How to Eco-fy your home
Single-use plastic is everywhere in our homes, and domestic life without it can feel impossible. Which companies are helping to make that switch easier for consumers?
Our understanding of the damaging impact of plastic use is growing all the time, and big companies and corporations, at last, making moves to limit their plastic production to reduce the amount of plastic that ends up in the landfill.
Most recently, Sainsbury’s have announced they aim to halve the amount of plastic used in their stores by 2025.
Marks & Spencer have said they will remove glitter from their Christmas range to reduce the pollution caused by their disposal.
Much of the shift in companies’ attitude towards plastic production and consumption has come after collective demand for sustainable alternatives to plastic; individuals have come together to urge big companies to produce eco-friendly products instead of ones that will contribute to the plastic problem that is taking over landfills worldwide.
While there certainly has been an improvement where corporate responsibility is concerned, the move towards eco-friendly living is largely tackled by smaller, start-up companies who are paving the way for eco-friendly materials to become the norm.
One company aiming to shake up the status quo is Brushbox, a UK-based subscription service that provides bamboo toothbrushes as a solution not just to poor oral health problems in the UK but to the millions of tonnes of plastic that ends up on landfill every year.
Mike Donovan, CEO and Founder of Brushbox, says, “The awareness around the damage that plastics are having in our seas and environment means that there is an ever-growing population of consumers who are crying out for eco-friendly and sustainable alternatives to the status quo, and it’s important that this is done well.”
Another company fighting back against plastic is Beeswax Wraps; Carly and Fran make beautiful looking alternatives to cling film and tin foil that can be reused time and again. Cling film is one of the worst culprits of plastic wastage, seeing as it is used just once before it’s thrown away. Beeswax Wraps can be used for up to a year, completely cutting out the need for cling film’s waste in the household.
Another move to cut down on plastic consumption is reducing the amount of packaging in the products that we usually buy. It’s here that well-established cosmetics retailer Lush is ahead of the game, with their package-free soaps, shampoos and conditioners that cut out plastic and other single-use materials that would be thrown away once the product is used.
Saying goodbye to plastic packaging can feel like a move towards vintage living before plastic was the norm. That’s something that isn’t lost on Mangle & Wringer, who produce Natural Bleach and Pure Laundry Powder that is free from plastic packaging and have a gorgeous Victorian-era feel to them.
Some alternatives to plastic in the home feel a bit more futuristic than old-school, though. A Good Company has developed a Natural Grass Pen which is made using natural meadow grass and recycled BPA-free plastics. The company’s notebooks are also made entirely of recycled and reused materials. Something as small as a pen, when disposed of in multitudes, can have a devastating impact on the environment, and so it’s incredible to see alternatives available even on the smallest scale.
It seems that start-up companies are leading the way when it comes to living eco-friendly, and in large part, this could be down to the fact that such companies have been founded with an eco-friendly ethos at their core, rather than reshaping and rethinking their products to meet consumer needs.
That isn’t to say that big companies that mirror small challenger brands are disingenuous: rather, the fact that small businesses can urge big companies to rethink their moral responsibility, by providing individuals with plastic-free alternatives to items they know and use daily, is an incredible display of how it really does just take individuals collectively deciding to challenge the norm to shake things up.
The increasing availability of plastic-free homeware suggests that one day, plastic in the home could become obsolete, and the build-up of plastic on landfills hopefully ever more scarce.
Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/c6lpgw300llt/plastic-pollution