Everywhere we look we are being shown the effects that single use plastics are having on the planet, even the great David Attenborough is trying his hardest to make people rethink their ways.
As parents, trying to do our part to help the health of our planet, as well as trying to educate our little one on the subject all seemed a little daunting. We knew we couldn’t go “cold-turkey” & eliminate all plastic from our lives in one go, but found it quite fun to research the small swaps we could make & were stunned by how many reusable alternatives there are out there!
If you read our first eco-parenting blog you will know we started with the kitchen/cleaning as that was where we had decided we used the main bulk of single use plastic in our home. Having felt like we have made good progress there, we have turned to our bathroom/beauty, to see what Eco swaps there are available in this area.
Our 2 year old daughter Lilith is the first of us to get an eco-friendly toothbrush, made out of recyclable natural bamboo & wheat fibre. We will be quick to follow once our existing conventional plastic ones have come to the end of their lives. There are so many stylish bamboo toothbrushes on the market, which are suitable for the entire family & if you think that in the UK alone, around 26 million toothbrushes end up in landfill each year, its going to be a small change that really makes a difference!
When looking at my own beauty routine, I identified the main single use items I was using a lot of were cotton wool pads & cotton swabs. Both of which get used once & instantly disposed of, not to mention the plastic packaging they come in. I have now made the switch to reusable makeup rounds & biodegradable bamboo cotton swabs, both of which come in cardboard packaging! The reusable makeup rounds are made from 100% cotton flannel material & are great at removing face & eye makeup & can even be used for removing nail varnish.
We are very lucky to have a local shop near to us that offers refills on lots of products, which we already use for our washing up liquid & hand soap. We noticed they started stocking ‘Faith in Nature’ shampoo & conditioner refills too, which I was keen to try as their natural ingredients mean that the whole family can use this product. Their ethos is “we believe that everyone should benefit from what the Earth provides” & we couldn’t agree with that statement more! We bought some cheap 1L glass bottles, which are easy to use, look great & we can easily see when we need to stock up.
One of our favourite switches has been buying toilet roll in bulk from ‘Who Gives A Crap’ – who not only produce toilet roll from 100% recycled paper, but also donate 50% of their profits to help build toilets for those in need. Money-wise, per roll this toilet roll is a similar price to what we would pay at the supermarket, but the fact it's delivered in bulk straight to your door, with no plastic packaging, made from recycled paper & all individually wrapped in stylish paper packaging – it’s a no brainer for us!
Making just a few small changes does make a difference and the whole thing is such a great learning curve. We absolutely love finding out about new swaps that can help us live more sustainably & allow us to do our small part to help protect the planet for our children’s future.