It’s important that we all do our part to live a more sustainable and environmentally friendly lifestyle, reducing our individual negative impact on the planet.
For many of us, efforts to be more eco-friendly have meant reducing our use of disposable straws, single-use bottles, disposable coffee cups and such – generally things that we encounter outside of the home. However, in order to really make a difference, we should all be working to make our homes more eco-friendly, too.
Here’s a few of the things that you can do to make your home eco friendly, as well as some of our favourite eco-friendly cleaning products that will help you to do this.
Recycle effectively
If items are dirty or different materials are not separated correctly, they probably won’t be recycled.
Ensure that you are keeping all materials correctly separated for recycling – that means separating paper & card, glass, cans and, finally, plastics. You should always read the recycling instructions on packaging to make sure that you are preparing it for recycling properly, such as removing caps and labels that can’t be recycled.
It is also always worth checking whether or not there is any way to recycle other specialist items you might have in your home. Many supermarkets and shopping centres now offer stations and bins where you can recycle batteries, makeup, plastic bags and more – why not find out if there is anything like this in your local area?
Cut down on plastics
UK households throw away an estimated 100 billion pieces of plastic packaging every year and it’s easy to see how this builds up – many food products, drinks, cleaning products and more are all packaged in plastic.
Households can cut down on their plastic waste by making the switch to products which are packaged in sustainable, plastic-free packaging.
For example, its estimated that the average UK adult does 208 loads of laundry each year – that’s a lot of empty detergent bottles going to landfill. By switching to a plastic-free alternative like Friendly Soap’s laundry powder, you can immediately reduce your household’s plastic use dramatically.
Switch up your toiletries
Much of the plastic waste created in households comes from the bathroom – shampoos, conditioners, liquid hand soaps, body wash, face wash etc. are all usually packaged in plastic. That’s before you consider all the other single use items associated with these products, such as cotton pads and face wipes.
At Friendly Soap, we offer a wide range of all-natural toiletries, all packaged in plastic-free packaging. By switching out bottled liquid toiletries for our sustainably manufactured alternatives, you can cut down on your bathroom plastic waste as well as nourishing your hair and skin with formulas containing no parabens, sulfates or other harmful ingredients. Why not also invest in some re-usable alternatives to single-use products, such as washable cotton pads?
For a look at our eco friendly toiletries, check out our natural soap bars, facial cleansing bars and our haircare range.
Avoid harmful chemicals
Many cleaning products contain chemicals which can be incredibly harmful to animals and to the environment.
Elements such as parabens, sulfates, preservatives and artificial fragrances can often find their way into the environment through improper disposal or water pollution and are consistently a cause of environmental damage.
At Friendly Soap, we don’t use any harmful chemicals in our cleaning products, creating our products from all-natural ingredients. For example, the average kitchen surface cleaner contains a range of chemicals, including ethanol, ammonia and bleach. We’ve created products like the Friendly Soap Kitchen Bar to offer an easy-to-use, chemical-free and all-natural alternative to households everywhere.
Browse the range now
We’ve been working hard on the newest additions to the Friendly Soap range, our collection of eco friendly kitchen cleaning products. If you want to learn how to be more eco friendly, take a look at our full household and cleaning range today - these simple swaps are a great way to give your household an environmentally-friendly upgrade!
