Living plastic free

Talking about climate change and the rise in plastic is easy, but acting upon it and changing our ways is another story. Much of the plastic we use are related to our food and cosmetics, so how can you create a plastic-free bathroom.

Here we suggest some alternative products that can be factored into your daily beauty and hygiene routines.

Unknowingly to many, our bathrooms are heaving with plastic products – from toothpaste tubes to toothbrushes and cleaning products – plastic is everywhere. This colossal problem has, distressingly, become unavoidable and is having a devastating effect on our planet.

Make David Attenborough proud and follow these simple hacks to ensure that your bathroom is plastic-free.

Shampoo and conditioner

If you are looking to completely cut out plastic from your haircare routine, the alternative to liquid haircare is bar versions of both shampoo and conditioner. There are added benefits to using the bar shampoo and conditioners, the main one being no plastic and much less packaging. Bars are longer lasting and have many more natural ingredients in them that are better for your hair and scalp, resulting in you not having to wash your hair as often.

If you prefer liquid haircare then we have a solution for that too; swap the plastic bottles that pile up and use your own glass jars that can be refilled at bulk stores. If you can’t find a local store that allows refills then you can always try making your own – here is a recipe for a natural homemade shampoo.

However, if none of the above works for you then try and buy your products in the biggest bottle you can find to reduce the amount of plastic you are buying for that one item.

Soap

Bar is best! Change up your liquid soaps for bars of solid soaps. Bar soaps do not contain as high a proportion of water as shower gels or liquid soaps, and therefore tend to last for a significantly longer period of time. However, be sure to say no to bar soap that is unnecessarily wrapped in plastic – there are many alternatives that are wrapped in paper.

Toothbrushes and toothpaste

An alarming number of toothbrushes alone are discarded every year. That is a lot of plastic for such tiny objects. This can be avoided through the use of bamboo toothbrushes. These are a plastic-free alternative and are biodegradable – even the packaging and bristles are plastic-free.

Similarly, and equally as shocking, over 1 billion toothpaste tubes end up in landfill each year. The alternative to this is not as easy as the toothbrushes but it is a start – do it yourself and store it in a class jar using this recipe.

Cleaning products

Bathrooms are where most of the house cleaning takes place. When cleaning the bathroom be sure to use products that are as eco-friendly as possible. You can either create your own hereor source some online with brands such that contain non-toxic bleach.

Toilet paper

The but the majority of toilet paper is, unnecessarily, wrapped in plastic; the toilet paper itself may be made up of recycled paper but the plastic wrapped around it diminishes this factor. Be sure to check the packaging in-store to see if it is recyclable or biodegradable.

Again, buy the largest pack size available to help reduce the amount of plastic waste that is being produced.

Hopefully this helps you to reduce your plastic waste and encourages you to do the same in other aspects of your home.