I am one the verge of running out of several things at close to the same time. And in my opinion, they are things that I think I can easily (although maybe not inexpensively) swap out for lower-waste/cleaner alternatives. The point I have come to with living lower waste and reducing my impact is that I am not willing to sacrifice effectiveness or tolerate an inferior product so long as corporations are doing the things they do. I will make the best impact I can without affecting my quality of life. I know that may not be a popular opinion among the zero waste community, but that’s the conclusion I have come to. Hence, my complete giving up on natural deodorant.
Anyways, on a lighter note, these are the things I am planning on purchasing, some are things that I have had before and I am restocking them, some are alternatives for things I have been meaning to swap for a while. Those things are items that I have not been prepared enough to buy before I need them or haven’t been able to afford being prepared because my income/life wasn’t stable enough! But now I am in a position where I can do stuff like be prepared and shop early and slowly, and it is such a luxury and a privilege.
One. The Body Stone. This is a product I heard about a few years ago, it’s supposed to replace body lotions, creams, and butters and is supposed to soothe skin. It’s definitely a little pricey and only ships in the USA, Canada, and Australia, but I’m really excited to give it a shot.
Two. Cardboard-wrapped lip balm. Lip balm is one of those areas that I still constantly use a plastic-packaged product. I’ve never tried this product, but everyone at the vet clinic I worked at used this and really liked it; particularly the cocoa-mint flavour.
Three. Bamboo cotton swabs. I love a Q-tip and I have the Last Swab, and it’s decent but what I like a Q-Tip for is drying my ears out after a shower otherwise I feel waterlogged. And the Last Swab, just doesn’t do that. So I’m going to swap regular Q-tips for bamboo ones, but first do some research to make sure they can be composted before I buy.
Four. Beeswax taper candles. I love Beeswax candles, a friend of mine first introduced them to me at a Hanukkah party when I couldn’t understand where the wax was going. These are super clean and there is no wax drip. In fact, they are so safe that they’re actually recommended for winter car emergency kits because they don’t release anything and there’s no wax drip so you can’t drip wax on yourself. Also, I just love the warmth of the colour of the wax. I’ve had these tapers before and they are so great because there is no clean up, no scraping out your candle holder to prepare it for the next candle.
Five. Patch Compostable Bandages/Plasters. I recently ran out of bandaids after some particularly bad blisters. I’ve been wanting to try these for a while, although I do question how compostable they are.
Six. Abeego wraps. These are my favourite way to store food of all time. Some stuff definitely does do better in containers, but overall this is the best way, in my opinion, to store food (except herbs, Stasher bags are far and away the best way to store herbs).
Seven. Beeswax tealights. I bought these little blue and white candle holders and they seem to fit a weird size of candle. I’m hoping that tealights will fit, but either way I want several for my car’s emergency kit.
Most of these links are to two of my favourite shops that used to be local to me, The Pale Blue Dot in Hamilton, Ontario and Kind Matter Co. in Oakville, Ontario (how I miss living 3 blocks from a zero waste store!). But please google your local zero or low waste store and give them your business! If you don’t have one and are in Canada, both of these stores have great online shops and ship. If you are in the USA, Package Free Shop is kind of the general store of the low waste world.
Laura
Thoughtful Millennial 