As concerns about the environment continue to rise, more and more businesses are looking for ways to reduce their impact on the planet. One of the most effective ways to do this is by incorporating sustainable and eco-friendly products into their operations. One of the main benefits is that sustainable and eco-friendly products can help reduce a business’s environmental impact. This includes reducing carbon emissions, water consumption, and waste production. These efforts can not only help protect the environment but also help a company to comply with regulations and avoid potential penalties.
Another benefit is that sustainable and eco-friendly products can improve a company’s reputation and branding. Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the impact that their purchasing decisions have on the environment, and many are willing to pay more for products that are eco-friendly. By offering sustainable and eco-friendly products, a business can appeal to this growing group of conscious consumers, and in turn, help to build a positive reputation and brand image.
Additionally, sustainable and eco-friendly products can also help a business to save money in the long-term. These products are often made from more durable materials, which means they need to be replaced less frequently. Additionally, many sustainable and eco-friendly products require less energy to produce, which can help to lower energy costs.
Beeswax Wraps
Plastic wrap, at its absolute best, is a single-use product. But let’s be honest sometimes it doesn’t even get to the first use before it balls up and is impossible to use. You may not think a little bit of plastic wrap is a big deal. However, one study found over six months that 80 million Americans used at least one roll of plastic wrap. Another 5 million Americans managed to use a total of 10 million plastic wraps (they used far more rolls in the time frame than the previous group.) The average roll of plastic wrap is 75 feet. With 90 million rolls of plastic wrap produced by 85 million Americans, we send 6.75 billion feet of single-use plastic to landfills… every six months.
Made from all organic ingredients and materials (typically organic cotton, beeswax, some type of plant oil and tree resin), beeswax food wrap is a very natural way to store and preserve cut-into fruits and vegetables, cheeses and crusty breads. The materials are also 100% compostable, meaning beeswax food wrap is capable of disintegrating into natural elements in a compost environment, leaving no toxicity in the soil.
If you never used your Ideal Wrap for anything other than avocados, it would still be 110% worth the investment. We all know the struggle of opening an avocado at the exact right moment; you know, when it’s ripe but not too ripe. And when your avo is perfect, you can be tempted to eat the whole thing just so you don’t waste the rest. No more! Ideal Wrap has finally come to the rescue!
Reusability is the name of the game, and beeswax food wraps are in it to win it. A name brand beeswax food wrap like Ideal Wrap should last for more than 200 uses, even with regular washing, which might equate to roughly a year of regular use.
Laundry Detergent
When we dump a capful of concentrated cleaning detergent into our laundry machine, we don’t really think much of it, especially not in an environmental sense. After all, as far as most of us are concerned, something as common and innocuous as laundry detergent couldn’t possibly be bad for the planet. Some brands even make a point to say so! Unfortunately, like so many man-made chemical inventions, detergent is far from completely harmless.
Detergents are hardly naturally occurring. Most of the most popular commercial brands are manufactured using synthetic chemical compounds. This makes them very different from soap, which is made from natural substances like lye and plant saponins. This makes sense, of course, as soap goes directly on the skin; laundry detergent does not.
Detergents can contain several chemical compounds that have negative environmental effects. Phosphate-containing laundry or dish detergents can react adversely when they finally reach the water table. The nitrogen in these detergents reacts with phosphorus in the water, creating nutrients that stimulate the growth of algae in freshwater. According to Lenntech, a company from the Netherlands, this type of algae uses up the oxygen in the water in a process called eutrophication. Over time, this slowly depletes the oxygen in a body of water, ruining the ecosystem.
There are a number of green-friendly detergents on the market today. One example is Miracle laundry sheets. Miracle laundry sheets clean better than chemical-filled detergents, according to hundreds of thousands of satisfied customers. Consisting of just four natural ingredients, you only need one sheet per wash compared to several millilitres of liquid detergent. The sheets are biodegradable, making them a better choice for the planet than the plastic bottles used to carry liquid detergent, which end up in landfills.
They’re also easier to use for older people or those unable to lift heavy bottles as all you need to do to use them is open the cardboard box and the sheets are lighter than paper. One impressed shopper wrote: ‘I was left with my mouth agape for using these laundry detergent sheets! No mess. No carrying big, heavy plastic containers to the laundromat.’
