Eco Show and Tell

By Sofya Firsakova and Shiri Atsmon

Wherever you look in the supermarket, the items you pick up to care for yourself will be enveloped by plastic: toothbrushes, soaps, shampoos, cosmetics, sunscreens, deodorants. With plastic manufacturing companies peddling empty promises, we need to take it upon ourselves to make the switch to better alternatives. For this reason, this month’s topic centres on personal care, and how to practice self care while also caring for the environment.

The problem

In the UK alone, we throw away 520 million shampoo bottles and 468 million spray bottles every year. According to the British Beauty Council, only 14% of all packaging actually makes it to a recycling facility, and only 9% is recycled, with the rest headed directly to incineration or landfill. The slide below elaborates on the issues further.

A Quick Overview 

Making the most of what you have 

The first step is making the products you already have go a long way. Small things like rolling up toothpaste when it’s near the end and cutting open tubes ensures minimum product is wasted, and you re-purchase it less often. Fill up shampoo bottles with water to get the remaining shampoo out.

Use your products more sparingly. Some products that people commonly use too much of include shampoo, face wash and toothpaste (you only need a pea-sized amount – the full strip of toothpaste you see is just to make it look good for ads!)

Convenience is key 

Below are a few easy replacements to cut out unnecessary packaging. Choose a few to try on your next restock.

• Deodorant -> Fussy, a refillable, natural and cruelty-free deodorant 
• Shampoo -> Shampoo bars, which are just as effective! For example, LUSH has a very wide and exciting variety, but cheaper options can be found at your local Boots, such as Garnier’s Strengthening Shampoo Bar
• Disposable razors -> reusable razors with replaceable heads. An even better option would be using ones made from sustainable materials, such as bamboo, in the first place. You can take a look at some of the options here.
• Body wash -> scented soap bars or refillable body wash 
• Skincare -> try to buy the option with glass or aluminium packaging. If your favorite provider doesn’t offer recyclable packaging yet, urge them to do so.
• Plastic toothbrush -> bamboo toothbrushes. The bristles should be made from nylon and a soft to medium bristle head will avoid damaging your gums. Buying an electric toothbrush and swapping the heads is also a more sustainable option than replacing a manual toothbrush often.

Investments to make 

• Buying products in bulk and decanting into smaller bottles saves both money and plastic. More and more companies are providing refillable options for skincare and makeup.
• Instead of pads and tampons, take a look into reusable period products such as menstrual cups and reusable pads. Swapping to a menstrual cup would save you roughly £1000 of period products a year. More advice on Environmenstrual’s website.

One last tip to help you recycle more 

Place a recycling bag in your toilet to ensure it is just as simple to recycle as it is in the kitchen.

A Quick Summary

This slide is a useful summary of the actions you can take. Refusing samples, reducing the amount of new materials bought and reusing existing packages are just some of the ways to alleviate the problem.

Tune in to our very own zero-waste webinar. Fast forward to minutes 1hr16min where we discuss zero waste personal care in more detail.