5 Eco-Friendly Brands That I am Glad Exist!
I started attempting to reduce our household waste back in 2016 and it is amazing to think how far things have come since then. When I first began to look at the waste created, there were few or no alternatives at the time (and that was only 8 years ago, some people have been living low-waste lifestyles for decades! Impressive!).
One of the things I quickly learned is that there are different ways to reduce your waste - you may be time rich but money poor (by this I mean small budget), or you may have a bigger budget and be time poor.
If you have lots of time, you can make your own stuff with ingredients from packaging free bulk bins, but here are a few of the products that have come about that have made my low-waste life easier!
Back in 2016 I attempted to use homemade toothpaste and it felt and tasted like dirt. It ended up just getting stuck in my teeth and I wanted to vomit :|
Traditional toothpaste tubes are made out of multiple layers of different materials and are not easily recycled. Thankfully, Adam and Laura started Solid, an oral care company that creates toothpaste tablets and pastes. They come in returnable glass jars and are vegan, cruelty free and palm oil free! Problem solved!
2. Mylk Made
Milk has been a tricky challenge for me over the years. Having a child made me consider nutrition options more than I would if it was just for me - and with that, landed on bulk bin milk powder from organic NZ farms. I then realised that cows milk makes my asthma significantly worse (and has all along, how I didn't put 2 and 2 together is ridiculous) so I switched to nut and oat milk. I was making my own oat and nut milks but found it quite difficult to do while juggling work and parenting. And then, Mylk Made came along! They make nut milk concentrates that I now use all the time. You just add water and blend - meaning you are not left with the unrecyclable tetrapack boxes! Problem solved!
3. Aleph Beauty
I don't wear makeup very often, and when I do, I only use a sparse amount. But as I get older (and more tired?!) I have been wearing more and more. Aleph are a BCorp certified makeup brand that is super minimalistic (like my makeup style), Their products come in returnable glass jars, are vegan and cruelty free and are simple and easy to use.
4. Bento Ninja
While the previous 3 are consumables, Bento Ninja is a company I have only actually purchased from a couple of times because the products are reusable and durable... but have changed my life! My daughter and I have a stainless steel lunchboxes and use them all the time. It means we can take packed lunches when we go out on adventures (avoiding waste and spending!). I also use my Bento Ninja laundry peg hanger every load of washing I do! It was perfect for little baby clothes when my daughter waste born and is now perfect for socks, cloth pads and reusable dish cloths.
5. EcoSplat
And finally - some folks that have followed my work for a while will know that this is my other project! EcoSplat reusable water balloons came about when my daughter was about 2 and I discussed with my friend what sustainable alternatives for water fights existed. Turns out there weren't any - and while there is no way I want bits of water balloons all through my garden, I also didn't want my daughter to miss out on the very kiwi pastime of summer water fights. So we created EcoSplat reusable water balloons to provide families a reusable alternative to single use water balloons. Problem solved!
