Your bathroom is arguably the most wasteful room in your house and so if you’re just starting out on your sustainable journey, it’s a great place to start with sustainable swaps. By carefully choosing the products you buy into your home, you can help to not only create a healthy and sustainable environment in your own space, but also help to rejuvenate and protect the planet.

Here’s a quote that sums it up nicely from Richard Souber, co-founder of The Little Green Orca, a company that sources plastic free products: “The bathroom is a place where the average person is ploughing through shampoo bottles, shower gel, toilet paper, wet wipes, toothbrushes etc. There is a lot of needless waste going on in the bathroom. It’s an area where you can create a great deal of chaos for the planet.”

LET’S LOOK AT PRODUCTS

Thinking about the products you buy into your bathroom and particularly thinking about the packaging can be one way of moving towards making a positive impact on your own health and reducing the environmental impact on the planet. Here’s a few things to be thinking about next time you shop for your bathroom essentials.

Refillables

For more sustainable options in your bathroom opt for refillables that come in compostable packaging or can be refilled at your local conscious living shop. Choose glass or metal containers that last. This prolongs the use of materials, whilst minimising the new materials needed and lowering transport costs and C02 emissions. The refillable bottles are often long lasting (made from glass or metal) and can look really stylish in your bathroom.

Gavin Taylor, Founder of No Ordinary says: “The main benefit of a refillable bottle is the reduction in plastic production. It’s really important for us as a company to keep all of our bottles in circulation. That way, we can prolong the use of that one bottle, keep it out of recycling, out of landfill, but then even when it’s damaged, even when it’s out of use, it can still be recycled or repurposed after.”

Go Plastic-free

Less than a third of all plastic in the UK is recycled and every day approximately eight million pieces of plastic pollution find their way into our oceans. Your bathroom is a great place to cut down your single-use plastics.

Choose Sustainable Materials

Bamboo is a great sustainable choice. You can get toothbrushes, razors, cotton buds, wash cloths, toilet roll, soap dishes, hair and makeup brushes – the list is endless. Items are also compostable once you’ve finished with them – so a zero waste item.

Reusable Items

Think anything that can be washed and used time and time again. This helps us cut down on single-use items such as wet wipes which often contain micro-plastics, plastic packaging and chemical toxins and end up in the bin and then landfill (or our oceans). Washcloths and reusable make-up remover pads are a great place to start.

Natural Products

Choosing products that are derived from natural substances contain far less toxins, if any. This is good news not only from an environmental prospective (think about toxins being washed away down drains, into water supplies and harming wildlife) but also from a health prospective. Less toxins in our diet and in the products we use directly on our bodies will reduce the chances of allergic reactions, dry skin and build up of harmful additives which can lead to health problems and disease. It’s also worth thinking about reusable options such as organic natural sponges and washcloths which can be washed and used time and time again, reducing landfill waste.

Soap, Shampoo and Moisturiser Bars

Most often these products are going to be made from natural ingredients – so are kind to the skin. They are inexpensive swaps and you can experiment with many different fragrances and textures to find the ones that suit you and your family’s needs. Look out for ones packaged in cardboard or paper rather than plastic. The less single-use plastic bottles needed the better. They are are hard to recycle and often burn fossil fuels to produce.

“My favourite easy sustainable swaps for the bathroom are body bars and shampoo bars. I don’t buy wash products in plastic bottles anymore and I’m enjoying the feel of the soap bars better,” says Emani Jeram, founder – B&W: The Collection

Waterless Products

Water has reigned supreme as an additive because it’s both an affordable and neutral ingredient—it can be added to virtually any product without concerns over skin reactions. However, H2O does promote the growth of microorganisms, which means that preservatives must be used, raising questions, over potential negative impacts. Waterless enthusiasts will also argue that water actually dries out the skin, taking natural oils away as it evaporates. The benefits of an anhydrous (waterless) product is, when you remove the water, you can produce more highly concentrated formulas, which means lighter applications of a product with the same amount of oomph. In other words – a little goes a long way. What’s more, this smaller footprint requires less packaging and reduces transportation costs.

Choose Cruelty Free Products

Each year, more than 100 million animals —including mice, rats, frogs, dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs, monkeys, fish, and birds — are killed in US laboratories for biology lessons, medical training, curiosity-driven experimentation, and chemical, drug, food, and cosmetics testing. Cruelty-free is a label for products that do not harm or kill animals anywhere along its supply chain. Products tested on animals are not considered cruelty-free, since these tests are often painful and cause the suffering and death of animals. Look for Vegan Society or Leaping Bunny Certified products to be sure that the products have not been tested on animals.

