Zero waste

rbbadger

I am starting my journey towards zero waste. Whilst I'm not very wasteful,I don't think that I will ever truly get there, but I know that there are some improvements I could make.

I would appreciate some help. Years ago, I abandoned liquid soap in favour of "real" soap and far prefer it - but what can I do to reduce the wasted packaging of shampoo and conditioner, toothpaste tubes etc?

Is there a more environmentally friendly way to but washing soap and fabric softener than the Ariel pods that I currently buy....

All advice on this subject gratefully received.

Linda32

Hi,

A thought on shampoo, conditioner and toothpaste is that some where you might be able to get refillable bottles for shampoo. Body Shop might do that, but you have to factor in the means of travel to the shop. Petrol for car or bus etc. Personally I wouldn't worry about one bottle of shampoo. How long does it take you to use one bottle?

Conditioner, I never use it so zero waste there. Try going without it and see if you notice the different. That saves money as well.

Toothpaste, is that say one tube a week? is there a tube sold without a box? I can't remember, there probably is.

Wash powder, well ariel in a box or liquid in a bottle would be the obvious choice rather than individual pods.

Fabric Softener, I only use this when I wash towels and wash two lots together so one bottle lasts well over six months. Try a wash without and see if you notice the difference.

Best of luck

firebubble

Toothpaste is a tough one, I've been looking for toothpaste in a glass jar or recyclable packaging but haven't found one yet.

Ditch the fabric conditioner as it's horrible for the environment and that cuts out a plastic bottle as well. It's conditioner which makes your machine mouldy, so if you stop using this you also won't need to clean your machine as often. Switch to an eco washing liquid or powder as most of them have recyclable packaging, and they often do refills. If you want a completely eco version, you can buy soap nuts - I find them ok for lightly soiled loads, but periodically do a wash with liquid detergent as I can't quite get my head around them actually cleaning properly?!

Also switch to biodegradable clingfilm if you use that - bacofoil make it.

If you live in a softwater area, there are shampoo bars from various soap companies which you could try, alternatively there is that liquid soap - dr bronner I think - that has mutiple purposes so it can replace shower gel, shampoo, handwash etc. I live in a hardwater area and tried it as shampoo, but wouldn't recommend as my hair did not react well!

Once I've used up the handwash I have, I'm going to switch to soap - are there any particular brands you like?

Dark_Star

Lush do a bar of solid shampoo plus a solid shower gel with no packaging. That would a fancy shaped large bar of pricy soap. Nice to receive as a gift though.
There’s a lot of info on Pinterest on how to make your own toothpaste & other stuff like laundry detergent. Don’t know about fabric conditioner though.

rbbadger

Great ideas - thanks. As I have curly hair - I have co-washed which means I could largely ditch the shape rather than the conditioner. I use Yes To Carrots, which I hope is relatively good.

I will look into soap nuts. I am also washing my clothes less often - you really don't need clean on every day (or so I keep telling myself!)

I will pop onto Pinterest to check out toothpaste, but I tend to get list for hours if I look on there.

Soap - I like Pears, coal tar and I used to like Waitrose soaps, but don;t think they make a variety any more. I'm not sure if any are particularly eco, but they last much longer than liquid soap.

FrugalWorker

A lot of this depends where you live/what's close to you. If you can find somewhere that sells things in bulk or lose, thats a huge win. I'm lucky I pass a place coming home from work.

I'd guess you've already hit some of the easier ones - avoid bottled water, avoid using disposable coffee cups, avoid taking plastic bags by carrying your own. If you haven't, give these a go.

For hair (I've short hair and live in a soft water area). I've gone the no poo method, didn't mind it but I found it a bit of faff. I've tried a solid bar, but didn't like how it left my hair. I've now found someone who will re-fill my bottle each time. Means OH doesn't object to it - he didn't really like the solid bar and I certainly wasn't going to get him to use baking powder + vinegar. I'm using faith.

Washing powder - Next time I'll get my container re-filled, I use Sonnet. I didn't see OH buying in to the soap nuts, though I considered it.

Washing liquid - I get container re-filled. I use Lillys.

Clingfilm - I hadn't used this in years, but I now use bees wax cloth to buy my cheese. You can make this (I decided not to and paid over the odds, but I've cut back other things. Its been in use since I got it.)

I want to get myself a safety razor, but not tried it yet. I think that's next on my list.

