Am I missing some ideas?

[SarBear1980]

Ok so over the last few years I’ve been making changes as I find great alternatives - plastic free and cruelty free. I’m fully there with cruelty free but want to pick your brains if I’m missing anything. The one thing that also really evades me is a good deodorant? And a SPF 50 not in plastic?

So I:
Smol for Laundry and dishwasher
Dr Vegan for vitamins
Parla toothpaste tabs
Who gives a crap
All my toiletries apart from my shampoo which I just can’t part with are glass/metal tubes now
Period pants and washable pads
Veg Box

Any ideas for oral b toothbrush heads or razor blades?

Anything else I’m missing?

I'm using Salt of the Earth deodorant - the one in a glass jar. It seems fine so far but I'm not getting excessively sweaty what with it being winter and lockdown. So far so good though.

I'm also trying to replace things with plastic free vegan products. I've recently bought shampoo and conditioner bars from Lush which are lovely, and have some night cream from Face Theory on the way.

It sounds like you've done great, I wonder if rather than concentrating your efforts on eliminating the very last little bits of plastic (yes plastic isn't great but I think it is extremely difficult to go totally plastic free, in the UK anyway), you might be better off focusing your efforts on some other 'eco'/ethical living areas? So for instance have you swapped your energy provider to an eco one? What about your finances - have you got an ethical current account, savings provider and pension? Mobile phone contract?

Do you drive? Can you look at ways to reduce car usage or other travel (not that any of us have done much of that this year?), reduce meat and dairy consumption if not already veggie/vegan? What about clothes, can you look at doing a year with no new clothes purchases as a neat 'challenge' (or do one item a month if that's too much!)? these things will have just as much if not more of an environmental impact as swapping out a couple of plastic bottles and may actually be easier/cheaper too which is a bonus!

@theneverendinglaundry I have to start by saying I love your name - I couldn’t have said it better myself! 😂
Thanks for the recommendation on the deodorant, I’ve seen that one in Holland and Barrett so I’ll try that one next and the night cream too 😀

@maxelly Thank you so much - lots of things to think about there! Do you have any suggestions of bank accounts,utilities and mobile phone? I have a teachers pension so no choice there and my husband works in investments so he deals with all that as a trader...not very ethical but I choose not to ask!! I drive a tiny Fiat 500 less than 5000 miles a year - this year far less even though I’m still commuting some of the week.

I really need to try the break up with shopping...I’ve got better but your are right that would be far better!! I don’t do fast fashion but I’m a sucker for nice clothes 😱

Hi OP, if you are interested in broader ethical living, things like looking at the supply chain of the companies you use, their broader environmental record (so e.e. things like how they manage emissions and waste throughout the manufacturing and distribution process - so many people now want the supermarkets to supply products that come in sustainable packaging which is great, but it doesn't seem to have massively reduced the huge amount of plastic which is used/wasted in factories and warehouses), I'd really recommend a website/magazine called Ethical Consumer. They do in depth investigations into companies in 4 areas - environment, animal rights, supply chain and politics (largely whether they pay tax properly but also whether for instance their ownership or investment structures are linked to oppressive regimes abroad) - it's horrifying how many everyday companies score incredibly low across these areas. You do have to subscribe to get access to most of their content but it isn't super expensive and there's loads on there.

Just as a snippet though, for bank accounts and savings, I'd recommend Triodos (they have the only plastic-free debit card if that is important to you), any of the modern app banks (Monzo, Starling, Atom) or Nationwide. Utilities, we use Bulb but there's also Ecotricity, Octopus, Good Energy, Engie that do 100% sustainable energy. Mobile phones, I think the key thing is to keep your phone as long as possible/not upgrade until absolutely necessary, and buy 2nd hand if you can, as the minerals needed to make phones are very precious and the manufacturing process is energy-heavy. For contract/network there is a specific 'eco' network called Ecotalk...

Re the clothes, I feel you, can you get into vintage and 2nd hand shopping for at least some of your clothes? I love a charity shop rummage and you can pick up great bargains esp for children's clothes if you have young DC? Back in the days where we still went out/to fancy events/weddings, I also got a subscription to a clothes rental company which means I could have nice designer clothes, as you tend to only wear the outfit for these things once it actually saves money to rent not buy as well as being much more environmentally friendly!

I don't sweat heavily, I use essential oil of lavender and or, T tree as deodorants (they come in glass bottles with small tops but they are plastic annoyingly).

I use lavender, rose etc. as perfumes too and mint which, helps with sleeping and it's amazingly good for calming the stomach.

I don't buy new plastic bottles if I can avoid it.

Agree with maxelly about charity shops. And finances, travel etc,

Thank you @maxelly for such detailed ideas and suggestions...it’s half term next week so I’m going to spend some time doing some research in all those areas you have given me ideas about.

I just wanted to say another thank you for this! So far I’ve switched my bank and researched an energy company swap for when my contract ends. I’ve also decided to go for it with the clothes shopping and spent ages sorting my wardrobe, selling unwanted and unworn stuff and logging all my clothes on stylebook abs I’ve committed to not buying anything new until the summer! I’ve found an app called Good on You that gives ethics of shops and I’m loving the research - I’m going to make a list of places I’m happy to buy from in the future. I’ve also seen you can rent clothes from Baukjen...😊

I'm older than most of you (I think!) I've been trying to be ethical for a very long time and have bought organic clothes and bedding from a Fair Trade company called People Tree. They're more expensive but everything lasts really well, (nearly 30 years ) I have mended things to give them a longer life too. I also wash clothes less and put the more delicate things inside cotton pillowslips to stop them being destroyed, 'pulled' by the machine. (I wear an apron indoors to protect the clothes).

The really delicate things get soaked overnight in lukewarm softened water, you don't need to scrub then.

Another way to buy less new clothes is to stick with some basic colours, that go together so you don't need so much clothes. The majority of my clothes are black, white, and blue.