It’s Plastic Free July, so it’s the perfect time to take stock of the way we use plastic in our everyday lives.
When it comes to plastic, the bathroom might not be at the top of your mind when it comes to the most offensive rooms of the house (we’re looking at you, kitchen), given that not too long ago beauty products and personal care items came in bar form or were packaged in glass bottles, tins or jars.
But founder of Biome Eco Stores, Tracey Bailey, says the $500 billion a year global beauty and body care industry has a big plastic problem, relying heavily on plastic for containers and packaging.
“Almost every beauty product contains some form of plastic whether it’s the bottle, cap, lid, packaging, applicator or apparatus,” she says.
There are several simple steps you can take to reduce your use of plastics in your personal care routine:
- Use bamboo cotton buds instead of plastic cotton buds.
- Swap your shampoo and conditioner in bottles for shampoo and conditioner bars.
- Try a reusable stainless-steel safety razor instead of disposable plastic razors.
- Swap your plastic toothbrush for a bamboo toothbrush.
- Swap liquid body wash for a bar of soap.
Tracey says the amount of plastic in beauty and personal care products can make the transition to a lifestyle with less plastic seem overwhelming. She says the solution is to “start small”, swapping one product at a time for a sustainable product.
“When shopping for body care products, choose items packaged in reusable tins or recyclable packaging such as cardboard or glass,” she says.
“Your dollar is your vote for the type of world you want to live in and every time you purchase a sustainable solution over a plastic packaged product, you are sending a message for change to the global body care brands that dominate the industry.”
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