Building New Sustainable Habits

Blog image

Making sustainable choices in our lives is essentially about building new habits. Starting to recycle, biking more often or using that reusable mug or water bottle more often, are some of the enormous amount of things we can do to decrease our personal carbon or plastic footprint. All these choices each of us make add up to a huge impact on the environment.

The Brunel Foundation strives to change the mindset and habits of our colleagues in order to stimulate a cleaner, more sustainable planet for now and in the future. We focus on raising awareness and stimulating Brunellers to use alternatives for plastic items in their work environment or at home.

All changes we make together on a daily basis, will impact the environment on a global scale. Starting with one habit at a time. Normally for example, when you leave the house you grab your phone, your wallet and your keys. After a while you'll grab your bottle, your food container and then you're good to go. The change becomes your second nature.

Interested in the alternatives our colleagues use in the video? Please find them below. Have you built new habits and would you like to share your story? Send us an email at

Eco Laundry Egg
The eco laundry egg is an innovative laundry washing system that cleans clothes effectively, using two types of natural mineral pellets encased in a recyclable egg. The ecoegg completely replaces laundry detergent and fabric conditioner, giving you a kinder laundry solution and reduce plastic. 

Reusable water bottle
Plastic bottles make up a large proportion of plastic waste, and only about a small percentage is properly recycled. Switching to a reusable water bottle would surely decrease the oil used to make them, greenhouse gasses emitted, and bottles thrown away. Aside from environmental benefits, reusable water bottles have other advantages over disposable ones. For example, using a reusable water bottle is far cheaper than constantly buying water ones.

Reusable cup
In general, we drink our hot drinks on the go in ‘paper’ cups with a plastic coated layer covered by a plastic lid. Convenient for us, but not convenient for the environment. By bringing your own reusable cup for drinks on the go you will use less plastic and even save some money. At different locations you will get a discount on your 
Biodegradable peat pots
Environmentally friendly cultivation. These biodegradable peat pots are ideal for cutting and growing and can be weaned out. An easy way to grow great plants and reduce the number of plastic containers ending up in your garbage.
Soda Stream
With a Soda Stream, you can make fresh sparkling water into sparkling water in a reusable bottle (with or without a special flavor added). By using a reusable bottle you save lots of disposable plastic bottles per household. 
Stainless steel straws
Stainless steel straws are very strong and therefore very sustainable. They are reusable, unbreakable, won’t rust, corrode or stain. These straws keep their shape  because stainless steel is very sturdy. You can use them for decades, unlike bamboo or glass straws and are easy to clean. 
Canvas Bag
There are several alternatives available to combat the excessive use of plastic bags. The simplest way is to use a multipurpose reusable canvas bag. You can use them for your groceries but also for your fruit and vegetables.
Lunch Box
When using a reusable lunch box you will use less disposable packaging. You can buy lunch boxes in many different sizes, colors and environmental friendly materials. In general a solid lunch box can be used a life time.