Sustainability is the buzz word for businesses at the moment – are you trying to be more sustainable? We recently held a fantastic #ialso breakfast session, hosted by #ialso100 Claudia Gwinnutt, founder of Circla. Circla is an innovative closed-loop reuse and refill packaging service for home and personal care products, that targets the disposable plastic problem at its core and Claudia has recently adapted her business online. Circla has appeared on ITV’s This Morning, in Glamour magazine, Refinery 29, Dazed and was recently nominated by Glamour as one of the top four sustainable initiatives of the last year.
In this session, Claudia shared her business story and tips on how small business owners can be more sustainable with the biggest takeouts being just start small and go from there.
Claudia has very kindly shared her latest blog with us all sharing her six simple swaps to make your bathroom routine more sustainable. A really interesting read and something we can all start doing. Hope you enjoy and thank you to Claudia for hosting and to all that attended!
Eco-friendly lifestyles start at home — with a few no-fuss changes, yours can begin in the bathroom
The bathroom is one of the worst offenders when it comes to wasteful products and single-use plastic. If you don’t believe us, just look at the colourful array of single-use bottles lined up on the side of any given bath.
Still, just because we’re used to using use-once-and-bin shampoos, conditioners and shower gels, it doesn’t mean there’s no easy way to make your whole self-care routine sustainable. In fact, with the amount of great eco-friendly self-care products now on the market, there’s never been a better time.
With a few simple hacks — and a minor overhaul of your bathroom cabinet — you can make sure you’re keeping clean in a way that won’t cost the planet. Read on to find out how.
1. Exfoliate with coffee
You don’t need us to tell you that plastic microbeads are bad for the planet — thanks to tireless work from climate campaigners, they were banned by the UK government back in 2018.
But even if your current exfoliator claims to be planet-friendly, the plastic bottle it comes in might suggest it’s not as sustainable as it could be.
Step in, coffee: turns out your favourite morning medicine is just as much of a tonic for your skin. Coffee body scrubs like this one from UpCircle are natural exfoliants, with the added benefit of blood circulation-improving caffeine.
2. Take sustainable showers
What’s better for the environment, a bath or a shower? According to climate-friendly publisher Grist, showers win — as long as they’re not hours-long karaoke sessions with your conditioner bottle as the mic.
“Unless you’re content with a mere foot bath, showers almost always beat out baths in terms of water use,” Grist say, though they concede that you’re “better a 45-minute bath than a 45-minute shower.”
If you’re looking to make your shower extra sustainable, StoneStream’s eco-friendly shower heads use laser-cut spray holes to increase water pressure while saving on actual water used.
3. Replace your plastic razor
As the name suggests, shaving with a safety razor is good for your skin. But it’s also good for the planet, especially when compared to non-lasting plastic alternatives.
While these eco-friendly shavers are a little more expensive, the payoff is totally worth it — they last a lot longer and tend to come out cheaper, as only the blades need replacing.
You can recycle your blades with companies like TerraCycle. Our faves? This stripped-back UpCircle offering, or this hexagonal beauty from Mühle.
4. Opt for responsible toilet roll
While no-one’s advocating for reusable loo roll, the stuff that your toilet paper is made out of in the first place is important in determining its eco-friendly capabilities.
After all, though most toilet roll is biodegradable, much of it is made through unsustainable methods — National Geographic estimated that 27,000 trees are cut down to make toilet paper every single day.
Do your bit by switching to toilet paper which is made out of recycled material, or by choosing a more responsible source like the 100% bamboo toilet roll from Serious Tissues.
5. Rethink how you use deodorant
Deodorant users tend to fall into two camps: spray-on or roll-on. But in an increasingly eco-friendly world, it’s the reusable deodorant fans who’ve got our vote.
Reusable deodorant might sound fiddly, but it’s simpler than it seems — brands like Fussy and Wilddeliver no-fuss roll-on refills, straight to your door.
The deodorant itself is natural, vegan and formulated for super-smooth skin and, because the refills are plastic-free and compostable, you won’t have to reckon with the guilt of binning yet another aluminum bottle next time you run out.
6. Make your make-up pads reusable
You might think all face wipes are unsustainable, but there’s actually plenty of options which are far better for the planet than single-use wipes and cotton wool pads.
The key is reusability — and while that might seem far-fetched for something which soaks up foundation and mascara, there’s a new breed of reusable makeup pads which are surprisingly easy-to-wash and use, time and time again.
Just take these ones, by Tabitha Eve: not only will your face love the luxurious cotton with naturally antibacterial bamboo, they come in affordable packs of five so you won’t be spending every other day re-washing.
