Shampoo bars and aluminum bottles, brown paper packages tied up with string…

These are a few of my favorite (zero-waste) things!

Hi, friends. Earlier this week, we kicked off Plastic Free July with some low-effort ways to re-evaluate our plastic consumption. Now that you’ve had a few days to do a trash audit, I didn’t want to leave you stranded in an Internet land-mine searching for plastic free alternatives. So today is essentially a giant link round-up, based on my years of experience trying out different low-waste and plastic-free products.

Of course, the lowest-waste thing you can do is use up any products you already own. But one day, you will in fact use up the hoards of plastic shampoo bottles under your bathroom sink, and when that day comes, here are a few recommendations. Feel free to add your own recommendations in the comments below!

In the Kitchen

• Food Storage: Stasher silicone bags, mason jars or Souper Cubes for freezer storage (great for soups, sauces, and cookie dough!), and glass containers with bamboo lids (I got these during a sale, but there are plenty of similar versions elsewhere). Pyrex is also great for freezer meal prep.

• Silicone baking mat, if you bake frequently

• Substitute recycled aluminum foil, beeswax wraps, or a tea towel for plastic wrap.

Laundry & Cleaning Supplies

• Grove Co. offers an entire line of 95%-100% plastic free hand, dish, and laundry soaps. This is probably your easiest one-stop-shop for lower plastic cleaning products. I’ve also used Dropps laundry and dishwasher pods and Simply Co. powdered laundry detergent.

• Nellie’s Stain Stick is plastic-free, and hands down the best stain remover I’ve experienced. I also throw baking soda or Dirty Labs laundry booster in the wash for extra-soiled loads (like, for example, if my kiddos decide to literally roll in mud…).

• Zero-waste copper scrubbers (like these) are great for scrubbing cast-iron and all-aluminum pans (but don’t use them on anything with a non-stick or ceramic coating… also, p.s., it’s time to ditch the non-stick coating).

• Castile soap (often available in refill bins) is a great all-purpose cleaner. My favorite concentrate cleaner was recently discontinued, but Grove Co.’s all purpose cleaner is also fine. I’ll circle back to update if I find a new favorite.

• On my list to try? Meliora’s laundry powder and dish soap bar, plus Dirty Labs dishwasher detergent.

• Also, baking soda solves pretty much everything.

Bathroom

• Toilet paper without plastic packaging— Who Gives a Crap!

• Hair Care: I swear by Ethique shampoo and conditioner bars, but some people with textured hair may struggle with shampoo bars that aren’t especially formatted for their hair type. If you are nervous about making the bar switch, you can check local co-ops for a shampoo refill station. For my husband, we buy a 4 liter shampoo + body wash once a year from Carina Organics, and use it to refill a smaller container in our shower.

• Plastic-Free Deodorant: Native offers a plastic-free deodorant that has worked well for me. Every person’s body is different, of course, so it may take some trial-and-error with other brands to find what works for you (there are lots of options to check out here). Some more mainstream brands, like Dove, have also begun offering ‘refillable’ deodorants, but the reviews aren’t great and some people are reporting difficulty finding the refills (in fact, it looks like the men’s line of Old Spice refills was discontinued only a few months after launching).

• An all-metal safety razor— I use Albatross (note that safety razors are not allowed on flights, though— so you’ll want another razor for travel).

• Cosmetics— Not all of my cosmetic products are zero-waste (my foundation, for example, comes in a glass package with a plastic lid), but Zerra & Co. offers a great line of zero waste cosmetics. If you shop other small-batch cosmetic stores, it’s also worth asking if they will ship plastic-free.

• Package Free’s bamboo hair brush— My hair is surprisingly thick, in a way that blind-sides hairdressers at weddings, who think my up-do will take 20 minutes until they are still dealing with it an hour later. As a result, I used to break hairbrushes frequently— but this plastic-free hair brush has been going strong for years (reminder: if your plastic hairbrush is still working for you, keep using it till it breaks!).

• Terra Ties biodegradable hair ties— These function exactly like normal hair ties, minus the plastic.

On-the-go supplies

• Reusable grocery bags— these bags are a little bit pricey, but mine have held up for 9 years and counting.

• Of course, you can use any container for take-out leftovers. But I like U-Konserve stainless steel containers because they are relatively light to carry, but still not plastic. I just try to remember to throw one in my bag if we are planning on going out to eat!

• It’s okay if the bravest thing you do all week is ask a barista to fill your own personal cup. Any cup you own will work— my family is partial to Yeti, but Hydroflask and Klean Kanteen are other great options.

  

  Photo by Nacho Fernández on Unsplash

Kids Art & School Supplies

• Wisdom Supply Co. has offered my absolute favorite plastic free school supplies, including pencils (did you know that most pencils are coated in plastic that shreds into micro-plastics when sharpened?). They recently shifted to a seasonal pre-order method for product launches, so you may have to be patient and stock up, but the quality is bar none.

• Stabilo 3-in-1 pencils— These “multitalented colored pencils” work on everything from cardboard to glass surfaces as colored pencils or water colors.

• Conventional crayons are made from paraffin wax, a petroleum by-product that takes decades to break down in landfill. While we do use Crayolas we’ve received from loved ones, we’ve purchased and can recommend Honeysticks beeswax crayons for little hands.

• Earth Hero is a great resource for other low-waste kids’ art supplies, from finger paint to plant-based glitter.

Purely frivolous low-waste pleasures

• Do you need a candle? Absolutely not. But if you happen to want one, Arbor Made’s zero-waste, refillable candles are delectable.

• Entertaining kiddos this summer? Bubble Tree refillable bubbles in aluminum packaging makes for hours (or, at least several minutes) of fun.