Recently I used an electrical meter to measure how much electricity various devices use. The big surprise for me was a laptop charger that pulls current even when the battery is fully charged. Since normal behaviour is to plug in something to charge, then return when you need it next or when you remember, there might be a day or more when something like this is plugged in and pulling small but unnecessary watts of power. I've tried to lessen this by using a digital electrical timer that includes a countdown function. I know roughly how many hours it takes to charge the battery, and I set the countdown for a little bit longer than this. If I don't get a chance to unplug the charger the moment the device is charged, it's ok - the timer shuts off the power for me.
Just over a year ago, I bought myself an ordinary 60L plastic bin and two plant pots (a small one upside down, a big one right side up). In it I put a bit of soil, a bit of newspaper, and 500 composting worms. Since then all of our fruit and vegetable scraps, including the mysterious items at the back of the crisper drawer that get forgotten and rediscovered, have gone into that plant pot, and been silently and cleanly converted into a fantastic liquid fertiliser by the worker worms within. I wish I had done this sooner; it's wonderful how much less is going to waste via our kitchen bin. We empty the bin less often without issue, because it no longer smells or attracts fruit flies even in the height of summer. The fertiliser the worms produce is more than enough to cover the regular fertilisation needs of my pot-based garden - there's enough to give away bottles to keen gardener friends too.
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