What can I do?
Waste management and recycling
One Finnish person generates approximately 200 kg of landfilled waste a year, excluding biowaste and other usable waste fractions. When you need a device, it is worth considering whether you could lease it or ask your neighbours, housing company, relatives or friends to purchase it with you, or perhaps try to find it at a flea market.
Select a climate action
- Reduce the amount of waste
- Recycle correctly (biowaste, plastic, glass, metal, cardboard, paper, liquid carton packaging, etc)
- Consider how necessary the object is
- Borrow, lease, share
- Use recycled goods
- Avoid disposable goods
- Purchase a gift card for a service rather than a material gift
- Favour environmentally friendly brands
Traffic is a major environmental polluter. Moving from one place to another causes roughly 25% of the CO2 emissions generated by Finnish people. Car use cannot be stopped completely due to long distances and sparsely populated regions, but there are also other alternatives.
- Avoid keeping unnecessary stuff in the car
- Maintain the correct tire pressure
- Accelerate briskly to the permitted driving speed
- Drive at a steady speed, use the cruise control and anticipate hills
- Avoid unnecessary acceleration and braking
- Remember to keep a safe distance
- Think ahead
- Use engine braking
- Check the tire pressure
- Preheat the engine if the temperature falls below +5°C
Select a climate action
- Use public transport
- Reduce private car use
- Walk and cycle
- Share a ride
- Plan the routes
- Combine trips to the store and work
- Drive economically
- Buy a biogas, hybrid or electric car
Take care of the water bodies
How can you wash your carpets in an environmentally friendly way?
Washing rugs by hand and the scent of pine soap are a part of summer. Washing rugs in the lake, however, should be avoided because it contaminates the waters and causes problems such as eutrophication and algae growth. Small bodies of water, in particular, may be damaged by even minor discharges of wastewater. Rug washing wastewater is the same as grey household water, i.e. various types of washing water generated at home. These need to be purified before they enter the water system. Water used for washing rugs contains large amounts of nutrients and bacteria. There is no such thing as a 100% environmentally friendly detergent. Even pine soap cannot be directly discharged into the water system because it contains resin acids that are harmful to fish. Adverse environmental effects can, nevertheless, be reduced by using environmentally friendly products, identifiable by the Nordic Ecolabel (the swan label). There are four environmentally friendly countryside rug-washing stations in Lappeenranta, where lake water comes from the tap and wastewater is discharged into the sewage system. These are located in Sammonlahti, Huhtiniemi and the shore at Korkkitehdas, in addition to Likosenlahti in Joutseno. Let’s keep the lakes clean together!