Earth Day: How your phone can help improve your environmental impact

With Earth Day fast approaching, many of us will take the time to reflect on how our personal actions have impacted the world around us. We’ll call everything into question – from our diets to our transport preferences and even in how we’re using our household energy – before resolving to do better moving forward. So of course, we wanted to offer a helping hand!

We’ve tracked down six digital platforms and applications that can support you in making the simple changes all whilst contributing to a larger movement!

Ecosia

Now, for many of us, it’s rare to have a day where we don’t find ourselves using Google – whether it’s to ask a simple question or track down the perfect birthday gift for a friend. However, it might be worth straying from our beloved search engine as others, such as Ecosia, offer some sustainable benefits.

When you search for something using Ecosia’s platform, it uses the generated ad income to plant trees across the globe. What’s more, you can see a live tally of how many trees have been planted as well as your individual contribution!

#climate

 If you want to make some positive changes to your lifestyle but you’re unsure of where to start, or if simply want to discuss your environmental concerns and thoughts, then this could be the app for you!

#climate is a social platform for the environmentally conscious – allowing individuals to share their own voice with a like-minded community. Together, the group can identify progressive ways of moving forward whilst elevating social interaction.

PaperKarma

Our letterboxes have seen their fair share of redundant paper – from furniture ads to takeaway pamphlets and everything in between. Unfortunately, this means that an abundance of paper is wasted in creating this physical content; but what if there were an app that addressed this?

Well luckily for you, there is. PaperKarma is an application that assists you in unsubscribing from your unwanted post. All you have to do is go onto the app, scan the post in question and they will take care of the rest!

Recycling is a simple but effective way of lessening our negative impact, however, it can sometimes be a difficult task to find the correct disposal sites. iRecycle gets rid of this difficulty by identifying the closest bins to your location.

Within the app, you can select what materials you are looking to rid yourself of – whether this is recyclable waste, garden waste or general waste – and identifies the nearest location as well as the directions to get there. If you want more information on what each bin is for, then the app can provide that too!

Olio

Each year, hundreds of thousands of tonnes of usable food is wasted collectively by the food industry. A shocking number in any context.

Now, Olio’s mission is the lessen this figure bit by bit. The application connects individuals to local businesses, as well as to each other, and encourages everyone to share their surplus food rather than throw it away. All a user has to do is go onto the app and list the item with a picture. From there, other users can get in touch and organise a suitable time and place for collection. Easy, right?

Forest

Whether you’re searching for increased sustainability or increased productivity, this application delivers. Forest is a platform that helps you maintain focus whilst giving you an eco-friendly incentive. The app will note the time spent not using your phone and, as this increases, you’ll gradually begin your tree-growing journey.