10 small changes you can make today for lower impact living in 2021 🌏

This is not a blog post just about New Year’s resolutions that one may drop after a few months but about real change deriving from small adjustments to our habits and behaviours that we can tackle immediately in order to make things better.

Our beautiful planetary home today is exhausted and simply unable to absorb the waste we produce. It is now unable to renew the amount of natural resources we consume. With an ever expanding population, it would take 1.6 earths to meet our needs in a sustainable way.

So, what can we do in our day-to-day life to reduce our impact here on this planet which is also the home of our animals, fauna and flora?

Let’s kick this off with these 10 easy to introduce changes in our kitchens and bathrooms:

1 Ditch your cotton pads 

I mean, use them up nicely but then leave them on the shelves in the retail shops since they are not biodegradable. If you remove single-use cotton pads from your beauty routine, water wastage is reduced as well as landfill and pesticides that are used to grow the cotton that is not 100% organic. 

A great alternative here are bamboo face cleansing pads. Bamboo not only is the fastest-growing plant on our earth but it also requires little water and no nasty pesticides and chemicals when harvesting. 

The pads can be washed in the washing machine and reused.

2 Say goodbye to your plastic toothbrush

It was a few years ago, when I was in the shop selecting my next toothbrush wondering whether I should go for the green or pink one, the curved or straight one when it actually hit me that no matter which one I would buy, a few months down the line, it would just mean another piece of plastic polluting our planet.

I was ready for the switch, ordered my first bamboo toothbrush instead and never looked back. 

After three months of usage, you should replace your toothbrush and can home compost the bamboo brush or for example repurpose it as stakes or plant labels in your garden.

3 Stop buying plastic sponges

Did you know that loofahs are a genus of vines in the cucumber family? The flesh of the loofah gourd is actually edible and quite tasty. But anyway..

Loofahs are a sustainable alternative to plastic sponges and other synthetic materials and perfect for cleansing and revitalising the face and body providing plastic-free skin exfoliation.

But you can also use them as durable scrubbers in your kitchen and around the house. I love them - a must-have cleaning accessory in my bathroom and my kitchen.

Once your loofah needs to be replaced with another natural loofah fibre, you can toss the sponge right in your compost.

4 Reduce plastic use in your kitchen further

Time to stop buying cling film or plastic containers which are not recyclable and replace them with beeswax food wraps. 

Beeswax wraps are 100% biodegradable, meaning that you can easily throw them in your compost pile or garden once you actually maxed them out.

Antibacterial properties of the eco-conscious beeswax ingredient will help keep your foods fresh. You can wash the wraps carefully by hand, air dry them and use them over and over again.

5 It’s time for (plastic-free) tea, darling!

It may come as a surprise that tea bags are on average only 70-80% biodegradable, meaning they are not really made for our green bins and composts. Many are sealed with polypropylene and in some tea bags, plastic is contained in the mesh itself.

This is where loose leaf teas are great. You can make them in a pot of tea or use reusable cotton cloth tea bags for your loose tea and favourite herbs. Get creative!

 

 

6 Two billion cups of coffee a day won’t make the waste go away

Yes, that’s right. That’s the amount of coffee consumed on a daily basis worldwide. I get it! Coffee is my best friend in the morning too. It is this comforting beverage when I meet with my friends and enjoy a little break. 

If you love your pod coffee machine as much as I do, you might also have struggled though with the waste of the capsules produced in a week, month, over time. Time to stop burying our heads in the sand.

Here, I introduce you to this wonderful solution of reusable coffee pods reducing landfill and ensuring more responsible living. And you can love your pod machine for a little bit longer. Ah!

7 Cut down on your waste with reusable dust bags

If you don’t have a bagless vacuum cleaner, this product is a must in order to cut down on waste. 

It also saves you the expense and hassle of buying bags and filters.

Reusable dust bags can be washed and repeatedly used being a practical and green vacuum cleaner accessory for your eco-friendly household.

8 Gone are the days of sticky lint rollers

Who wouldn't have guessed, but yes, unfortunately disposable lint rollers are the source of millions of plastic-coated sheets of sticky paper being tossed in our bins every year. 

Single-use lint roller sheets are not recyclable, and neither is the flimsy plastic frame holding them.

With a zero-waste lint roller, you produce zero waste and carefully remove pilling and fluff, bobbles and hair from our much loved pets from jumpers, coats, trousers, curtains, carpets, upholstery without damaging the fabric. 

 

 

9 Replace kitchen rolls and paper napkins today

The environmental impacts of paper production is not pretty - from deforestation and water consumption to the pollution associated with bleaching; it impacts both the environment and our health.

Kitchen rolls and paper napkins are designed to be used once and then thrown away. They can’t be recycled opposed to what many think and must go in the bin.

Zero-paper cloths last you for a long time, are super versatile and look nice too. Simply wash as you need to maintain hygiene standards.

 

 

10 Choose your reusable bag for life 

We have learned over the last few years to reduce our plastic bag usage when we do our grocery shopping.

However, it turns out that it is not as simple since each material you are going to choose will have its own benefits and drawbacks. 

Therefore, I would suggest for you to choose a spacious cotton tote bag that will last you for many, many years. If you don’t have one already that is. This is important since cotton bags have to be reused over 130 times according to a study before they reduce their impact on climate change to the same extent as plastic bags. So, choose a practical and casual one that you can love for a long time.