Which eco swaps have you made?

[BlowDryRat]

Just idly wondering as DH finally convinced me to try shampoo and conditioner bars instead of my usual OGX (I like them. They're the gruum ones). Other stuff we've done:

• compostable paper washing up sponges. Sounds crap but they're actually really good. They're these ones.

• DH uses Smyle brush mints and a bamboo toothbrush. I've tried them but prefer Colgate and my electric toothbrush.

• I use a mooncup and reusable sanitary pads Baba + Boo. Love them and wouldn't go back to disposables.

I also swapped from a diesel car to a hybrid a few years ago. I miss the range of the diesel (400 miles from one tank vs. about 280) but I wouldn't go back to a full petrol/diesel car.

I use a mooncup and washable cloth pads as a backup
I use Muslinz cotton & bamboo cloths to remove makeup instead of cotton wool or wipes, and also use them on DS instead of wipes
I recently switched to Gruum shampoo bars and love them!
We don’t have a car and walk or cycle instead, and use public transport for longer journeys if necessary
DH is vegetarian and I very rarely eat meat or fish now, and we’ve also cut back on dairy consumption
We have a compost bin, fruit trees and a veg patch
We try to use ‘grey water’ such as DS’s bath water on the garden.

@lonoxo just ebay I'm afraid. Probably not the greenest option!

Quite a few things on the thread that I suppose are eco things but are so normal I don't think of them that way. Like taking the car when you could walk. It is only just over a mile to the next village where shops and school etc are but we never drive there. Only exception is of I need to be somewhere straight after school run and do ds2 on the way. Otherwise we walk or cycle.

Eco shops are interesting. We do have a couple in the area ish which sell all sorts of great things and have the big hoppers of dry goods to fill your own containers. Sadly none are quite local enough for us to be practical. Already have greengrocer, butcher (walking distance) and lidl (drive) so I'm afraid I am not driving somewhere else on top of that as lidl would still be needed. Maybe that's selfish I don't know. But I don't want the weekend to be totally filled with going to 4 different shops to do the food shopping, even without covid. I hope though that it is a good sign more are opening and perhaps there will be one on my local high street in the future.

Switched to organic milk from milkman in glass bottles.
Eating locally-reared milk and wild venison.
Renovating house, not on gas or oil so got solar panels & Bulb green energy.
Don't buy many new clothes - limit purchases to every other month.
Flight free - mostly due to not being able to afford holidays, but when we can go, we will try for train and ferry.

Car is the next move - it's an old diesel 4x4 so looking at hybrid/electric/biofuel when it dies. Don't really use it a lot anyway and am contemplating electric bike.

Also buying local for fish & seafood where we can.
And having the house bloody freezing...

Swapped all cleaning products for eco friendly versions
Replaced plastic sponges, brushes, paper towel etc with coconut brush/ sponges and Swedish dish cloths
Replaced cling film with beeswax wraps
Bar soap, shampoo etc

I think the biggest thing anyone can do to be more eco friendly though, is to just do less - buy less, drive less, eat less meat & dairy etc. So I try to do that too, although not always successful 🙈

Keep the heating on at between 10-17°C depending on the time of day and wearing thermals instead.

Reusable tampon applicator instead of those plastic ones by Tampax. I tried the cardboard ones but couldn't use them properly.

Teapigs plastic free teabags

Very large boxes of soap powder ( decanted into a large airtight bucket so it doesn't set like stone ) rather than gel or tablets .
Dish cloths , but I still use sponge / scours so I will look at the ones mentioned on here,
Shampoo bars , ( tescos own suit me )
Soap bars .
Bulk buy surface cleaner that can be used on all surfaces.
Never used wipes of any sort .
proper mop and bucket rather than floor wipes
Proper toilet brush ( ducks and hides from all the aghast glares ) so no chemicals in the loo
No tumble dryer
No car
Milk and fruit juice from the milk man in glass bottles ( been doing that for as long as I can remember )
Reusable plastic bottle , coffee cup , lunch box.
Reuse the foil trays meat comes in dozens of times
Never used cling film
Tupperware boxes but will replace bit by bit them with glass if I can find some that will not leak
Flannel rather than sponge

Clothing, towels, sheets only get washed when they are dirty rather than when they have been used / worn a few times ( apart from underwear )
I have tried tooth powder and tablets but just can not get on with them.
In normal times buy and give to charity shops .
Keep scrap paper like envelopes , back of tesco delivery receipts misprinted stuff for note paper and shopping list .

I have some of the beeswax sandwich wrappers but I can't bring myself to use them, daft I know but it just doesn't seem like I want to wrap my food in them. Instead I use paper bags, I'm not sure thats all that eco friendly because of the trees but it's better than plastic.

Glass bottles for milk and juice.
Silicone pot covers
Silicone sandwich bags for school and work. (Stasher bags are indestructible).
Laundry powder as it comes in cardboard.
Composting more. In the winter I've been digging veg waste directly into the empty beds, the worms are doing a good job getting through it.

