Ditch the disposables

Disposable items, (especially those ones made of plastic) are an environmental nightmare. These products are rarely recycled and often end up in landfill or our oceans. This post will outline some of the worst offenders in terms of disposable products and what you can do about it, with a sustainable swap.

Plastic water bottles

Despite good quality, safe drinking water being available in many countries across the globe, people still chose to buy bottled water. 1 million bottles a minute, in fact, are consumed by us, leading to horrendous amounts of plastic pollution in our oceans. many people argue that these bottles are recycled meaning they don't end up in landfill or elsewhere but this isn't necessarily, true. A study found that in the UK, less than half of the bottles collected for recycling, were actually recycled and of that half, only 30% went on to produce new bottles and other packaging, the rest in landfill.

Sustainable swap → A reusable water bottle. There are a million different types of water bottles on the market, all different sizes, materials, and colours. Some even have an inbuilt filter meaning even the pickiest of us can enjoy our tap water happily.

We recommend these Chillys Water Bottles.


Plastic bags

Plastic bags were a wonderful, convenient and robust invention, unfortunately, these wonderful little bags take over 1000 years to disintegrate and when they do they remain toxic and the small pieces of plastic create their own problem. About 1 million of these bags are used every single minute. like plastic bottles, so many of these bags end up in our ocean and pose a serious threat to ocean wildlife as many animals such as turtles, think they're a tasty jellyfish and try and eat the bag only to die in the process or shortly after.

Sustainable swap → Reusable bags are widely available and offer a stronger more long term option for transporting goods. Whether it's for your produce inside the store or your shopping after you leave.

We recommend these reusable mesh bags

Food Wraps - ditch those plastic food bags and invest in these fabulous food wraps from Cheeky Wipes

Menstrual products

Menstrual products are not everyone's' first thought when it comes to ditching disposable products, but if you are a person with a period then on average you will use around 2,000 to 16,000 disposable pads, panty liners, and tampons in your lifetime. And with some conventional pads containing the equivalent of about four plastic bags, the numbers quickly add up.

Sustainable swap → Reusable menstrual products such as cloth pads or the CupIT menstrual cups from Secret Whispers. They might seem scary at first, but like conventional products, with a bit of practice, they become second nature to use.

The CupIT is made from medical grade silicone and are designed to last up to 10 years, this will save thousands of disposable pads and tampons from entering our environment. The packaging also has our environment in mind, with a bio-degradable hygiene bag that can be put into your composter or local food waste collection bin. The fair trade cotton drawstring storage bags that come with the cups are biodegradable too, meaning a truly waste free period for the next chapter of your life.

The list of disposable products which are harming our planet is endless, everything from plastic straws, coffee cups, cotton buds, even cigarette buts. Making sustainable swaps here and there is easy, and won't make your life any harder. It’s important to remember that moving to a more sustainable life doesn’t mean chucking out every piece of single use plastic or disposable items right now in favour out reusable options, we should all use up the things we already own like the box of plastic handled cotton buds, body wash set we got 2 Christmases ago or that half-finished pack of disposable pads. Instead when you next need to grab a pack, think twice and perhaps consider a more sustainable option. So go on ditch the disposables.

And, don't forget how many incontinence pads you will save the planet from when you use our Kegel Kit. Improve the strength of your pelvic floor fast - 
Learn more here

References:

https://www.1millionwomen.com.au/blog/8-single-use-items-ditch-your-life/

https://gladrags.com/index.php?p=custom_page&page_name=Why%20Choose%20Reusables?

https://tappwater.co/en/how-many-people-consume-bottled-water-globally/

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