Another added: ‘I really like to get our family bedsheets clean and fresh and was a bit skeptical when at how the sheet could do that. But it came from the washer great! And it’s nice to know the ingredients are all natural.’ Made from just coconut oil, alcohol, natural vegetable oil and coconut oil extract, they have a light, fresh smell and are extremely hypoallergenic and safe on children’s delicate skin.
Body wash and other beauty products
Plastic is the most well-known and biggest culprit in the fight to rid our planet of the trash mountains caused by its long decomposition time and polluted waters – and there have already been strides made to address this gargantuan environmental disaster. Brands are using less packaging where many have created refillable solutions that’s a win-win for conscious consumers. They tend to be better value than purchasing the product all over again and create less waste that will simply end up in landfills.
Less plastic is good, but no plastic is even better. The use of alternatives like sugarcane is becoming more prevalent and provides a biodegradable solution. So is post-consumer recycled packaging, while being fully recyclable should be a given. More than just cutting down on single-use plastic packaging, there are more ways you can be eco-friendly in your hygiene practices. Sustainability is a broad term and can mean anything from the ingredients used to the manufacturing process. Look out for accreditations from the likes of Leaping Bunny for formulas that are free from animal testing.
Body wash is one of the most-used products in your beauty and grooming regime. Switching to bottles and formulas that are better for the environment will go a long way in planet future-proofing. While offering eco-conscious solutions, you need not sacrifice on kind-to-skin ingredients that offer an effective cleanse while hydrating you, head to toe.
With new arrivals and sales of traditional soaps soaring, it seems we’ve rekindled our love for chunky solid bars that offer the kind of old school reassurance we need in uncertain times. It’s a trend that’s also moving north of body and face, as shampoo bars have a nascent moment too, gaining ground with shoppers focused on products’ natural credentials and high performance results.
Although still a comparatively niche beauty category, solid shampoo is hitting the beauty zeitgeist on many levels. Skincare benefits are key, with formulas mostly free of chemicals like sodium laurel sulphate that make liquid shampoos lather up, ensuring they are more gentle on hair and scalp, while a lack of packaging – many come wrapped in paper – also means less landfill waste giving them green credentials too.
A compact size and lightness reduces the carbon footprints so they take up less transportation space than clunky bottles, plus some can be used on the body too making bars even more cost and eco-effective. Another major step forward are the sophisticated formulas – regionally produced artisan blends of high quality ingredients and sophisticated scents that take them to a new level of luxury at a purse-friendly price.
Coffee pods
Coffee pods should never have been allowed on the market. So much unnecessary plastic. Thankfully, some companies are now making compostable coffee pods – it’s about time!
Coffee manufacturer Beanies has seen its eco-friendly coffee pods go on sale at Aldi supermarkets in the UK. The compostable containers were developed in a bid to reduce waste and the firm’s impact on the environment. According to Beanies, the pods take 26 weeks to decompose, while plastic and aluminium pods can take more than 100 years.
Executive chairman John Evans said that the firm has had “considerable success” which granted it the opportunity to bring the compostable pods to market. “We’re thrilled that Aldi have decided to all three flavours in their special buy aisle as we really see the value in the product but especially the home compostable element,” Evans said.
Biodegradable Single-Use Soap
Scientists at the Imperial College London have developed a new single-use tab soap, which is entirely biodegradable and offers a more affordable solution to make hygiene more accessible to certain areas. The team created a system that could be scaled up to be beneficial to the masses.
They found that although soap is the combative option to dirt, locals often understood it to be a contaminated object, which makes it difficult to keep near the toilets without feeling like it may be soiled in the process. Over time the team developed five different prototypes and landed on the Tab Soap. It is made from sustainable bamboo-based textiles that are doused in soap. Once it is used, the remnants can be disposed of in the toilet to decompose by itself. As the world becomes more conscious of the need to protect the environment, the future of sustainable and eco-friendly products looks bright. Businesses that incorporate these products into their operations are not only doing their part to protect the planet but also positioning themselves for future success.