Sustainable living

Sustainable living means making choices in your everyday life that help protect the environment and use less natural resources. Sustainable living involves:

using natural resources that can be re-grown and replaced
using locally sourced produce so less transport is used
reducing waste
recycling and re-using
using renewable energy resources,
not using products or services that are harmful to the environment
using public transport, bikes and eco friendly transport

Tips to live more sustainably

Local products or products sourced from local ingredients are more sustainable as they have less of a carbon footprint and support local producers.
Less packaging
reusable
upcycle
second hand items

Sustainable food

There are lots of reasons to choose food and drink more carefully now that we know the impact on our environment can be critical. Perhaps you want to know which plant based foods are most nutritious or which fish can be caught sustainably or which cafes and restaurants to go to? Below there are a few links that may help you make choices that have lower impact on our marine life, forests and climate:

There are sustainable food shops in the North East that reduce food waste, use of plastic packaging or source local foods:

Something good is a zero waste refill shop in Jesmond providing sustainable and plastic free food and home products.

109 General store is a zero waste refill shop providing sustainable and plastic free food and home products.

The Honey Tree wholefoods an organic, whole foods and health food shop.

Fruit and Nut co. is a refill shop in the Grainger market that sells dried fruits, nuts, grains, beans, legumes and sweets.

Buy The Kilo are a refill shop with plastic free dried foods, household cleaning products and toiletries

The Bottle Swap are a refill delivery service for the North East. You can order refills and eco-friendly cleaning, hair and beauty and household products online.

Restaurants and meals

The Magic Hat Cafe uses surplus fresh food from independents, supermarkets, wholesalers and hospitality venues across the city to create a daily menu and stock an inhouse ‘pay as you feel’ shop.

Big River Bakery donates surplus bakery produce to local people and organisations.

Scotswood Garden sell produce and reserves grown in their garden. You can buy online, in perosn or at

You can also improve your food sustainability by shopping locally, using up all food in your home and eating less fast food and takeaway food.

Nourish Food School is a Social Enterprise and operates as a mobile cookery school

Health, beauty and fashion

SmartWorks re-use and recycle clothing and provide it for women applying for job opportunities.

Green Heart Collective are a second hand clothing store based in Gateshead.

ClothesCycle are an Alnwick based sustainable fashion and accessories company that hold markets at different locations across the north of England throughout the year.

Transport

There is a large network of cycle lanes in Newcastle

Recyke Y’bike upcycle and repair old bicycles to buy and provide free bike repair sessions for people.

Lumo based in Newcastle operates an all electric rail service between London kings cross to Edinburgh.

Electric car charging points can be found on Charge Your Car website.

Your home and garden

Growing your own fruits, vegetables, and herbs not only reduces your carbon footprint but also allows you to enjoy fresh, organic produce right from your backyard. Even if you don’t have a garden, you can still grow herbs or vegetables in pots on your balcony or windowsill. There are also community garden schemes, allotment schemes and streets with planters for share produce in areas such as Heaton and Sheildfield.

There are organisations in Newcastle that can help you learn how to grow your own produce

Scotswood Garden offer a range of gardening groups, forest schools and other opportunities to learn more about growing produce and plants. They also

Dwellbeing Shieldfield and Shieldfield Art Works (SAW) “Shieldfield Grows” is a project that helps people grow their own food like vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers at home or in their gardens. They use SAW’s garden as a space to grow fresh produce which is shared with the local community.

The Comfrey Project run courses and sessions throughout the year for

Newcastle Foodbank grow their own fruit and vegetables and use the produce as part of their food bank offer

The Childrens foundation have a Children’s Community Allotment based at Coxlodge allotments in Fawdon. They run weekly drop in sessions and a 7 week roots to health course. for children to learn sustainable gardening and horticulture skills

Support to become more sustainable

Get a loan to improve your home’s energy efficiency

Food Newcastle is a non-profit network of organisations that operate across the city. They co-ordinate healthy, sustainable and locally sourced food action

Work and Thrive Central provide workshops and information on local ‘green’ businesses and employment opportunities.

The Business Energy Saving Team (BEST) supports businesses transitioning to Net Zero in the North East. It supports Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and Voluntary, Community, Social Enterprises (VCSEs). Business can get help to reduce their energy usage and costs through free advice, audits and grant support.

The Green Street Pioneers Newcastle initiative works with 40 independent businesses in the heart of Newcastle to help them become greener.

Recycling and reducing waste

Newcastle City Council is part of the FlexCollect trial which includes flexible plastic household waste being collected alongside waste and recycling bins. You can read more about this trial on Newcastle.GOV.UK.

Read more informationNOW about Recycling and reuse

Resources

Food Newcastle’s good food plan sets out an action plan for organisations and services to work together to reduce food waste and food poverty.

The BIPC North East have created a green business guide that includes steps to greening your business.

Last updated: July 14, 2025

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