Your best reusables for less waste

[folkmore]

Making a conscious effort it to really simplify living and being more eco friendly going into 2025.
Please tell me about your best reusables! I want to eliminate as many disposable and one use things as I can.

Currently I no longer use one use makeup wipes/cotton pads etc
Use glass Tupperware

We don't use kitchen roll - teatowels, little face cloths or bigger cleaning cloths instead.

No clingfilm or plastic bags - all goes in reused takeaway boxes here though which feels more efficient for us than buying glass tupperware. (Although the glass looks lovely!)

Refill at the refill shop for washing up liquid, fabric conditioner laundry liquid and shower gel. Not organised enough to do this for food as I only get there every 4-6 months.

I'd like to move from tissues to hankies but like tissues too much. Similarly not planning to make the leap into family cloth just now!

Interested in the other recommendations you get!

Bar soap.

The amount of plastic waste people create using chemical shower gel and hand soap is so utterly depressing.

I switched to laundry detergent sheets to eliminate packaging.

Have been experimenting with bar shampoo & conditioner from small vendors on Etsy. None great so far.

I use wood matches instead of plastic lighters for candles & fireplace.

Like you, glass Tupperware. Or even empty pickle jars.

I buy almost everything secondhand except mattresses, upholstered furniture and underwear.

You'd be surprised how much lovely vintage, never used cotton/cotton blend rbedding is on Etsy and eBay. Better quality than today. Just search for retro or vintage. Same for clothing and towels.

Tea towels v kitchen roll. No wipes.

Clean mainly with bicarbonate, white vinegar and isopropyl alcohol. A bit of bleach.

No pesticides or toxins whatsoever in house or garden.

Been buying much less meat in recent years.

Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.
Will think of more.

Most reusable stuff you could buy has really high embedded carbon. Eg if you buy a canvas bag you have to use it hundreds of times before it is lower carbon than disposable bags (although plastic waste is an issue in that case). Similar for glass Tupperware.

Also remember washing cloths uses energy and is not necessarily greener than using paper tissues/kitchen roll

The most eco friendly course is to re use the "disposable " items you already have (take away cartons etc) as far as possible til they fall apart. Only buy a dedicated reusable item if you don't already have something that will do the job

Don't throw away old clothing such as t-shirts or sweatshirts, use pinking shears to cut them into cloths.

If you cut out small cloths you can place them in a glass jar that contains white vinegar and some drops of mint oil.

Stop buying fabric conditioner and take out a cloth from the vinegar and mint jar and place in your wash. It helps remove static and softens clothing.

Afterwards you put the cloth back into the vinegar and mint jar to redial it.

Re soak not redial ^

Reusable nappies for our babes in our household
Menstrual cup and washable menstrual underwear
Bamboo toothbrush
Who gives a crap loo roll
Refill shopping for rice, pasta, lentils l, herbs, chocolate buttons etc etc...
Beeswax coverings instead of cling film
Bar soap and bar shampoo
I'm yet to find a decent bar conditioner I'm happy with so that comes from the refill shop

Most weeks I buy fruit in a plastic bag. When the bag is empty, I rinse it in hot detergent water, dry it over a tumbler and reuse as a sandwich bag or a freezer bag. I haven't bought plastic bags for a decade. Any bigger bags are used as bin liners.

I have about 20 cotton fabric dish cloths. I use a new one every day, the used one is thrown in with a regular load of washing, so no J-cloths.

I buy large loaves of bread and freeze half wrapped in plastic, so they don't go stale.

I buy 4-pint containers of milk, decant them into empty sterilised 1-pint containers and freeze 3 of the 4. It saves about 50p per pint and cuts waste (plastic and rancid milk).

I use any waste paper & cardboard packaging to light the woodburner. Avoids the need for firelighters, and means I create less rubbish for the council to recycle. They would burn it anyway so I'm just cutting out the transport costs.

Any garlic that has sprouted in the fridge gets planted in a pot in the garden. It grows easily so I seldom have to buy garlic.

If I buy a jar of artichokes in oil, after I've used the artichokes, I use the artichoke-flavoured oil in risottos or salad dressings. Same with anchovy jar oil. Great for adding flavour to seafood risottos.

The white vinegar from the Christmas pickled onions goes into a spray bottle to dissolve any limescale build-up on shower tiles and taps.

Old Christmas cards are cut into tags before being put away for next year. I love taking care cutting carefully so it looks like a tag, not an old bit of Christmas card. Mundane creativity. 😊

Bar soap. The only soap I've found that is also a great shampoo is goat's milk soap. It cuts out all the plastic bottles. Try Cyril's Soap Shed.

I save jam jars and lids to use when making jam or bottling blackberries in the autumn. (You need storage space though - a box in the garage)

Thank you for the idea on the goats milk soap shampoo.

I too use bamboo-based loo roll.

Clothing. It is one of the worst industries for the environment. Don't buy cheap shit from Shein, Temu or Amazon. Don't wear things twice and then bin/recycle them. Avoid polyester and other synthetics. Buy second hand, loads of great stuff out there.

Learn to sew, it's not hard and it changes what you can do - make stuff or alter existing.

I'm turning into my Mother, she had that whole 'lived through WWII, make do and mend' thing.

I've been using a milk man for the past few years now , everything he supplies comes in reusable containers down to the egg boxes that are returned to be refilled .
I use wash cloths instead of face wipes and soap bars instead of shower and hand gels .