Doing Better

A family run business in Idaho whose mission is, "To make high-quality, zero-waste, and environmentally-friendly products available to all American households at a reasonable cost." We're trying out self care products they carry like bamboo toothbrushes, solid toothtabs (no plastic tubes), unpaper towels, and natural konjac facial sponges.

A small business in Massachussets. From their website: "Unpacked Living promotes an earth-friendly, low-waste, and plastic-free lifestyle. It's everyday people taking responsibility for the waste they produce, the products they use, and the impact they have on themselves, and the environment that can bring a change to the overwhelming pollution we have created." We're trying out their natural fiber kitchen sponges and scrubbers, tooth tabs (no plastic tube and they seem to have the best price), and bamboo dental floss in refillable aluminum containers.

From their website: "By creating sustainable home care products that are beautifully designed, functionally innovative, and responsibly produced, Full Circle guides families through each step of their sustainability journey - inspiring and educating the next generation to live a more eco-friendly life and preserve the world we all share." When I opened the box with our new Full Circle toilet plunger my hubby actually exclaimed out loud, "That's the nicest plunger I've ever seen." They also have an initiative to help people start making small changes toward choosing more sustainable products (this is an external link): Start With a Sponge.

A husband and wife team in Las Vegas started this business with the desire to eliminate single use, plastic straws. I love that! I've been declining offers of plastic straws for years. They have a lot of great products for self care, kitchen, cleaning, baby and more. My latest great find here is electric toothbrush head replacements made from bamboo!

A small company out of Vancouver and Toronto. I am feeling really good about the huge block of solid dish soap we just got from here. So far I am happy with its cleaning abilities and I am looking forward to seeing how long it lasts - they estimate it takes the place of five bottles of liquid dishsoap. We are also trying out their sisal dish/bottle brushes and reusable/washable bamboo and silicone swabs. They also have products across the range of self care, cleaning, kitchen and bath. Shipping was surprisingly slow, but the proprietor kept me updated on expected shipping dates.

One of our friends launched this eco friendly cleaning supply company. We love her products and supporting her. They sell award winning, effective, hypochlorous acid disinfecting, sanitizing, and cleaning solutions. They manufacture hypochlorous acid using salt, water and electricity. As she has explained to us, and you can read on their website, it's also a compound naturally made by our bodies and known to fight infections and bacteria. I love that it has almost no odor and it feels like water, but when I use it I'm effectively killing germs. It's my go to bathroom cleaner for home, and we use it in our business as well. It does come in plastic bottles, but at least you can buy it by the gallon.

We are transitioning away from bottled shampoo, conditioner and soap. It's hard to imagine going back to bottles, especially when one considers that the bulk of what we buy (and thus pay for) in these liquefied products is water, and how many containers and resources are taken up by transporting all that water. There are lots of options out there for bars of: shampoo, conditioner, dish soap, stain remover sticks, and more (many are available at the businesses listed on this page). The first place I noticed someone using a bar of dish soap and natural dish brush was at the house of our friend behind Clean Republic (above). I never mentioned it to her, but seeing that planted a seed in my brain and I'm so glad to finally be making the switch. So far, we have tried shampoo and conditioner bars from Ethique, HiBAR and Viori. We heard about Viori from another friend and it has been our favorite shampoo bar so far (we take forever to get through conditioner, despite having lots of long hair in our household). My hairdresser is skeptical of bars, but she said to make sure they are pH balanced, and that is one of the qualities Viori notes about their products.

A reusable, cotton booklet to take the place of disposable tissues - why not? The creator has a great story about how she came up with the idea while she was an engineering student at UC Berkeley. We're going to try out the Hanky Book on our next adventure since we go through a lot of tissues and we're intrigued by this idea, plus we won't have room to store all the tissue trash. If it seems icky, well, we cloth diapered and it doesn't get much ickier than that so we're not afraid! We'll let you know how it goes... 

A small business in Eugene, OR started by an enterprising mom who wanted to do better. They make their own great, sustainable household supplies like reusable cotton facial rounds, "unpaper towels," and reusable/washable cotton dusters (finally a modern reprieve to the ubiquitous, disposable swiffer!). They have a whole line of products for kitchen, bath, baby and cleaning. I love the cotton duster - I've never thought of a duster as pretty until now!

I've been skeptical about these laundry detergent strips, but since we're about to drastically reduce our living space for the next six months, I thought I would give them a try. I had previously used Arm & Hammer Free and Clear powder, which comes in cardboard boxes. These TruEarth laundry strips do not contain microplastics and I have been very happy with their effectiveness (note: we have a top load washer from our cloth diapering days). The packaging is so minimal, plastic free, and they work so well, I cannot imagine ever going back to regular laundry detergent. Seriously.

We finally jumped on the bandwagon and switched to dishwasher pods a couple years ago, and these seem to be the pinnacle of dishwasher pods as they work great and do not contain microplastics! Plus, they also come in plastic free packaging.

Our friend behind Clean Republic (above) is also behind this company, and again, we love her products and supporting her. We have gifted away her CBD pain cream, and had requests for more. It really works. Unfortunately, their products do come in plastic bottles. Here is the mission statement from their website: "CAUSE+MEDIC is an all-natural skincare line combining the healing properties of  hemp-derived CBD with other active botanical ingredients, to enhance skin health and radiance. Every ingredient is consciously selected, responsibly sourced, and cruelty free. We strive to create a greener, more sustainable skincare regimen and believe mother nature provides the recipe." I love this other statement from the same page, "There are hundreds of skin care lines all claiming to be the missing link in your daily regimen and your anti-aging salvation. SO…why choose us? For a start, we don’t believe in anti-aging. Aging is a good thing. It means we are growing and evolving and, ahem… living." I can just hear our friend's voice speaking that truth. They are 1% for the Planet Members, and also donate $1 from every sale to one of several organizations you can choose from.

It's even better to find local retailers that sell eco friendly products, especially when they offer refillable containers and stock the refills to go in them. This enables you to simultaneously support local businesses and avoid shipping items (and their packaging) to your home. Some examples of businesses we buy products from when we are in their locations are below. Kauai Refills made a big impact on us and they have a lot of great ideas for sustainable products. We buy self care and healthcare products from Vital Living in Salida, CO. If there is a product you cannot find locally, consider asking an appropriate local retailer (like a healthfood store) if they will carry it.

Vital Living is a small business in Salida, CO. From their website: "Vital Living is a retailer & manufacturer of high quality handcrafted skin care, bath & body care, natural make-up, handcrafted herbal & nutritional supplements, loose leaf tea, bulk herbs, and natural pet foods." We use a lot of their self care products and source almost all of our essential oils from them.

An inspirational small business on Kauai with a beautiful brick and mortar shop and great products. From their website: "We wanted to invite the people of Kaua’i to participate in becoming more conscious consumers by reducing the massive amounts of single-use plastics that ultimately end up contaminating our ocean and soil and understand that functionality doesn't need to be at the expense of aesthetics. Our hope is to make the transition to a more sustainable life-style as simple and enjoyable as possible with the full and effective line of essential cleaning products  we carry in refill form along with an array of sustainable, functional (& beautiful) goods for life and home."