As spring and summer arrive each year, the drive to get outside and enjoy the outdoors increases exponentially. Picnicking, whether on your own or with friends and family, tends to also go hand-in-hand with warmer weather and can be a great opportunity to reconnect with the environment. However, this timeless activity can, without planning, produce a significant volume of needless waste. From single-serving dishes packaged in plastic to single-use plastic bottles, cutlery, and more, a simple picnic can quickly result in a pile of avoidable waste.
Flossing our teeth is an activity that most of us probably do not spend much time considering (except for maybe after visiting the dentist). While very important for oral hygiene, flossing is quietly having a growing detrimental impact on the environment. Yes, you read that correctly.
The safety razor, also known as the double-edged safety razor, is a great example of a product that was arguable perfect before plastics were introduced. The last fifty years have brought us advancement after advancement with our razors, from more and more blades, different materials, exciting and strange colors, and much more. But, as we take a closer look at the razor, a mainstay of many grooming routines, we find that the eco-friendly safety razor may have had it right all along.
As we search for opportunities to reduce waste in our lives, one of the best places to begin is with our daily routines. One of these routines is brushing our teeth, something most of us do at least twice a day. But, within this daily practice is an opportunity to reduce plastic waste. The commonplace plastic toothbrush has a significant and long lasting effect on our planet.
Deodorant, an important part of our daily routines, is not something many of us would like to give up or would like others to give up, but its packaging waste continues to have a growing ecological impact. So it’s time we take a deeper look at this plastic staple of our morning, its history, production, and new plastic-free alternatives that are available.
For many of us, laundry is one of those household chores that simply needs to be done. It’s a mundane and unglamorous routine that most of us complete multiple times a week. One can be forgiven if spending a significant amount of time pondering our laundry routine’s environmental impact doesn’t rise to the top of the immediate concern list.
Plastic bags have widespread use in our everyday life. They are seemingly convenient, cheap, and offer a readily available transportation solution for purchased goods. But, these single-use products have a tremendous, growing environmental cost that we are beginning to recognize.
There are companies all around the world developing new eco-friendly products in order to replace harmful commonplace items we use every day. If you are trying to reduce your waste, spending, or simply trying to find more convenient solutions in your bathroom, look no further. It may be time to stop squeezing the last bit of toothpaste out of the tube and make the switch to toothpaste tablets (otherwise known as toothpaste tabs).
Doing the dishes is rarely a task that is thought of as enjoyable. Most of us simply aim to finish it as quickly as possible without putting a lot of thought into the process. However, it is arguably time to consider the tools we are using to wash the dishes.
Our shower & bathing routines have have developed an enormous plastics problem. From shampoos, conditioners, soaps, face washes and scrubs, to even the majority of sponges - they are all packaged with or contain plastics. This was not always the case, but rising demand in the personal care market and changes in how we bathe have helped create this new plastic landscape.
One plastic product wreaking havoc that has gained recent attention is single-use straws. One may not have imagined a product as trivial and underwhelming as a plastic straw could have such an enormously adverse impact on the environment. Currently, the USA alone uses 500 million disposable straws per day. And, this number is even more shocking in Europe, where consumers use an estimated 25.3 billion each year.