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How many do you do?

• Auto Trader’s new survey reveals the UK’s most popular eco-habits, from taking our own shopping bags to air drying clothes 
• The eco-habits people do less regularly include using a reusable coffee cup and eating less meat
• Those who drive Lexus and Tesla cars have the best eco-habits

The UK’s electric car champion Auto Trader has surveyed over 1,290 drivers to reveal which green habits the nation is doing the most, and which we are struggling to do regularly.

The results show we’re a nation incentivised by saving money, with the most popular eco-behaviours also being ones that look after the pennies, such as taking our own shopping bags, air drying our clothes and reusing bottles.

In the study, Auto Trader asked drivers how regularly they perform a variety of everyday sustainable habits, with the findings as follows:

The UK’s Ten Most Common Eco-Habits

The new research reveals people are particularly good at embracing eco-friendly habits which are both easy to incorporate into daily life and which help save money. An impressive 88% of respondents report they take their own bags when shopping. This simple yet effective habit greatly reduces plastic waste, as does using reusable water bottles, which is the fourth most popular eco-habit with a considerable number of adopters (66%).

Eco-practices that also saves on energy bills are very popular, such as air drying clothes instead of using a tumble dryer, and wearing more clothes to save turning on the heating.

The ninth most popular eco-habit is driving slower to use less fuel, with 42% of the UK’s drivers claiming to do it. The driving experts at Auto Trader explain that “Driving above 60mph can burn your car’s fuel quickly, and as such emit more emissions. Driving a bit slower on the motorway, as well as driving more smoothly, like anticipating a corner to avoid sudden braking, will help reduce your car’s emissions.”

Whilst there are many eco-practices that have made it into the UK’s day-to-day behaviour, there is room for improvement…

Five Eco-Habits the UK Could Improve On

1. Using a reusable coffee cup – only 31% of UK regularly do this
2. Eating a vegetarian diet – only 20% of UK regularly do this
3. Researching how sustainable a brand or product is – only 20% of UK regularly do this
4. Car-sharing on work commutes or school runs – only 17% of UK regularly do this
5. Using a bike or e-bike instead of car – only 15% of UK regularly do this

Only one in three of the nation report that they regularly take a reusable cup when they buy a hot drink. As well as saving on single use plastic use, this habit usually comes with a financial reward, with the likes of Pret A Manger, Costa Coffee, Starbucks, Greggs, Café Nero, and many other coffee shops offering up to 50p when you bring your own cup – which could save regular coffee drinks over £180 a year*! 

Auto Trader’s research also shows that only 20% of the UK avoid eating meat for sustainable reasons, despite David Attenborough’s warnings about deforestation. Online interest in the UK for reducing meat and dairy consumption has fallen by 70% over recent years. According to Google data, in January 2020 there were over 736,000 searches for vegan and vegetarian recipes made in the UK, which has steadily fallen each year, with just 220,000 searches made in January 2023.

The least popular eco-habit is cycling instead of driving, with just 15% of the nation adopting this habit. However, using an e-bike can massively improve your commute, not just in terms of reducing carbon emissions, but by also providing a speedy alternative to sitting in a traffic jam as well as taking away the stress of finding a parking place.

Erin Barker, editorial director at Auto Trader, says: “At Auto Trader we’re passionate about supporting consumers with their environmentally friendly vehicle and journey choices. From upgrading an older petrol car to a newer, cleaner one or switching to an e-bike for your journey to the train station there are plenty of ways we can reduce our environmental impact on the road. It’s encouraging to see from this study how many eco-habits have been adopted into our daily lives and we would love to see more drivers making more environmentally conscious decisions on the road, whether it’s sparking your electric journey with a pre-loved electric car, or simply reducing your car’s emissions with a smoother, slower drive.”

The Drivers with the Best Eco-Habits

The report cross-referenced the cars people drive with their eco-habits to reveal that Lexus drivers and Tesla drivers are making the strongest strides in their eco-behaviour. Lexus drivers frequently carpool, and a high proportion (88%) use public transport over driving in the name of the environment. As well as driving electric cars, Tesla drivers are the drivers more likely to use reusable water bottles, switch their washing to 30 degrees and purchase food with fewer air miles. Porsche, Audi, and Land Rover also had high proportions of their drivers regularly adopting eco-behaviours.

To see the full Greenest Drivers report visit: www.autotrader.co.uk/cars/electric/greenest-drivers

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A Salford-based company that creates reusable crackers is enjoying the benefits of support from GM Business Growth Hub ahead of its busiest time of year.

Keep This Cracker was founded by Bea Thackeray in 2013 with the ambition of creating Christmas crackers that could be kept and reused to minimise waste.

With an estimated 100 million crackers pulled in the UK every year, that is enough to reach the North Pole eight times if laid end-to-end.

