Sustainable Swaps
You might have heard the catchy phrase sustainable swaps thrown around but aren’t sure what those trendy articles are referring to. Sustainable swaps are environmentally-friendly substitutions that you can make in your lifestyle for a greener planet.
Use too much plastic? Consider a sustainable swap to bee’s wax. What about all of those plastic containers you are throwing away? Make a sustainable swap to adding an extra bin for recycling. These are just a few examples of greener swaps you can make to help make a greener Earth.
Why Make Sustainable Swaps?
You don’t have to be a hippie to love the planet or have the desire to lessen your carbon footprint. With climate change happening all over the world at a frightening pace, making changes in our lifestyles that aid the environment is more imperative than ever before. Sustainable swaps are small changes we can make in our lives that collectively have a large impact. Getting in the habit of making these swaps is just one way to play your part in creating an environmental difference.
If an environmental crusade isn’t enough of a reason to make sustainable swaps in your day-to-day, then consider the health benefits. Green products are environmentally friendly, and that means they ditch the harsh chemicals that have negative impacts on you and the environment.
You’ll often see products that tout being non-toxic and pollutant free. These green products are made from ingredients and materials that are derived from natural and renewable resources. This manufacturing method reduces environmental impact while at the same time, it is much better for your health and well-being due to their non-toxic nature. Think: healthy, glowing skin, strong hair and nails and a chemical-free household.
The Best Sustainable Swaps for Your Household
Digging a little deeper, here is a comprehensive list of sustainable swaps you can make that may not have crossed your mind.
1. Beeswax, Not Plastic Wrap!
What It Is
Beeswax can completely replace the use of plastic in your kitchen, and once you commit you won’t want to look back. Use beeswax to wrap lunchtime sandwiches, fruits, vegetables, and keep snack items like pretzels bundled and fresh. Beeswax wraps are self-adhesive, and you can use the wraps over and over again.
How It’s Better
How many times do you use a plastic bag before pitching it? With beeswax wraps, you will be able to use these products hundreds of times. They’re easy to clean, and when they are no longer functional, you won’t have to worry about the wraps junking up a landfill and harming the environment. They’ll degrade naturally, making them a zero-waste product.
Products to get behind:
- Abeego 3-Piece Reusable Beeswax Wrap Variety Pack ($18 at Nordstrom).
- Bee’s Wrap Certified Organic Cotton Reusable Beeswax Food Wraps ($15 on Amazon).
- LilyBee Wrap Organic Cotton Beeswax Wrappers ($27.50 on Amazon).
2. Sustainable Dish Soap
What It Is
Sustainable dish soap skips dangerous and toxic ingredients like chlorine, phosphates and other commonly used additives that can be harmful to you and the environment. On top of this, you could potentially look into water conditioners and softeners. Sustainable soaps use packaging that is biodegradable and also reusable, so you can fill them dozens of times before having to toss them out.
How It’s Better
Consider how much dish soap you use and where it goes. Soaps that aren’t eco-friendly end up in our water with ingredients that can infiltrate our water supplies, lakes and waterways, not to mention harming the organisms and marine and plant life that live there. By choosing environmentally friendly dish soap, you will ditch the toxic ingredients and opt for all-natural ones. With their biodegradable packaging made from recycled materials, sustainable dish soap bottles can be refilled until you pitch them, where they will degrade naturally over time.
Products to get behind:
- Puracy Natural Dish Soap Refill ($60 at Walmart).
- ECOS Hypoallergenic Dishmate Free and Clear Dish Soap ($12 on Amazon).
- Better Life Dish It Out Sulfate-Free Unscented Dish Soap Refill ($30 on Amazon).
3. Reusable Paper Towels
What It Is
Keeping a kitchen, bathroom, or living room clean is hard work. The average person reaches for paper towels to do the job, only to throw them out bunches at a time. We’re all guilty of this, but a sustainable swap to reusable paper towels can save you big time on cost and waste. They’re washable and reusable to keep waste at a minimum and your wallet happy.