We try and buy a lot less overall and buy secondhand where possible, especially clothes, shoes and electronics.
-Give things away on our local fb page rather than taking them to the tip.
-Keeping phones/other electronics for as long as possible and getting them repaired if needed.
-Buying food in season.
-Meat eaters in the family reducing their meat consumption and everyone reducing their dairy consumption (but using alternatives that are genuinely sustainable)
-Reducing the amount of composite plastic packaging and takeaway packaging that can't be recycled.
-Walking and taking public transport where possible.

-Reducing time online due to the pollution and high energy demand from using an internet network.
-Making sure that our money is invested in green companies.

Totally forgot about not eating meat, composting and not flying as I have done those things for so many years. Its great to read of all the everyday changes people make.

We have a compost bin that I bought but DH maintains. We did have a rat living in it last summer but DH started turning everything regularly and ratty disappeared.

The gruum bars contain palm oil. How is this eco-friendly?

Eek. I just checked their website. They say they don't use palm oil directly but some products contain palm oil derivatives. Where this is the case the palm oil is from sustainable sources. Link

The second ingredient on the list for the shampoo bar is cocamide DEA.
No palm oil is sustainable- the 'certifications' aren't worth the paper they're printed on.

Changed my internet search engine to Ecosia (also an app for phones)
Swapped wipes for cheeky wipes
Swapped the ICE car for an electric one

Solid shampoo and conditioner
bars of soap and refills of liquid soap (for washing)
washable ziplock bags for freezer and instead of clingfilm (bloody brill!)
milk in glass bottles from milk man
facial soap instead of cream cleanser and cloth wipes instead of cotton wool
Grew some veg last year, plan to do the same of things I like eating!
Oddbox veg and fruit box (was super surprised at how fresh they are)
Plan to make some beeswax cotton wraps in March as a new "keep busy" project.

@jollyunicorn83

What's the search engine use about? Would be interested to know more.

[quote TowandaForever]@jollyunicorn83

What's the search engine use about? Would be interested to know more. [/quote]
It is called Ecosia, I have it on my laptop (you can set it as your main page) and also a phone app. They plant trees for every search you do

Soap instead of shower gel and hand wash
Shampoo and conditioner bars
Refill pods for cleaning products
Washable makeup remover pads
Who Gives a Crap loo roll
Toothpaste powder
Shop to minimise plastic wrapping
Choose products in glass jars and bottles rather than squeezy plastic

Don't have kids...failed on that one.

We have focused on energy. So insulating our home and turned the thermostat down. Electricity from renewables. Reduced electricity consumption by 20%.

We have reduced our meat consumption and limited red meat further.

Next will be the car.

I'm dairy free vegetarian & only eat eggs that come from my aunts (rescued) hens.

Most of my family are a mix of vegetarian & vegan & my children are 3rd generation vegetarians.

Line dry wherever possible.

Buy secondhand 90% of the time & sell whatever I can afterwards to make money & so that someone else can make use of stuff.

Reusable pads but also use tampons, my moon cup gave me awful stomach ache like trapped wind. I'm plucking up the courage to try a different brand. Preferably one that is smaller/softer to insert.

Recycle everything I can including crisp packets that charities collect. Use wax wraps, metal drinks bottles, take flasks out with me.

Use washing powder that comes in a cardboard box.

Always use soap bars & will be buying a shampoo bar to try.

Put on a jumper before thinking about heating.

Switched from cows milk to oat milk.

Use Quorn instead of meat

Lots of interesting ideas on this thread. We have...

• Started using bar soap instead of shower gel. I also buy soap that comes wrapped in paper (not cellophane)
• Washing powder in a card box
• Washable cleaning cloths and washing-up sponges
• I have a 'buy well, buy once' attitude to electronics, appliances and furniture -- if something doesn't last a decade it's not worth it in my view
• I buy less meat, but what I do buy is the highest possible welfare and from a farm nearby

We moved to be more centrally located (London). This means we can walk or (outside the pandemic, natch) get the train/tube most of the time instead of using the cars.

We also got rid of our hybrid car and bought a secondhand diesel. Wait! Come back! It's actually much more efficient for the type of infrequent but very long motorway journeys that we do. The hybrid was great at lower speeds and around town. But up at motorway speeds it became shockingly inefficient on fuel. It was also very expensive to service, and some of the parts had to be shipped over from Japan.

The combination of moving more centrally and buying a diesel car has meant that we now drive almost 8,000 fewer miles a year, we walk more, use more local businesses for shopping instead of supermarkets or Amazon, and our remaining car journeys are more efficient. It's worth doing the comparisons -- hybrids and electric cars can be brilliant but aren't always the best option, it depends on what kind of journeys you do.

We use a mix of disposable and cloth nappies - fair play to anyone that can go full cloth from day one, but I struggled enough while using disposables.

I use cloth sanitary towels, I find them far more comfortable than disposables.

Never use clingfilm and stuff really, we have tupperware that we reuse.

Never throw out food waste really, we use up everything by eating leftovers, making cakes or casseroles, giving it to the dog etc as appropriate.

Composting

Bar soap

Use natural cleaning products as much as possible

I only take public transport unless I have both dog and children

Pick up rubbish everywhere I go (I bring a plastic bag and a glove in my handbag!)

I buy everything second hand that I can, and resell/donate everything I can

I always try to fashion toys from any cardboard boxes we get