Looking to quit plastic?

Looking to reduce your reliance on plastics? Join the eco movement and say goodbye to a few nasty habits and hello to a greener, environmentally conscious lifestyle.

The best place to start when looking to reduce your plastic footprint is to look at what you’re currently doing and what changes can work for you. Cutting everything plastic out all at once may prove to be very challenging especially once you hit the supermarket shelves packed with convenient, functional and familiar plastic wrapped goods.

The most common single-use plastics found in the environment worldwide are, in order of scale; cigarette butts, drink bottles and bottle caps, food wrappers, grocery bags, lids, straws and stirrers, other thicker bags and polystyrene foam takeaway containers.

Start your #plasticfreelife by adding a few of these easy tweaks to your daily life:

Grow a herb garden

Whether you have a sprawling garden or tiny inner city apartment, your kitchen windowsill can be a great environment to grow herbs! Not only is it cheaper than buying them (in plastic) they are less likely to wilt away in your fridge.

Use shampoo and conditioner bars

It’s what it sounds like, a solid version of both shampoo and conditioner that work a treat and come in cardboard and paper packaging. Be sure to check the list of ingredients, you don’t want any nasties found in common hair care products like sulphates.

Give paste deodorants a try

Almost all deodorants have a plastic spray top or roller, but paste deodorants come in glass or metal containers and are applied with metal spatulas or your fingers! You can find them in your local health food store or online.

Paper-wrapped toilet paper

Look for toilet paper brands that are made from recycled paper and come wrapped in paper, not soft plastic. Some supermarkets supply paper-wrapped brands, but there are plenty of others available online and can be delivered to your door.

Embrace bamboo

Plastic toothbrushes are a pretty nasty contributor to plastic pollution with 4.7 billion plastic toothbrushes being tossed or washed up on our shores around the world each year. Bamboo handled toothbrushes are a step better, but still have nylon bristles. Be sure to remove the bristles before disposing (bristles go to landfill) and dispose of the handle in the compost.

Rethink your razor

Shaving has been around way longer than plastic razors themselves. So it may be time to go back to the classic stainless-steel safety razor or use an electric razor, that will last you a few years.

Bring your own bag

When shopping, bring your own bags, jars and containers to store your freshly purchased fruit, meat, fish, grains and nuts. Just don’t accept any disposable packaging.