Earth Day 2023 – How can you make a change in your garden?

Earth Day is an annual event which is designed to bring attention to our environment and advocate for environmental protection, it takes place on Saturday the 22nd of April. The official theme for 2023 is ‘Invest in our planet’ This green revolution is active across all businesses, governments, and citizens. 

If you would like to read more about this movement and their work you can find out more on their website. 

This week’s blog post will focus on what actions you can take in your garden and groundcare to help the move towards a more sustainable environment and how you can invest in our planet. 

A large focus within the lawncare industry is battery-powered technology, this innovation has grown extensively and battery-powered alternatives are available across many products. 

Alternatives don’t mean you have to sacrifice anything, battery-powered equipment is more technologically advanced and has features that focus not only on reducing environmental harm but which also add to user convenience and can save you money. 

Robotics 

One piece of equipment you will see us advocating for is robotic mowers. These innovative pieces of technology eliminate the need for you to mow your lawn. Running entirely on battery power, these autonomous machines make your life easier while simultaneously reducing your environmental impact. 

Husqvarna, one of the leaders in the robotic mower industry has recongised the importance of environmentally sustainable practices throughout all aspects of a product’s lifecycle. Their facility is recognized as a ‘Carbon Neutral Manufacturing Site’ and also provides end-of-life initiatives designed to reduce e-waste. 

Going beyond domestic mowers, Husqvarna has applied the same concept to the groundcare industry with the creation of their CEORA mower.  Which allows for commercial areas, football pitches, golf courses, and public grounds to reduce their emissions as well as the work required to maintain a good-looking, healthy lawn. When implemented, the CEORA reduces noise pollution and can minimize CO2 emissions by as much as 83% throughout the machine’s whole lifecycle in comparison to a fueled ride-on mower.

Battery Powered Equipment

Any petrol-powered tool in your garden is contributing to CO2 emissions and can also be harmful to your health when frequently used. Even smaller machines such as strimmers, hedgers, and chainsaws produce a large amount of emissions. 

Battery-powered alternatives are available for all of these types of equipment and often boast the same if not more power than their fueled counterparts.

Brands that are developing more battery powered technology such as Husqvarna, Stihl, and Honda also provide the added benefit of a universal battery system. 

Often battery-powered equipment is a larger initial investment due to the purchase of the battery being an additional product cost, however, the universal battery system allows you to use the same battery across all of your equipment within that range. As well as this, running the equipment is cheaper so in the long run, the cost becomes cheaper. 

Waste Reduction 

Although battery equipment is great, you might be thinking, well I just bought my strimmer a year ago and it doesn’t need replacing. A large part of helping the environment is reducing waste, so purchasing a new machine and throwing out the perfectly fine old one is not ideal unless you are going to re-home the old machine.

You can still use fueled machines while making a change to improve emissions, by using Aspen.

Aspen Alkylate petrol allows you to reduce co2 emissions while improving the air you breathe and is also better for your machine than regular petrol, learn more about the benefits of Aspen on their website. 

When you have finished with your mower, if it isn’t working and can’t be used by someone else then disposing of it correctly is essential. Lawnmower parts can be recycled. If you are disposing of a fueled mower, remember to drain all fluids from it at least a day before recycling it. If your machine is still in working order, consider selling it, passing it onto someone or donating it to a charity or group. Learn more about mower recycling here. 

Garden practices

As well as your machinery, there are also ways in which you can improve general practices in your garden to reduce the impact of your activities on the environment, these can be as simple as:

• Collecting rainwater to water your plants rather than using the tap
• Reducing waste by composting
• Adding safe areas in your garden for natural wildlife to stay such as houses or corners for Hedgehogs

Read more about environmentally friendly garden practices on the woodland trust site.