Are you ready to go plastic free this July and beyond? Refusing single-use plastic is a great way to challenge yourself to live more sustainably and help the planet along the way. To help you kick that plastic habit for good we asked our friends at Spruce for 5 easy plastic-free swaps to upgrade your life.
Hi, I’m Eleni from Spruce & we make plastic-free cleaning products with a conscience. “Plastic-free July” is the month that encourages us all to make planet-conscious swaps and be more mindful about our single-use consumption. Naturally, this is right up our street.
But at Spruce refillable cleaning products, we are vocal about how eco-anxiety-inducing it can be to address your plastic waste consumption in an honest way. It can be so tempting to criticise ourselves and put pressure to be totally plastic-free. But it’s not about perfection, it’s about making small changes that you can maintain!
We’re all about prioritising the hassle-free swaps that make the biggest impact. When it comes to knowing what these are, where are we supposed to start? We recommend taking a look at how much plastic you throw out in the next couple of weeks and seeing what the common themes are. Is it food packaging, cleaning sprays, or maybe take-out coffees?
Once you narrow down your own biggest culprit, you can focus on making this area of your daily routine a plastic-free zone. But if you’re still looking for some hassle-free ideas, we have some suggestions!
Easy Plastic-Free Swaps
These, from our experience, are the easiest swaps that make the most impact on saving waste!
1. Food: Shop at a refill store
It’s hard to visit any mainstream supermarket without coming back home with a load of plastic-wrapped groceries. Refill stores are a fantastic alternative because you can bring reuseable containers, jars, or bags instead of picking up more single-use packaging. Most local refill stores have dried goods such as pasta, grains, flour, dried fruit, seasonings and cereals. But many have fresh loose produce too.
We always try to opt for loose fruit and veg and pop it in a reusable produce bag. A local farmer’s market is another great place for this (where as a bonus, you can often find some organic goodies!)
2. Drink: Go plastic-free with your favourite beverages
If you’re an absolute tea fanatic like us, I bet you can imagine what you can save by switching to plastic-free tea bags. We love Kib Tea the most, not just because of the incredible diversity of flavours but also because their tea bags are compostable. Just think, if you’re used to 3 brews a day this swap will amount to you saving 1095 plastic tea bags in the next year!
Also if you’re a fizzy drink lover, you can make a staggering impact by switching from plastic bottled drinks to ones in recyclable aluminium cans. With coca-cola alone contributing 200,000 tonnes of plastic waste per year, it’s pretty obvious how powerful a plastic-free alternative can be. Remedy Kombucha is one of our fav options - their drinks are to-die-for.
3. Personal Care: Try plastic-free haircare
520 million bottles of shampoo are thrown away every year in the UK, so why not switch your regular shampoo and conditioner to a plastic-free option. You could try a refillable haircare set, like Fiils cruelty-free and plastic-free shampoo and conditioners.
Alternatively, try a solid shampoo bar. These are an affordable option packaged in recyclable card boxes and super easy to find in your local low-waste store or chemist.
4. Kitchen: Swap cling film and single-use plastic wraps for reusable ones
I’m sure it goes without saying how terrible cling film and plastic freezer bags are so terrible for our beautiful planet. Plus, there’s really no need for single-use plastic food wraps when reusable versions exist.
If you’re looking for a durable alternative without the added faff, The Beeswax Wrap Co make the most beautiful handcrafted beeswax and plant-based food wraps that will last for a whole year. It can even end up cost-effective as well as eco-friendly.
5. Home Care: Switch to refillable cleaning products
You know we weren’t going to make it to the end of this blog without mentioning the holy grail home swap! We may be a little biased, but switching to refillable cleaning can prevent 468 million plastic spray bottles from polluting the planet every single year in the UK!
Nowadays there’s seriously a never-ending list of cleaners. Bath, shower, glass, tiles, floors, kitchen - the list goes on. Soon we’ll be needing a cleaner to clean all our cleaners!
Switching to Spruce refillable cleaning products really helps simplify all this hassle and eliminate all this unnecessary plastic. You buy the aluminium bottle once and refill for life. You get plastic-free refills delivered to your door whenever you need them. Just add tap water at home. Zero plastic waste and organic essential oils leave your home smelling like a spa. Gorgeous!
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So there we have it! 5 easy sustainable swaps to upgrade your life. If everyone on the planet made even just one of these 5 swaps, we could save an enormous amount of plastic from polluting our beautiful planet. So grab a friend this week and make one hassle-free, high-impact change.
If you want to join a community of perfectly imperfect environmentalists, you can sign up for Spruce and Kib Tea’s newsletter for more hassle-free earth-friendly guides. Take care!
Words by Eleni Evangelinos from Spruce Refillable Cleaning Products.