Who gives a crap?

Hello there! Once again, things have been quiet on the blog front, mainly while I moved house. It was a tricky time to attempt plastic-free living, what with all the tape, but I've saved most of the bubble wrap and cardboard boxes for my next move, so it hasn't all gone in the bin just yet. 

I'm still wading my way through bottles of shower gel, but I've managed to make a few sustainable swaps over the past few weeks. Once again, they're based in the bathroom. Who would have thought I would spend so much time writing about the goings-on of that room? One of the many surprises of 2020.  

Toothy tabs

The first item on the list is a bottle of Toothy Tabs from Lush. I've been on the lookout for sustainable alternatives to toothpaste for a while, because the traditional toothpaste tube that we know and love is incredibly difficult to recycle and most councils don't process it. But this little bottle CAN be recycled. One other plus: it isn't a liquid, so it's one less thing to fit in your 10cm x 10cm bag on short-haul flights, freeing up space for something essential (like nail varnish). 

To use these, you just take one toothy tab and nibble it a bit. Then bring your toothbrush into play, and the whole thing froths up in your mouth like a minty bubble bath. It's genuinely quite joyous. This is one of my favourite recent discoveries. 

Fancy reusable razor

A non-disposable razor is another thing I've been looking out for, so when I saw one in a local shop, I snapped it up. It was an expensive item at £24.99, but it came with ten blades and hopefully will last for years – if not forever. These are also available for men – although I think the only difference is the colour! Men, you feel free to go for rose pink if you want. This fancy razor certainly looks more appealing than the half-mouldy plastic number it replaced, and it was very easy to use, so top marks all round. 

I also found this reusable razor online here. It's by the Zero Waste Club.

The underside of this unassuming cardboard box held a surprise – it told me that a tree had automatically been planted with the purchase of this item! So, now I feel extra eco-friendly.

Who gives a crap?

I give a crap! That's right. Another thing that I've been wanting to invest in for a while is toilet paper that doesn't come wrapped in plastic. Now that I have a flat of my own, the world is my eco-friendly, loo-paper-filled oyster. I bought 48 rolls for £36 and it was only when the enormous box arrived that I realised just how much toilet paper that actually is. It looks like a funky Pop Art installation in my bathroom, which I think, frankly, is another reason we should all invest in it. As well as being plastic-free, Who gives a crap also donate 50% of their profits to building toilets in places where they're needed.

 

Who Gives a Crap loo roll comes in an array of delightful colours. 

The maths

Now for some maths (correct me if this is wrong!). If I bought plastic-wrapped packs of nine loo rolls each time, instead of a cardboard box of 48, I would throw away roughly five or six of those plastic wrappers over the course of a year. If there are four of you in your house, that quickly becomes 24 plastic wrappers a year. And over three years, that becomes 72 plastic wrappers in the bin that will probably end up in the ocean. 

That's the thing with this stuff, it seems small-fry when you only see the changes happen within your own home. But once you start multiplying these good habits by the number of people making the changes, and then multiply that by the amount of time that these good habits continue, you do start to see the difference.