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A zero-waste home is a pathway lined with sustainable swaps for the household items we use daily. Beeswax wraps instead of cling wrap, metal straws instead of plastic, eco-friendly detergents instead of harmful chemicals, and the list goes on.
Making a sustainable swap toward eco-friendly products that will last you for years and won’t end up in our oceans is one of the easiest ways to reduce plastic usage. We’ll take you through nine of the easiest swaps you can make to develop a zero-waste home and help rebuild our oceans one step at a time.
Photo by Naja Bertolt Jensen on Unsplash
1. Metal Straws
Swapping out your single-use plastic and cardboard straws for a metal straw is the perfect start to your zero-waste journey. Reuse them as often as you’d like without having to throw them out. And since plastic straws are prohibited across most Australian states, get a head start on your zero waste home and pick one up today.
2. Reusable Water Bottle
Investing in a reusable water bottle is smart for your wallet and the environment, contributing to the fight against the billions of single-use plastic bottles Australians buy every year. Bottled water is 2000 times more expensive on average than tap water and largely contributes to the ecological catastrophe being experienced by our waterways. You can save the environment and money; it’s a win-win.
3. Beeswax Wraps
Beeswax Wraps are the ultimate alternative to the harmful plastic cling wrap that millions of Aussies use daily. And that’s before we include the millions more using cling wrap globally!
Made from organic cotton, pure beeswax and jojoba butter, beeswax wraps are perfect for extending the shelf-life of your food without littering your environment with more plastic. These food wraps can be reused more than 100 times and are easily cleaned, making them the ideal addition to your eco-friendly kitchen collection.
4. Reusable Coffee Cups
Reusable coffee cups are a simple solution to the 60,000 kilograms of takeaway coffee cups that end up in Australian landfills yearly. And to make matters worse, it takes half a century to break down each cup. Purchasing a reusable cup means there’s one less single-use coffee cup in a landfill or, worse, the ocean. Plus, it keeps your coffee warmer for longer!
5. Silicone Baking Mat
Silicone baking mats are a must-have eco-friendly utensil perfect for reducing your usage of harmful parchment paper, aluminium foil and cooking sprays. These reusable mats will save you hundreds of dollars as they can be reused again and again for over two years. There also heat-resistant, food safe and incredibly easy to clean. Silicone baking mats are an ideal addition to any zero-waste home.
6. Reusable Lunch Bags
Reusable lunch bags can reduce the amount of single-use plastic containers that end up in landfill or get burnt in the open air producing harmful greenhouse gas emissions. These insulated bags are long-lasting and food safe. Reusable lunch bags keep your food fresher for longer, but more importantly, they are a feasible long-term solution that will contribute to your zero-waste home.
7. Biodegradable Toothbrushes
Seeing as the average person uses 300 toothbrushes in their lifetime, it’s no wonder it’s a regular sight in landfills. And since plastic is a mainstay in toothbrush manufacturing, “nearly every single toothbrush made since the 1930s is still out there in the world somewhere, living on as a piece of trash.”
Biodegradable options are limited since the nylon bristles must be removed before decomposition. While it’s not technically a zero-waste product, these toothbrushes are still a sustainable swap and a welcome addition to your zero-waste home.
8. Reusable Silicone Bags
A reusable silicone bag is a perfect replacement for single-use plastic bags, ensuring that you can continually reuse them without contributing to the billions of plastics already destroying the ocean. This environmentally friendly substitute can have a 5-10 year lifespan, ensuring you’re saving money on single-use products while improving your carbon footprint.
9. Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products
Investing in organic cleaning products is essential in developing your zero-waste home, ensuring harmful chemicals stay out of our waterways. These harsh chemicals can be toxic to plants and animals long after you’ve rinsed them down the sink. By using organic products, you can reduce your impact on our waterways, plus the many health benefits from using eco-friendly products, so you can assure your family isn’t exposed to dangerous toxins.
Sustainable Products For Your Zero Waste Home
Historically, eco-friendly products have been hard to come by and more expensive than single-use plastics. Today, there is an abundance of easily accessible options that are far more cost-effective, leaving you with few excuses to implement these sustainable swaps and eco-friendly alternatives into your zero-waste home.