“The next time you are hunting for your favourite Fuschia pink lipstick, ask the shop owner to show you a vegan and cruelty-free product. Be a smart consumer, do not let animal-tested products enter your household,” say Eve & Chidi, founders of Auklett

Toilet Paper

This is one of those items that most of us feel we cannot live without. The zero waste washcloth option is not that appealing to most people. Problem is, we use it and then toss it straight down the loo. You can now choose from many sustainable brands which have developed rolls made from sustainable materials such as bamboo and have thought carefully about their packaging ensuring that it is either 100% biodegradable or fully recyclable.

SUSTAINABLE HABITS IN YOUR BATHROOM

Changing the consumable products in your bathroom will make an impact and small changes can make a big difference when it comes to sustainability. It’s worth also considering how your daily habits can also affect our carbon footprint and what opportunities there are to reduce it.

Water Use

This is a big one in the bathroom as when we are in there, we primarily use water. Think about turning off the taps when it’s not necessary, and take short showers. You can install a water-saving showerhead and water-efficient taps, doing so will save on water and reduce energy costs. Let’s not forget the lavatory – around 30% of the total amount of water used in a household comes from flushing the toilet. To avoid this unnecessarily large amount of waste, you could upgrade your lavatory to a water-efficient one. Toilets with a dual flush for example offer users the choice of how much water they need to use per flush, and typically only use up to six litres per flush – over half the amount of a traditional lavatory.

When it comes to cleaning it really does pay to shop around with ethical, non toxic brands which have formulated solutions which are not harmful to our waterways and the wildlife that live in them. It’s also important to consider the health benefits of your own family by switching to non-toxic cleaners rather than ones that contain chemicals that are harmful to our health.

In the last decade B Corporated Delphis Eco (you can find on www.beyondbamboo.life as well as other reputable stores) has expanded from a handful of products to over 100.

Each has a simple test – they have to work as well as their ‘nasty’ competitors, and have to be formulated with aquatic organisms in mind. Delphis Eco products take on the toughest cleaning challenges from palaces, schools, homes and hospitals to restaurants and everything in between.

“Beyond Bamboo share the same values as Delphis Eco, educating and encouraging consumers on steps they can take to live a more sustainable life, therefore are an ideal partner for us to be working with and offering our range of products through,” says Mark Jankovich, founder – Delphis Eco

SUSTAINABLE DECORATION IN YOUR BATHROOM

If you’re considering a redecoration of your bathroom it could be a great time to consider whether you actually need to pull out that retro avocado suite? The vintage look is a major trend in modern bathrooms and there are great ways to up-cycle what you already have to make it look fitting and new. It’s going to likely cost you less money than a brand new bathroom suite and it’s cutting down on waste too. It’s also worth considering the paint you use in your home. There are conscious paint brands coming on the market now, which offer smart solutions such as no single-use paint tester pots, very low toxins and no plastics. You can even get paintbrushes and painting supplies made from sustainably-harvested bamboo, recycled brush filaments and recyclable steel.

Thinking about the features in your bathroom can also provide some benefit to greener living. Plants often love the humid, moist environment that your bathroom can provide and they are often great for air purification. Houseplants can literally filter out harmful toxins from things like paint and cleaners and help to clean the air that we then breathe in.

If you like to use candles and reed diffusers to help create an ambience at bath time and keep your room smelling fresh then consider brands that are using sustainable and natural methods to formulate them, Beyond Bamboo online marketplace has a beautiful selection for you to choose from.

The bathroom is a place where many people love to rejuvenate their bodies but it’s worth remembering that the products we use in our bathrooms really can help rejuvenate ecosystems by supporting brands that care about ethics and environment too.

SUPPORT LOCAL BRANDS, WHICH ARE CHAMPIONING SUSTAINABLE CHANGE

When we start to make more conscious choices about the way we live and the products that we purchase, we often notice that we start to buy from smaller, independent brands, which are often leading the way with natural, low waste, sustainable alternatives. These smaller businesses are set up by passionate people who have spotted the need for change and have developed a product and service, which is offering not only greener alternatives, but also healthier products and quality. There is often what seems like a higher price tag on products which are deemed as eco-friendly or sustainable, however in our experience these items often have a longer life and a little goes a long way so you could actually end up making savings over the period of a year compared to sticking with the traditional plastic bottle and chemical filled brands that we’ve seen for many years on supermarket shelves. Often these small independent brands are doing so much other good for their communities, support charities and contribute towards a more circular, no waste approach to the economy.

“When comparing more sustainable products to cheaper options on the supermarket shelves, there is a price difference but once you’re living more sustainably you look beyond just price. It’s a much more holistic approach; so considering the environmental impact of the products you will buy and the waste they will create is an important consideration. When living more sustainably, you tend to buy less of everything but every purchase you do make is much more carefully considered.”  Camilla Gaillardin, Co-Founder, milly&sissy