Are you feeling a little overwhelmed with all the plastic-free swaps you should make in your home? Don’t worry; you’re not alone! We could rattle off a hundred different ways to be more sustainable in the home, but sometimes we need clear, simple advice in order to move forward.
In this blog, we’re going back to basics. We’ve identified five quick and simple ways to immediately cut your plastic waste within your home. Living a more sustainable life can take time, so we recommend that you focus on these five easy swaps to begin with!
Bamboo Toothbrush
Swapping your plastic toothbrush for a bamboo toothbrush is one of the quickest, easiest and cheapest ways to reduce your plastic waste! Literally, every plastic toothbrush you’ve ever used (ever since you were a toddler) is still out there in the world. Each individual plastic toothbrush will degrade into smaller pieces, but it’ll never disappear completely.
Aussies throw away around 900 tonnes worth of toothbrushes every year. This number could be reduced to zero if we all used toothbrushes made from bamboo. The great thing about bamboo is that it’s fast-growing and compostable, which means that it’ll turn back into soil at the end of its life.
Reusable Produce Bags
Single-use plastic produce bags are awful for our environment. They’re used once — maybe for a few carrots or a head of broccoli — then chucked into the bin. From there, they will degrade slowly in landfill into smaller pieces, and because they’re made from such a light material, they tend to fly away from massive landfills and into our rivers and oceans.
The solution is so simple: reusable produce bags! We all know that groceries are packaged with so much unnecessary plastic. We’ve seen bananas, avocados, oranges — you name it — packaged in single-use plastic. While this is a much bigger problem that supermarket chains need to address, we can actually advocate for less plastic packaging by choosing to bring in our reusable produce bags.
Compostable Dish Cloth
We’re told that we should change our dishcloth every 3 to 5 days — so you can imagine how many a single family would go through. We obviously want to keep our dishcloths relatively clean, but we don’t want to be chucking them out all the time. So, what’s the solution? Reusable and compostable dishcloths! These dishcloths are made from cotton and cellulose, so they’re super absorbent and great at cleaning up messes. They’re machine washable, and compostable, so there is zero waste.
Still not sure about making the swap? The Retro Kitchen Biodegradable Dish Cloths have a 5-star average rating from our lovely F&F customers and come in all sorts of fun designs!
Reusable Makeup Remover Pads
We don’t tend to think about it, but single-use makeup wipes, cotton rounds and cotton balls create a lot of unnecessary daily waste. The truth is that many of these cotton-based products have synthetic fibres in them, which means that they’re not biodegradable.
Reusable makeup remover pads are affordable, multipurpose, and machine washable. Our Green + Kind Reusable Makeup Remover Pads have two different textured sides: the white side is great for gentle exfoliation, and the charcoal side is great for eye makeup removal.
For stubborn stains, lather the Ethique Flash Solid Laundry Bar & Stain Remover on your reusable makeup remover pads, then pop them in the washing machine.
Shampoo & Conditioner Bars
Our showers tend to be filled with plastic bottles. Shampoos, conditioners, body washes, cleansers, exfoliators… the list goes on. In Australia, we produce around 2.5 million tonnes of plastic per year — this equates to 100kg per person! Here’s the biggest problem: only 13% of this plastic is actually recycled. The other 84% goes straight to landfill.
Whilst recycling is good, we need to tackle plastic packaging right at the source, and instead, opt for plastic-free shampoo and conditioner bars! The average bottle of liquid shampoo or conditioner can be made up of 80% water, so it doesn’t make sense to pay for a big plastic bottle that’s full of water and packed with preservatives. Depending on your hair type and how often you wash your hair, a shampoo bar can provide the equivalent number of washes as three bottles of shampoo. A conditioner bar can last 6-8 months and save you purchasing five bottles of conditioner. Amazing, right?
Thinking of reducing your personal plastic waste, but not sure where to start? These five quick and simple eco swaps are super easy to implement, good for the environment, and better for your pocket in the long run. We hope you give them a try!
If you’re looking for more ways to reduce your plastic waste in the home, check out The Eco Hub for more helpful tips and tricks.
