Reducing my impact on our environment has become really important to me in recent years, and I have looked at ways to improve my sustainability in many aspects of my lifestyle, from personal hygiene and beauty, to household cleaning and even to how I purchase my groceries.
I figured that with so many of us now looking to find new, less damaging ways to live in harmony with our planet, I would begin documenting my experiences with more eco-friendly, sustainable products and services, in the hope that they are useful to those of us looking for inspiration, or failing that, to give someone a giggle at my less than successful ventures.
Sustainable shower swaps
In my quest to make my daily showers a little more planet-friendly, I knew I’d have to wave goodbye to bottled shower gel and embrace cleansing with bar alternatives to be in with a chance of making a positive impact.
This however poses it’s own challenge. How on earth do you keep hold of your cleansing bar while in the shower??
I had ventured into the rather limited world of cleansing bars a few years prior, and after losing a majority of the product either down the drain (bars too soft) or by dropping it on the shower floor and turning it into a pile of mush (inevitable user error) I had reluctantly given up and returned to bottled shower gel. But I couldn’t shake the sense of guilt every time I emptied a bottle and put it into the recycling, knowing that most of the bottles would never be properly recycled once collected into the refuse system.
So, with renewed commitment, I decided to research potential solutions for my issue. I figured, some clever person must have come across the same problem and created a neat little fix.
Below you’ll find posts related to shower and bath related items that I have trialed, such as sponges, shower pouf’s, razors etc. Hopefully you’ll be able to find some new sustainable favourites of your own…
Better for our planet beauty tools
There are plenty of opportunities to clean up our routines when it comes to single use beauty tools. From face wipes, to cotton swabs, cotton rounds and balls… there is always something that could use a zero waste alternative. But just how successful can the alternatives that have been developed to date really be? Below are my posts on all things “beauty tool” related. I hope you find them useful, and who knows… you may find a new zero waste swap of your own!
Swapping bottles for bars – shower gel edition
In my effort to reduce single use plastic waste, I became horrifyingly aware of the sheer volume of single use plastic in my bathroom alone. From Shampoo and Conditioner bottles, shower gels, body lotions, bubble bath, shower puffs, razors, I mean the list is endless… It felt like a good place to start making a positive impact.
The most regularly replaced item in my repertoire was shower gel, so I decided to investigate solid bar alternatives.
It had been literal years since I had entertained the idea of solid bar soap products, mostly due to the fact that they had a rather old-fashioned image, didn’t seem to inspire much in the way of luxury and invoked memories of soggy, sloppy bars that seemed to go soggy after sitting in water for too long, so it was surprising and interesting to see the vast array of products now available to consumers, from the traditional “old-favourites” such as Dove beauty cream bars and Simple Soap bars for sensitive skin, to newer and seemingly more sustainability focused brands now springing up on retail shelves, both virtual and physical.
One aspect that I was pleased to see, particularly from the more sustainability positioned brands was the attention to detail regarding packaging. A majority of brands had shifted away from plastic wrappings, instead opting for cardboard or paper sleeves, much more suited to recycling. Finally, the retail beauty sector is waking up to eco-conscious beauty! Let’s be honest, it’s about time.
Below is my collection of posts related solely to swapping liquid shower gels in bottles, for more eco-friendly bars. I hope you are able to find something useful to support in your own sustainability endeavours.
Swapping bottles for bars – shampoo bar edition
After shower gels, the next worst offender of single use plastic waste in my bathroom routine was shampoo bottles, so they were next on my hit-list! With a plethora of shampoo bars now making their way onto the market, there is plenty to choose from. From established brands to entrepreneurial start-ups challenging their more mainstream competitors, I’ve been testing a variety of options. Key to my mission was not only that the product itself should be effective, both in performance and cost, but also shouldn’t be accompanied with unnecessary plastic, or otherwise, packaging.
Below is my collection of posts regarding shampoo bar swaps.
Planet friendly personal care
There are certain personal care and hygiene products that it is impossible to do without. Things like Deodorant, dental floss, dental brushes etc. Yet this category can be particularly difficult to find successful sustainable swaps for. Single use or throwaway plastic is in abundance, and the main players in the market have been incredibly slow to develop more sustainable replacements for their problematic packaging. This has typically seen me searching out niche startup, fledgling or otherwise little known brands to fill this gap.
Below is my collection of posts regarding items I deem to fall under the “personal care” category. Hopefully my experiences can help you identify some successful swaps.
Harmonious household cleaning products
A fairly obvious area of improvement for reducing plastic waste is in the household cleaning category.
From anti-bacterial sprays (our use of which has most likely accelerated over the last year and a half!), to kitchen degreaser, glass cleaner to floor cleaner, oven cleaner and all purpose cleaning solutions, the list is extensive, and I could no longer turn a blind eye to the sheer number of plastic bottles that I was throwing out on a semi-regular basis.
It’s estimated that household cleaning products generate 29 billion single use plastic containers each year, a majority of which get thrown out once the product inside is finished. While many of these are undoubtedly recyclable, the estimation of the amount of plastic that is successfully recycled makes for pretty depressing reading. According to the 2017 Science Advances paper, entitled; Production, use and fate of all plastics ever made, only 9% of all plastic production to date has been recycled.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318567844_Production_use_and_fate_of_all_plastics_ever_made
With statistics like that, I couldn’t continue to blindly contribute to the problem.
Zero waste, zero guilt groceries
Unpacking my grocery deliveries always highlights the excessive amount of single use plastic that is inflicted upon consumers. And much of the time it’s unavoidable, right? Groceries are absolutely a necessity, and if the big supermarkets can’t find a way to reduce single use plastic, then what hope is there for the rest of us? Enter… zero waste grocery industry disruptors!
