“Being more environmentally friendly” can feel like a vague and sometimes overwhelming goal. Indeed, the most significant steps to save the planet will be made at national and international levels but it is still worth making eco-friendly tweaks to your lifestyle.
Your bathroom is something you (hopefully!) use every day, so making simple changes in your routine will add up over time. This is not only about your individual impact on the environment: by supporting companies with eco-products and sustainable practices, we use our voices as consumers, which in turn shapes company policy.
Here are some ways to make your bathroom more eco, with high-quality products that don’t break the bank.
1) Use a bamboo toothbrush
You can start to make your bathroom more eco with your dental routine. Flimsy plastic toothbrushes that you use and throw away quickly aren’t great for the environment. Bamboo toothbrushes are a much more sustainable alternative.
With an NHS doctor on the founding team, Truthbrush is a brand of sustainable toothbrush that doesn’t compromise on the quality of dental care. You can choose between an analogue or an electric toothbrush and soft or medium bristles. Whatever option you pick, Truthbrush is biodegradable, vegan, and their shipping is carbon neutral.
2) …and toothpaste tabs instead of toothpaste in a tube
More on teeth, your standard toothpaste tube is none too eco either. Most toothpaste tubes are made of plastic laminate (a combination of different plastics), making them difficult to recycle. And you go through a lot of them. Traditional toothpaste is also mostly water, which is not particularly efficient or eco-friendly.
Many eco-conscious Londoners are making the switch to toothpaste tabs. These are toothpaste alternatives that take the form of a tablet you crush with your teeth. You then brush it with a wet toothbrush and spit it out as you would do toothpaste. Anything But Plastic and Smyle are good places to start for toothpaste tabs.
3) Buy shampoo and conditioner in bulk
Buying your hair products in bulk saves on packaging and is an easy way to make your bathroom more eco.
If you’ve been in the home of an environmentally conscious Londoner, chances are you will have seen Faith in Nature on their shelves. This British company have been championing green toiletries since 1974, and their hair and body products are cheap, cruelty-free, and smell amazing.
For extra eco-points, you can go for the shampoo bars or buy the big bottles of Faith in Nature and then refill them when you run out. There are refill stations all over London, find your nearest one.
And for a wider variety of zero-waste and bulk options, check out Good Club, they stock a wide variety of bathroom essentials in bult quantaties with carbon free delivery.
4) Embrace refills
Speaking of refills, Bower Collective is another company that does them right. Bower Collective has a wide variety of personal care products on offer including hair and skincare, bath and shower products, sustainable hand sanitiser, and reusable period products.
All products are either plastic-free or have refillable packaging. If you want to decant your product into another dispenser you are welcome to return your packaging to Bower Collective in a prepaid envelope. As for the reusable dispensers, they can also be bought separately. They are well-made and great for all of your household needs.
5) Love cheapo hate waste
It’s an open secret that “best before” dates in the UK are often on the conservative side. For most toiletries and beauty products, the expiry date really means is that the manufacturer will not guarantee the product has the same quality of use after it. Unfortunately, this means that a lot of perfectly good products go to waste.
Love Health Hate Waste purchase goods past their best before date that are destined for the landfill, and sell them for up to 90% less than their standard sales prices. You can find some bargains on makeup and toiletries there, as well as health brands, supplements, and baby products.
6) Give a crap about your toilet paper
Toilet paper. We all use it, and we don’t talk about it but maybe we should. The average Brit uses 127 rolls annually, and this requires 5 million trees a year, according to a recent study.
Luckily, when it comes to toilet paper there are many options to make your bathroom more eco. Naked Sprout and Cheeky Panda make bamboo toilet paper. Bamboo is a more sustainable source than regular trees because it grows up to 30 times faster, among other reasons. The fabulously named Who Gives a Crap offers bamboo toilet paper and toilet paper made from recycled materials.
These companies offer subscription options to deliver your bog roll to your door, saving you time, money, and strange looks when you are proudly carrying a jumbo packet of toilet paper on a double-decker bus.
7) Visit another planet (organically)
Planet Organic is the UK’s oldest organic supermarket. As well as food and drink, they have an extensive health and beauty offering, including their own affordable skincare range.
Their eight stores across London are well worth a visit, with the Muswell Hill shop boasting a plastic-free and refillable beauty installation for cheapos who want to beautify themselves the cheapo way. If you can’t make it down in person, all Planet Organic online orders are delivered in packaging made from 75% recycled fibres.