For menstruation I changed to using a moon cup years ago for a combination of frugal + environmental reasons and haven't looked back. I've recently got some washable pads to add to it. My favourite thing is that it is more comfortable and I feel far cleaner than using disposables.

Biggest piece of advice, do what you can in small steps. To check the next big item for you to cut out - check out your rubbish bin / recycling bin.

rach_k

Once I found the one I liked, I bought a 5L bottle of Faith in Nature shower gel. They also do shampoos and household products too. It cuts out the small plastic bottles, other than the first one to decant into, and the empty 5L container could probably be repurposed.

I think soap nuts are a bit marmite - they come a long way so I'm not sure how great their footprint is really. You can apparently use conkers to make a similar product but I haven't tried that!

I use a powdered washing detergent that comes in a cardboard box. Pods and bottles seem very wasteful to me and they don't tend to clean as well either, perhaps meaning you need to use more.

You could try water softener rather than fabric softener. Even in soft water, water softener makes things feel nicer and also means you can use less detergent. Tesco and Sainsbury's (and I'm sure other supermarkets) do cardboard boxes of 'limescale prevention powder' which is much cheaper than Calgon but still effective, and the waste is just the box.

ETA - I've refilled bottles of fabric softener in the past but it was ridiculous, financially. £3.49 for a new bottle in Tesco or £3.99 to refill one at the health food shop, which also required £3 bus fare. It's very sad but I'm not paying that!

[Deleted User]

I use a handful of ordinary washing soda in my washing machine and half the amount of detergent. I also use vinegar as the rinse instead of the horrible washing 'conditioner' Never ever had it back in the 1940s -50s and it seems that manufacturers found a great way to earn cash by providing a product thats not really needed and folk have bought into it What on earth is ylang-ylang anyway a bottle of ordinary white vinegar costs around 25p and is more than sufficient for towels etc and lasts ages.

I have very little waste in my house as I was brought up to reuse or recycle back in the dim and distant past of post-war austerity and rationing.

So many things on the market today can be discarded if you think about it. I have never bought liquid soap in my life, a bar of ordinary 'hard' soap is fine for handwashing, and the left over bits get saved in an old jam jar and remade into another bar. My late ma-in-law used either salt or bicarb to clean her gnashers, and because she used very little sugar died at 84 with all her teeth intact and never had a filling in her life

Have a good look at each product you buy and think if you can replace it with something cheaper or better. I can remember the days of tooth powder before paste

Far too much stuff is over-wrapped only for the convenience of the shops not the customers. Who remembers the days of string net bags when you went shopping for veg etc. I try to only buy loose fruit and veg and I am quite lucky as I live close to a farm shop, but if you can find a street market give them a try if you live in a city.

buildersdaughter

Our local wholefood co-op will refill the bottles of Ecover washing up liquid and laundry liquid - a great help. We aim to go once a month and combine the trip with something else (but sometimes it just doesn't work out!)
If you do have to buy the bottles, consider the 5 litre ones, as I find more uses for them, and people will take them and use them, often camping or gardening.
We have a water softener, which I love, so I find any soaps / detergents last for ages.

phizzimum

Try doing a load of washing without fabric conditioner- I doubt you’ll notice the difference. If you’re only using it for the fragrance try adding a few drops of essential oil

Solid shampoo bars, solid conditioner bars, jars of tooth powder are sold by quite a lot of places now. Lush has been at the forefront of things like these, but eBay or etsy are good places to look too. I have quite fine hair so sometimes I use coconut oil before I shampoo, then the next wash just shampoo. Not sure that would on curly hair. My daughter has very curly hair and hardly uses shampoo but gets through tons of conditioner!

Powdered washing powder is still sold in cardboard boxes in most supermarkets. And unlike pods you can just use the amount you need, which is always much less than the recommended amount. Or have a go at making homemade laundry gloop.

CapricornLass

We do have some liquid soap, but our favourite is Turkish Olive Oil soap, which my friend always buys for me when she goes on holiday - much more useful than Turkish Delight!

I too use washing soda in my machine - it makes the detergent work much better (I live in a very hard water area). I don't tend to use fabric conditioner, except for synthetics (fleeces and thermals) and for woollens ( for the acrylic jumpers. I did try without, but didn't like the harshness. Probably the aforementioned hard water! I use white vinegar for the towels.