KEY POINTS:
Hundreds of New Zealanders are working out their "next step" in being good greenies.
A Ministry for the Environment website has had nearly 600 hits from people downloading a planning tool to help commit themselves to being more environmentally friendly.
Martyn Pinckard, senior manager of the household sustainability programme, said it had been found that when people wrote down their goals they were more likely to stick to them.
In the "next step" plans, people outlined what they were doing and what they aimed to do in future to improve.
Those who had accessed the planning tool had together committed to more than 28,000 easy steps towards sustainability.
Now, 25 basic steps have been put together as a leaflet that can be posted out or downloaded.
Mr Pinckard said 20,000 requests for it had already been received.
The leaflets are aimed at New Zealand households and contain basic tips for running more sustainable and cheaper lifestyles.
The material contains lots of useful information, myth busters, real-life stories and links. Mr Pinckard said what every household did counted.
"Households have a huge consumer impact. They account for $91 billion of services and goods each year which has an environmental impact in their use and waste.
"Together we can really help the environment. The more of us that step up, the bigger the difference we'll all make."
Up to two-thirds of household rubbish could be reduced, reused or recycled, he said. Reducing rubbish lowered carbon emissions, saved energy and resources, and cut rubbish disposal costs.
Mr Pinckard said one positive change people could make was to reduce the amount of paper they used.
"That's why we've created an electronic steps version that you can read onscreen. It also makes it easy for you to forward on to friends, family and colleagues."
Tips included buying second-hand goods, fixing water leaks, taking shorter showers, growing vegetables and keeping your car tyres pumped up.
Some celebrities, such as Oliver Driver, have filled in their next-step plans, which can be viewed on site.
