We all know we can do more to help the environment and reduce our carbon footprint, so I thought I’d share some of the sustainable swaps I’ve been making.
Keep Cup
I’ve been using a keepcup for about 3 years now and I am absolutely obsessed with it. As well as helping reduce the amount of disposable cups used when you get a takeaway coffee, a lot of coffee shops are offering money off your coffee when you bring your own cup. Cheaper coffee and saving the planet, what’s not to love? Plus, they have so many different sizes and colours you’re bound to find one you love. Whether it’s a flat white or a cappuccino you want – there’s a cup for it.
Bamboo Face Pads
I currently use micellar water to remove my makeup which needs some sort of cloth/pad to put it on. I used cotton wool pads for years and realised I was throwing away at least one every single day I wore makeup! I saw a friend post about some bamboo pads on Instagram and ordered some immediately! There are lots of small businesses selling them online you can support and some come with a bag that you put all the used pads in to wash them! They clean up so well in the washing machine and feel so soft on your face too, definitely a swap I’m loving.
Metal Straws
Straws aren’t a necessity, but it’s proven that drinking through a straw is more efficient and sometimes I love to have a big glass with my smoothie in and a metal straw to easily drink it.
Water Bottle
Kind of an obvious one, but according to Hydration Anywhere, over 17 million barrels of oil are used to create more than 50 million plastic water bottles per year in the US. If used for another purpose, that amount of oil could fuel 1.3 million cars for an entire year or power 190,000 homes! How crazy is that? Also 38 BILLION water bottles end up in landfill every YEAR. A lot of disposable water bottles end up polluting the oceans, killing an estimated 1.1 million marine creatures annually 🙁
Ecoyoga Mat
My current yoga mat is from https://www.ecoyoga.co.uk/. It is made of sustainable/plant-based materials and is biodegradable so at the end of it’s life it can be composted. They are all made in Edinburgh.
Soap instead of Shower Gel
So many bathroom products produce a LOT of waste. One way we can reduce this is by swapping out our shower gel for soap. Old fashioned, maybe, but it reduces the amount of plastic you are buying and then throwing away. Say a family of 5 use 1 bottle of shower gel each a month, that’s 5 bottles each a month, that’s 60 per year and 600 plastic bottle after 10 years! Just for shower gel! If you think of how long a person lives for and how many families there are using shower gel, this adds up to a LOT. Lots of soaps smell so lovely nowadays and many come in a thin cardboard box which can be recycled.
Organicup
It’s not difficult to imagine the amount of waste we produce from our periods in our lifetime. Period products along with their packaging and individual wrapping generate more than 200.000 tonnes of waste per year, and typically all contain plastic. This waste mostly ends up in landfills, sewages, on our beaches and in our oceans. I’ve recently switched to an Organicup but there are lots of different alternatives out there. You’ll also save a LOT of money.
Natural Deodorant
I’ve been using a natural deodorant from Wild. They don’t contain any synthetic chemicals, aluminium, parabens or sulphates. Their deodorants are single-use plastic free and you get a metal case in your initial pack which you keep and then after that you just purchase refills which are contained in bamboo casing which is fully compostable or recyclable. It’s important to note it’s not an antiperspirant so you will still sweat a little, you just won’t smell! You can choose your case colour and the scent of the deodorant. I chose coconut which smells so delicious!