“My thinking was on how to create that product and to make it something people will want to use and keep,” said Bea. “I decided to do some product trials and tests to see whether it was something I could get manufactured at a larger scale here in the UK. That’s really where the idea came from.

“And then at one point I thought, now I need to go full time and give this a go. I’m tackling this from so many different angles. They come flat packed, which means that the packaging is minimal. The packaging is also compostable and reusable, you can store them away after you’ve used them back into the packaging. And one of the main advantages is you can put your own gifts inside. I’ve got customers that are telling me they’re still using them five years on.

”During the pandemic, Bea started to access support through webinars, before signing up for the EnterprisingYou programme through the Hub, and benefitting from support from experienced eco-innovation specialists.

She said: “It really helped having the initial assessment of where are my strengths are, and where are my weaknesses are. We identified a lot of inefficiencies in my business and I needed to streamline a lot of the operations. “My business adviser on EnterprisingYou was great. He put me in touch with the departments I needed to speak to within the Business Growth Hub, such as the Eco Innovations team, which is how I ended up on Eco-FORCE workshops. “From there I completed the Journey to Net Zero programme as well, which was fantastic because I’ve learnt how to write an environmental policy statement and put a plan in place. it’s been great learning curve. 

“I’ve had a lot of advice from the Digital Innovation team. My brand new website went live in August. The team have helped with fine tuning and I have now added a trade shop where B2B customers can order direct. It’s been great to have that level of support.

”Bea’s plans for the future include expansion in 2024, supplying the hospitality industry and developing the corporate gifting side of the business which will give the product more exposure – as well as taking on additional staff or using third party resources to help with her production.

Yvonne Sampson, Head of Enterprise at GM Business Growth Hub, said: “Small businesses like Keep This Cracker have such an important role to play in our journey to net zero.

“They have the innovative ideas and drive to create products that will help us all reduce our own carbon footprints, so we are thrilled to help Bea continue to grow her business and get her crackers on more and more tables for many Christmases to come.

”Businesses looking to access specialist support can visit www.businessgrowthhub.com for more information about the organisation’s extensive range of services.

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Providing free radiator keys and advice to help community members save at least £155* on energy bills this winter 

• OVO Energyhas partnered with charity Plunkett Foundation to pilot an energy efficiency scheme with community stores across the UK to help people cut costs and carbon this winter
• It comes as OVO research reveals that three quarters (74%)** of Brits said their cornershop is a pillar of the local community and an important hub of information 
• And over half (56%) said their local community would benefit from a scheme that provides energy efficiency advice and tools, such as radiator keys
• The scheme follows the launch of OVO’s Customer Support Package, totalling almost £40m, to support the most vulnerable this winter with financial support and free energy-saving products, including electric blankets and mattress toppers

With more cold snaps predicted this winter,OVO is today launching an energy efficiency pilot scheme designed to support local communities with energy efficiency advice and tools this winter.

Created in partnership with community business support charity Plunkett Foundation, the scheme arms 10 shopkeepers in stores from Kent to Cumbria with energy-saving knowledge from OVO’s Energy Experts and free radiator keys. Combined savings of implementing OVO’s tips could see over £155 knocked off annual energy bills.

The community scheme comes as OVO research shows three quarters (74%) said their cornershop is a pillar of the community and an important hub of information, and more than half (56%) said their local community would benefit from a scheme that provides energy efficiency advice and tools, such as radiator keys. 

Including a radiator key-sharing initiative, the scheme provides community members with the knowledge and tools they need to cut costs and carbon this winter. Despite two-fifths (40%) of Brits saying they would like to bleed their radiators, one in five (19%) have no idea how to do it.   

Community members simply need to ask participating shopkeepers to borrow a free radiator key. They will then be provided with guidance on energy efficiency measures including how to bleed radiators. Everyone will be encouraged to return the keys to stores once finished, so more community members can benefit from one of the cheapest and easiest ways to improve heating circulation in the home. 

Anyone who isn’t in close proximity to a store can head to OVO’s social channels to sign up for a free radiator key and watch a helpful video on how to bleed radiators on OVO’s website.

Four energy efficiency measures recommended by OVO’s Energy Experts, include: 

1. Turn down your boiler flow temperature: Turning down the flow temperature on your combi-boiler to 60°C will make it more efficient. It can also save the average home around £60 a year, according to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero’s ‘It All Adds Up’ campaign.
2. Turn down the radiators in rooms you use less: Turning down radiators in rooms you don’t use, can help to lower your bills, with the ‘DESNZ’ suggesting it can save up to £50 per home per year. 
3. If you can, draught-proof your windows and doors: Draught excluders and draught excluder tape stop heat from escaping by blocking gaps around doors and windows. It’s a low-cost way of keeping warm air in and cold air out, and the Energy Saving Trust says doing so could save you up to £45 on your bills. 
4. Bleeding radiators: OVO’s Energy Experts recommend doing so at least once a year to remove pockets of air that build up inside radiators. This allows warm water to flow through the whole radiator so it uses less energy to heat the room to the desired temperature.