How It’s Better
Reusable, eco-friendly paper towel products are made from natural materials that are biodegradable. There’s less to worry about in the manufacturing processes of these towels thanks to their limited carbon footprint, and on the other end of their life cycle, these paper towels can be thrown away without fear of taking up space in a landfill for all of eternity. Use them hundreds of times, unlike regular paper towels, which are always a one-hit wonder.
Products to get behind:
- Marley’s Monsters Organic Cotton Unpaper Towels ($20 on Dwell).
- Grove Co. Tree-Free Reusable Paper Towels ($13 on Grove Collaborative).
4. Compostable Bamboo Toothbrushes
What It Is
Bamboo toothbrushes are made from — you guessed it — bamboo. Bamboo is naturally antimicrobial, a renewable resource and grows quickly. These toothbrushes eliminate waste without sacrificing that nice and clean feeling a plastic toothbrush gives you.
Why It’s Better
Billions of plastic toothbrushes wind up in our precious oceans and our landfills every year. It’s a shocking statistic. Why not make one of the best sustainable swaps to a compostable bamboo toothbrush? They’re made of all-natural materials (hence the bamboo) and can be tossed in your compost bin as soon as they expire. No oceans or landfills for their next destination!
Products to get behind:
- Wowe Natural Bamboo Toothbrush (at Target for $14).
- Colgate Bamboo Charcoal Soft Toothbrush (Walgreens for $5).
- Nuduko Biodegradable (on Amazon for $6.79).
5. Green Laundry Detergent
What It Is
No, not actually green laundry detergent, but the kind of green where the ingredients don’t end up in lakes, rivers, or in groundwater. Look for eco-friendly laundry detergent that has certifiably biodegradable ingredients and has packaging that does the same, meaning its bottle is plastic-free and compostable. Avoid detergents that have sodium laureth sulfate (which can kill off vegetation), phosphates (which aren’t filtered out of treatment plants) and optical brighteners (which are toxic to marine life).
How It’s Better
Make the swap to eco-friendly laundry detergent because the packaging won’t rot in a landfill and the ingredients will protect the water you use and drink, as well as the animals and organisms that live there. What better reason is there to swap?
Products to get behind:
- Tru Earth Laundry Detergent Sheets ($15 on Amazon).
- ECOS Hypoallergenic Laundry Detergent ($25 on Amazon).
- Bestowed Essentials Zero Waste Laundry Powder ($16 on Google Shopping).
6. Eco-Friendly All-Purpose Cleaner
What It Is
Run-of-the-mill household cleaners tend to use harmful, abrasive and harsh chemicals and ingredients. You don’t have to use nuclear-grade chemicals to get your house clean. Not only is it bad for you, but it is bad for the environment.
How It’s Better
Eco-friendly all-purpose cleaners skip the toxic chemicals, opting for certified, safe ingredients that still disinfect effectively. Many are cruelty-free and have natural formulas with recyclable, eco-friendly packaging.
Products to get behind:
- Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner ($5 at Walmart).
- ECOS All Purpose Cleaner ($3 at Walmart).
- Swanson Eco-Friendly All-Purpose Cleaner ($10 at Walmart).
7. All-Natural Stain Remover
What It Is
In a similar fashion to average all-purpose cleaners, the typical stain remover relies on harsh ingredients aimed to remove stains, only with the consequence of their toxic formulas that can harm the Earth with its manufacturing process and when tossed out.
How It’s Better
Not only does an all-natural formula mean using non-toxic and renewable ingredients, but it also means less irritation for sensitive skin. Like other eco-friendly products, all-natural stain removers have biodegradable packaging and a bonus of most being cruelty-free.
Products to get behind:
- Grove Co. Stain Remover ($6 on Grove Collaborative).
- ECOS Stain and Odor Remover ($5 on iHerb).
- Etee Laundry Stain Bar ($9.50 on Etee).