5 ways to start your year with Impact

Happy 2022! It’s a new year which means it’s time to think about what we want to accomplish this year and impactful changes should be at the top of that list.  

It is estimated that about 23 million Brits make a new year’s resolution, but in 2020 most only made it to seven weeks.  

If you're not sure what to make your new year's resolution, consider making an impactful one for the benefit of the planet. Even if you’ve made your new year’s resolutions - consider adding one more! 

In the last year reports on the planet have stated how critical it is to act now, making an impactful new year's resolution more important than ever. It can be a lot to try and take the worries of the world on your shoulders by yourself; remember you’re not alone and we are all in this together.  

What better way to tackle it than as a team? Get your colleagues involved so you can make an impact together, and bond as a team. 

Earth.org published a list of the biggest environmental issues of 2021. With those in mind, here are 5 ways to make a difference in the new year to help inspire your impactful new year’s resolution.  

1. Take on Veganuary 

To kick off the new year, the Confido team will be taking part in Veganuary! While it might sound intimidating to go vegan for a whole month, the point is to encourage you to eat more plant-based meals than you are now - and that can look like anything.  

If you want to go full vegan, great! If you just want to have a vegan meal a couple of times a week that’s also great! By just adding a few plant-based meals to your week, you can reduce the amount of carbon created through meat production and yes, it does make a difference.  

If you’re not sure how to start eating vegan, try a meal service like allplants or Planty, and get vegan ready meals delivered straight to your door. If you’re worried about going without your favourite treats or junk food, have no fear Vegan Junk Box has just what you need. Not to mention the internet is full of great and easy vegan recipes to get you started, Veganuary has some great ones to try in their free cookbook! 

2. Go plastic-free 

You don’t have to wait until July to go plastic-free. Check out Plastic Free July’s resources to figure out the best way to reduce your plastic use. In 2021 it was found that over 24 trillion pieces of microplastic are in the ocean, including in the fish we eat!  

By going plastic-free, or reducing your plastic waste, you are helping reduce the potential amount of plastic in the ocean helping not only yourself but sea life and the planet as a whole.  

Some ways to get started include:  

• Switching to a wooden toothbrush 

• Using refillable coffee cups and water bottles 

• Not getting cutlery with your takeaway food  

• Using your own bags for shopping  

• Buying products in bulk that you can refill 

Read more about how we’re reducing our plastic waste with the help of Cleanhub, here. 

3. Bike it 

Don’t have the time to squeeze in a trip to the gym? Kill two birds with one stone by cycling to work (or wherever your day takes you). By using a bike instead of a car not only are you improving your physical health, but you’re reducing the number of cars polluting the air we all breathe - which is a lot given that transport is credited with about 25% of the world’s CO2 emissions. 

Be sure to check with your work to see if they have a cycle to work scheme that you can take advantage of.  

4. Lend a hand  

2021 saw an increased need for charities’ aid, and for volunteers to help them. These charities were pleasantly surprised by the 20% increase in volunteers in the last 20 months instead of the 19% decrease they expected.  

Let’s keep that support going in 2022. 

By volunteering with charities, you are helping ensure they can continue providing for those in need.  

But there’s more than just one way to lend a hand.  

The app onHand can help you and your colleagues find ways to help out in your community.  

Confido has partnered with onHand to give back to our local community and help the Earth by having a tree planted for every mission our team completes. Together our team has completed more than 50 missions and have over 60 trees in our team forest.  

5. Be a food waste hero 

We all know food waste is a problem. In the UK alone, 30% of UK citizens admitted to having high food waste habits. But the good news is that if we know there’s a problem, we can look for a solution.  

Organisations like WRAP run food waste awareness campaigns and report that 76% of the people that saw their campaign are changing their habits.  

You can also help reduce your own food waste by:  

• Meal planning in advance so you don’t buy any food that you won’t be able to eat 

• Buy perfectly good produce that would go to waste through companies like OddBox 

• Order from sustainable farms through The Ethical Butcher 

• Save food from being thrown away through Olio and Too Good to Go 

• Donating food you won’t use to local foodbanks  

Making an impact doesn’t require you to be perfect. Changing all your habits to be impactful is not as easy as snapping your fingers, but a million imperfect changes are better than a few perfect ones.  

As we ring in the new year and make resolutions to make changes remember to include being kind and understanding of yourself.  

We’d love to hear what your new year’s resolutions are! Share them with us on Twitter and LinkedIn.