a result, it's important to teach your kids the importance of not wasting their food. As we’re a environmentally-responsible bunch here at The Swag, and know all about the eating habits of children, we’ve compiled the below tips to make your life a little easier when it comes to reducing how much food your kids waste: Be Stricter on the Snacks Children love to snack and graze as soon...

Did you know that we Australians waste around 20% of the food we buy, which is around $8 billion per year? Yes, $8 billion! This is an incredibly high figure and has a massive impact on the environment. The good news is that, now you’re aware of it, you can make a far more conscious effort not to waste food. In this article, we’ve compiled 5 easy ways to reduce how much food is wasted in your household, and save money in the process: Shop for less, more often It may seem convenient to do one big shop each week...

The negative effects of human behaviour on the environment has become an increasingly hot topic for discussion in recent years, and for good reason. Our planet, which has been around for 4.5 billion years is under threat more than ever before and we must all make small changes in our daily lives to preserve the planet we call home. However, despite the attention brought by go-green campaigns, one habit many people simply can’t shrug off is using too many plastic bags, and for the wrong purposes. We get it, plastic bags are convenient and readily available in our large supermarket...

For as long as we can remember plastic bags have been the go-to item for carrying our shopping home from supermarkets and retail stores. They are a part of every-day life and most of us don’t give them too much thought. However, there is a high price associated with our excessive use of plastic bags in Australia and it affects both our health and the environment around us. Many cities in countries around the world have either banned plastic bags altogether or attached a levy to their use whereby you must pay for each bag you use. Below we have outlined 5...

(& Save Money to Boot)   Plastic-free July may be over, but we’re certainly not giving up the cause! I bet most of us don’t really think about what happens when we toss a plastic water bottle or wilted head of Romaine lettuce into the bin. But the truth is 27 percent of all food we buy ends up in the trash can. And that trash adds up fast. While The Swag helps you stay waste-free in the kitchen, here are some clever and creative tips from other Zero Waste leaders that will help you live a toxic-free, zero-waste life...

Did you know that the food you buy in the grocery stores in America passed a rigorous “attractive” test before it made it on those shelves? It’s true! The apples, tomatoes and spinach you just bought are the most appealing and “blemish-free” produce available on the market. Their less-attractive sisters and cousins, on the other hand, did not pass the test. A recent report from The Guardian shows that Americans throw away all most as much food as we eat. Why? Because we want our food to look perfect, of course! From watermelons to avocados, if it doesn’t look just...

If I stopped you on the street and honestly asked, “How can I get healthier?” I have no doubt that I would hear a lot of the same advice: Eat better. Exercise more. Stop eating junk food. Eat more veggies, less carbs, less fat, more protein. Then I might hear something like, do more pushups. Go to the gym. Meditate. Research. Talk to your doctor. Find a healthcare coach. Yadda, yadda, yadda. I’m amazed how often people will ask this question. Most people are pretty honest and know they need (and want) to be healthier… but how to actually go...

We all live for convenience especially when it comes to food and our health. Just like the myth that healthy eating is expensive, many people believe that buying in-season fruits and vegetables is just too much hassle. After all, Wal-Mart and Target don’t exactly tell you what is seasonal and what is not. So, where do you start? And how can you be sure it will even make a difference? Isn’t it good enough to just eat fruits and vegetables in the first place? The first step in eating seasonally can be as simple as going to your local farmer’s...