16-Jun-2006
- Thrifty shoppers at the Hatfield branch of supermarket
giant ASDA pledged to save more than 1,000,000
litres of water a year as part of the United Nation’s
World Environment Day.
Staff from the Environment Agency’s
Hatfield office, on Hatfield Business Park, talked
to customers at the store in the High Street on
Monday 5 June about the simple steps they could
take to protect the planet.
"On World Environment Day
we asked mums and dads, kids, families and individuals
to make some small lifestyle changes that will
have a huge impact on the planet. We want everybody
to know that you don’t have to be an Eco-Warrior
to improve the environment - absolutely anyone
can do something to help the planet," said
Chairman Sir John Harman.
Nearly 100 people signed up
to the ten pledges, which aim to save water, carbon
emissions and energy use. More than 80 said they
would install a hippo, a water saving device,
in the toilet that saves about 12 litres a day
per person – more than the total water used by
a person in a day in Africa.
Each of the 98 shoppers pledged
to turn the tap off when they brushed their teeth
– saving a staggering 10,950 litres a year per
person. That means those few people will make
a huge difference - saving 1,073,100 litres!
For more information on World
Environment Day visit www.environment-agency.gov.uk.
Notes: Anyone can go to the
Environment Agency website and promise to do the
following:
I promise to take a shower instead
of a bath.
I promise to put a water saving
device in my toilet cistern.
I promise to turn the tap off
when I brush my teeth.
I promise to use rechargeable
batteries instead of disposable ones.
I promise to use a reusable
bag when I shop, rather than plastic carriers.
I promise to air my washing
in public - not in the tumble dryer.
I promise to boil only the water
I need, rather than filling the kettle every time
I promise to share my car journeys
to work with a colleague, cycle, or replace those
car journeys with public transport at least once
a week.
I promise to use a climate payback
scheme to reduce the impact of any air travel
I take.
I promise to organise or volunteer
for an environmental project in my local community.
Then the Environment Agency
will be able to measure exactly how many litres
of water, tonnes of CO2, kilograms of waste and
kilowatt hours we can all save.
Look at the difference we can
make:
If everyone in the UK shared
their daily car trip to work - in a year we would
save 3 billion litres of petrol, worth £2.8
billion, we’d save ourselves 24 billion miles
of driving and stop the release of 6 million tonnes
of CO2. In fact if we all shared a car trip to
work, it would be like planting 5.4 million trees
- that’s a big breath of fresh air!
If everyone in the UK simply
turned the tap off while they brushed their teeth
they would save 76 billion litres of water, every
year. That’s 31,500 Olympic sized swimming pools
- enough drinking water for one third of the population
of Ethiopia every year.
If everyone in the UK stopped
using plastic bags and switched to a reusable
bag, we’d save 7.8 billion plastic bags - that’s
enough plastic to tie around the earth 103 times.
If everyone in the UK volunteered
to do an environmental project for one day - we’d
spend 420 million hours improving our environment.
That’s the same amount of energy it took to build
the Great Pyramid of Giza!
If every family in the UK hung
out just one load of washing once a week we would
save 300 million loads of tumble drying, prevent
515,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions, and save ourselves
a whopping £88 million in electricity bills
every year.
If everyone in the UK swapped
a daily bath for a shower we could save a 203
billion litres of water - enough to fill up Lake
Windermere. In fact for every bath we take - up
to three people could have a shower!
If everyone in the UK stopped
filling the kettle to the top every time they
made a cuppa - we would save enough electricity
in one year to run more than three quarters of
the street lighting in the country.
If everyone in the UK put a
hippo or similar water saving device in their
toilet cistern, we would save 91 billion litres
of water every year - that’s enough water for
the Okavango Delta’s real life hippos to happily
splash around in!
If everyone in the UK started
using rechargeable batteries we would stop 20,000-
30,000 tonnes of batteries being thrown away ever
year - enough to build more than 3 Eiffel Towers.
If everyone in the UK gave a
few pound or pence to a climate payback scheme
each time they took a flight it would be like
planting millions of trees. If all 16.9 million
UK people who take short haul flights every year
around the UK and Europe gave a small contribution
to offset the 2.8 million tonnes of CO2 emissions
created - we could plant a new Sherwood Forest
every two years.
Tim Abbott
