MINNIRELLA MAGAZINE
15 Simple Sustainable Swaps for Your Home
15 Simple Sustainable Swaps for Your Home
These 15 simple sustainable swaps for your home are the easiest and fastest way to become more eco-friendly right now. They’re so easy to implement into your daily routine that you’ll wonder why you never thought of making the switch sooner!
Adopting a more sustainable lifestyle starts with making simple changes to your everyday life. Just for a moment, forget replacing your current car with a trendy new model that runs on electric. Don’t rush out to replace every garment in your wardrobe with ethical clothes made by responsible brands. While these are great ways to be more sustainable, they’re costly and not viable options for everybody. I believe that we need to get everybody involved in sustainable living and not allow anybody to feel excluded because of cost or lack of knowledge. Switching to a more sustainable way of living should begin with small but significant swaps.
Eco-friendly living is something we all need to incorporate into our lives and despite many misconceptions, it’s a lifestyle choice accessible to all budgets. In fact, swapping everyday household items, such as toiletries and cosmetics makes a huge impact! It’s easy to overlook the small, everyday items we use on a daily basis. The items we use on a daily basis become such a routine part of our lives that we rarely pay attention to them. Nevertheless, the waste produced from these products largely contributes to our plastic pollution problem. Straws, makeup remover wipes, plastic water bottles and toothpaste are all culprits. Making the switch over to sustainable alternatives is a minor lifestyle change for you, but it has a huge, positive impact on the environment.
You may ask: “What’s wrong with just recycling what we use?” It’s unfortunately no longer enough just to recycle. Recycling works well in a world where overconsumption isn’t an issue. Our planet battles a huge issue with overconsumption and despite the strong focus on recycling, an overwhelming amount of household plastic is not recycled.
I’ve put together a list of 15 simple sustainable swaps for your home and everyday life. They’re all perfectly affordable and easy to implement immediately. Before we get started I just want to emphasise the importance of establishing sustainable habits, as well as just buying eco-friendly goods. There has been critisicm in the press about many of the sustainable products on the list, with claims that they are not as environmentally-friendly as you might think. The problem at hand is that some consumers are still treating their resuable, ethical goods in the same way they'd treat disposable items. If you're not going to clean your resuable straws or wash your cotton pads then you're defeating the object. Even if the goods you purchase are made by responsible brands, you still need to make them last because biodegradable or not - waste is still waste!
1) Plastic water bottle = copper water bottle
2) Cotton wool/makeup remover wipes = reusable cotton pads
3) Plastic straws = bamboo straws
4) Plastic carrier bag = canvas tote
5) Candles = soy candles
6) Vaseline pot or lip balm in plastic container = Organic lip balm in recyclable packaging
7) Leather or plastic bound notebook = cork notebook
8) Disposable coffee cup = bamboo coffee cup
9) Foil or cling-film = reusable food wraps
10) Dental floss in plastic container = replaceable floss reel in glass jar
11) Plastic hairbrush = natural bamboo hairbrush
12) Toothpaste in plastic tube = refillable toothpaste tablets in glass jar
13) Plastic toothbrush = bamboo toothbrush
14) Mouthwash in plastic bottle = mouthwash tablets in glass jar
15) Deodorant spray or plastic stick = natural deodorant in biodegradable packaging
Adopting a more sustainable lifestyle starts with making simple changes to your everyday life. Just for a moment, forget replacing your current car with a trendy new model that runs on electric. Don’t rush out to replace every garment in your wardrobe with ethical clothes made by responsible brands. While these are great ways to be more sustainable, they’re costly and not viable options for everybody. I believe that we need to get everybody involved in sustainable living and not allow anybody to feel excluded because of cost or lack of knowledge. Switching to a more sustainable way of living should begin with small but significant swaps.
Eco-friendly living is something we all need to incorporate into our lives and despite many misconceptions, it’s a lifestyle choice accessible to all budgets. In fact, swapping everyday household items, such as toiletries and cosmetics makes a huge impact! It’s easy to overlook the small, everyday items we use on a daily basis. The items we use on a daily basis become such a routine part of our lives that we rarely pay attention to them. Nevertheless, the waste produced from these products largely contributes to our plastic pollution problem. Straws, makeup remover wipes, plastic water bottles and toothpaste are all culprits. Making the switch over to sustainable alternatives is a minor lifestyle change for you, but it has a huge, positive impact on the environment.
You may ask: “What’s wrong with just recycling what we use?” It’s unfortunately no longer enough just to recycle. Recycling works well in a world where overconsumption isn’t an issue. Our planet battles a huge issue with overconsumption and despite the strong focus on recycling, an overwhelming amount of household plastic is not recycled.
I’ve put together a list of 15 simple sustainable swaps for your home and everyday life. They’re all perfectly affordable and easy to implement immediately. Before we get started I just want to emphasise the importance of establishing sustainable habits, as well as just buying eco-friendly goods. There has been critisicm in the press about many of the sustainable products on the list, with claims that they are not as environmentally-friendly as you might think. The problem at hand is that some consumers are still treating their resuable, ethical goods in the same way they'd treat disposable items. If you're not going to clean your resuable straws or wash your cotton pads then you're defeating the object. Even if the goods you purchase are made by responsible brands, you still need to make them last because biodegradable or not - waste is still waste!
15 Simple Sustainable Swaps for Your Home
1) Plastic water bottle = copper water bottle
2) Cotton wool/makeup remover wipes = reusable cotton pads
3) Plastic straws = bamboo straws
4) Plastic carrier bag = canvas tote
5) Candles = soy candles
6) Vaseline pot or lip balm in plastic container = Organic lip balm in recyclable packaging
7) Leather or plastic bound notebook = cork notebook
8) Disposable coffee cup = bamboo coffee cup
9) Foil or cling-film = reusable food wraps
10) Dental floss in plastic container = replaceable floss reel in glass jar
11) Plastic hairbrush = natural bamboo hairbrush
12) Toothpaste in plastic tube = refillable toothpaste tablets in glass jar
13) Plastic toothbrush = bamboo toothbrush
14) Mouthwash in plastic bottle = mouthwash tablets in glass jar
15) Deodorant spray or plastic stick = natural deodorant in biodegradable packaging
What do you think? Do you have any other recommendations for me? Do let me know.