Did you know that the personal care industry is estimated to be as much as one-third of the refuse that ends up in landfills? 1 As an example, a whopping 30 million toothbrushes are thrown away each year in Australia. 1 In addition, each of those 30 million toothbrushes takes a further 500 years to fully biodegrade in landfill, 2 same as the average tube of toothpaste. Those are astounding numbers that will undoubtedly cause major environmental issues now and into the future, unless we change our behaviours.
The world produces over two billion tons of municipal solid waste every year, to put that into perspective, that’s enough waste to fill up over 800,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. 3 To reduce our waste, we need to be proactive on how we use everyday products. This starts with monitoring which items you are using day-to-day, and whether you consider them essential, and if there are items you could replace to be more sustainable and conscious of the effect on the environment.
At Grin Natural, we are making it our mission to improve the impact the personal care industry has on our planet. Big changes start at home, so here are four easy steps you can take today that will make your self-care routine more environmentally sustainable:
- Go natural! Ditch the plastic and opt for products made from natural materials such as bamboo, corn-starch and cotton. Easy items to switch include your toothbrush, razor and disposable cotton pads. Or, you can opt to repurpose your toothbrush as a tool to clean the bathroom, or clean dust from electrical items!
- Opt for multi-purpose products and get more for your money while you’re at it. Products such as an all-in-one soap or multi-purpose balms are great – items that have more than one use save on a pile up of products and excess packaging which isn’t needed!
- Deforestation accounts for 15% of total global warming pollution each year and according to GreenPeace, 4 palm oil can be found in 40% to 50% of household products in Australia because of how cheap it is and the long shelf life it holds. 5 With only 20% of palm oil estimated to be produced sustainably, choosing products that are free from palm oil is an important step for the environment.
- Recycle, recycle, recycle! It’s drilled into us to recycle cardboard, paper and household items but self-care products can often be forgotten about. Recycling items such as an old shampoo bottle or moisturiser tube all contribute to maintaining a healthy environment and should not be forgotten about.
If you follow these four easy steps, you’ll be well on your way to improving your impact on the environment, and future generations will be thankful you made those small changes now. By making small changes daily, we can all play our part in creating a better, cleaner future for ourselves and our planet.
References:
- 1millionwomen.com.au
- WWF Australia https://www.wwf.org.au/
- BBC News https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-48838699
- Greenpeace International, www.greenpeace.org
- Orangutan Alliance, www.orangutanalliance.org