OVO energy also recently launched its Customer Support Package, which will provide nearly £40m’s worth of financial support and free energy-saving products, including electric blankets and mattress toppers, for vulnerable customers this winter.

Gráinne Regan, Head of Heat at OVO, said “OVO’s team of Energy Experts visit thousands of households nationwide, bearing witness to the negative impact that the UK’s leaky housing stock is having on bills. Bleeding radiators and draught-proofing may seem like small acts, but simple changes like these can make a genuine difference to energy bills. 

“With corner shops playing such an important role in communities, they are the ideal place for us to engage people in energy efficiency to help cut costs this winter.”

Claire Spendley, Community Business Manager at Plunkett Foundation added: “We’re so grateful that OVO has chosen to support the work we do with local community-owned shops. Many of our shops are located in rural areas that don’t always have easy access to the information or tools they need to improve energy efficiency. We hope to see many customers taking advantage of the scheme.”

Karen Roberts aged 53, manager of St Tudy Community Shop, Cornwall, one of the stores taking part in the energy efficiency scheme, said: “Our shop is a vital resource for the people in our community. Customers rely on us for everything from daily essentials to information and access to vital services, so they can get the most out of their lives. But we can’t be experts in all areas. By working with OVO to share crucial knowledge on energy efficiency, we’ll help our customers to lower their energy bills. We help take care of the people we serve and I can’t think of a better way to support them this winter.”

To find out how you can improve your home’s energy efficiency, OVO customers can sign up for a visit from one of OVO’s Energy Experts at: https://www.ovoenergy.com/energy-experts 

*Total cost calculated by adding together the money-saving potential of the below three tips: 

1. Reducing boiler flow temperature to 60 degrees, saving up to £60 per year,
2. Turning down radiators in rooms not being used, saving up to £50 per year 
3. If you can, draught-proofing windows and doors, saving up to £45 a year 

£60+50+£45=£155

**Consumer survey conducted by OnePoll, with 2,000 UK nationally representative adults from 27.09.23 – 02.10.23.

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UK chickens and the growing breed of backyard eco-friendly farmers will be eggstatic at the launch of the very latest in bespoke chicken coop accommodation.

The Shepherds Hut Chicken Coop is a market-first, a five-star home for fine feathered fowl that’s designed to remove all the inconveniences of traditional chicken coops.

Designed by young craftsman Rob McFagan, the practical poultry palace combines modern sustainable manufacturing techniques with traditional construction skills used to build shepherds’ huts since the 16^th century.

Rob formed Holmes Hill Shepherds Huts in 2019 and with no formal training in carpentry built his first commercial timber-framed Shepherd’s Hut as a labour of love aged 21. Since then, he has become one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of bespoke Shepherds Huts.

With Shepherds’ Huts becoming the go-to-choice for trendy, eco-friendly sustainable living in the back garden, Rob saw another potential use for the iconic rumbling wagon – downsizing it as an upmarket chicken coop for the 21^st century.

As a proud poultry owner himself, he was quick to see the potential of combining one of his loves in life – shepherds huts – to solve some of the problems of another – looking after chickens.

2.“Keeping chickens is one of the easiest ways to live more sustainably,” said Rob. “A steady supply of fresh eggs produced by chickens that are well looked after is by far the biggest reason people give for raising their own chickens.

“But despite the boom, chicken coops have remained basic in terms of design and practicality and, although just as likely to be found in small urban gardens as sprawling farmyards, look pretty ugly.

“The Shepherds Coop is designed to tackle all the inconveniences that come with keeping chickens in conventional coops. It’s high above the ground to avoid rats, fox proof with joinery grade doors, insulated to avoid the heat and the cold, it has a stainless-steel floor and nest boxes for ease of cleaning and a whole side door to allow full access for cleaning.

“It’s built on iron wheels and a chassis, so the coop is easy to move from one place to another.”

As with full-size Holmes Hill Shepherds’ Huts, the Shepherd’s Coop is handcrafted to order to customers’ personal requirements.

“Our standard coop houses up to 10 chickens, but we can customise to suit specific requirements, such as larger or smaller nest boxes, installing windows or simply making it bigger.

“The cost reflects that and the fact that a Holmes Hill Shepherd’s Coop is built to last, is totally fit for purpose, blends in and makes life for the chickens and their owners a whole lot easier,” added Rob.

To find out more go to https://holmeshillsh.com/shepherds-huts/mcf-cc/ or telephone 01825 280488.