Plastic-Free Bathroom Swaps: A Guide to Sustainability

Guest blog by Emma Erskine, The Greener Guru

When you sit down and look around your bathroom, how many single-use plastic bottles or packets do you see? Between the shampoos, body lotions, shower gels, and even cleaning products, the bathroom can be a hive of plastic that we rarely consider. In fact, while we recycle up to 90% of our kitchen packaging, less than 50% of our bathroom plastic packaging gets recycled. And it has to go somewhere, whether to landfill, incinerated, or our oceans. The good news is that we can make easy swaps to reduce plastic waste.

Over the years, I have been really pleased with how much plastic can easily be removed from the home, so I will hit you with 5 easy and effective sustainable swaps for a zero-waste bathroom, many of which you can find right here at Authentic House!

Make the swap to shampoo bars

When one small bar is the equivalent of over 500ml of liquid shampoo, it's easy to see how solid shampoo is an easy sustainable alternative to plastic shampoo bottles. Once upon a time, it was hard to find a shampoo bar and even harder to find one that washed your hair well! Not now. It's pretty easy to pick a bar up on the high street. However, be aware that not all will be cruelty-free. Some use harsh ingredients, so I strongly recommend checking out the range here at Authentic House, as you can guarantee the ethics and natural ingredients are on par. My top tip is to pick a bar that meets the effects you need rather than choosing by smell. There is no point opting for a beautiful citrus smell if you already have dry hair, and the bar is intended for oily scalps.

Zero-waste soap bars

I am a sucker for a bar of soap. Creamy natural soap bars to keep hands clean and soft, harder soaps that give a squeaky clean feel and ones that smell so good they spark instant joy, they all have a place in my home. A bar of soap by the bathroom sink is becoming more common, but have you ever thought of putting a bar into your shower? Team a soap bar with a soap saver, and you can wash, buff and exfoliate your skin gently all in one go which means no more plastic shower puffs and sponges either.

Shaving with a safety razor

When I made the switch to a safety razor, I remember sitting in the bath, playing a YouTube tutorial to be sure I was using it correctly. I laugh now because it wasn't hard to use, but I am sure many people still feel the same anxiety I did then, and it slows you down from making this switch. This eco swap is a great way to save money - mine has saved me many pounds over the last 3 years. The only thing you replace is the blades which are super cheap compared to the replacement heads you might buy for disposables. Replacement blades work out at around 11p each. Recycling your razors can be challenging, but storing used razors in a closed aluminium jar is an easy way to do this safely. You can safely add the jar to your recycling when it's full.

Toilet roll

This isn't a change we generally clock as saving much plastic. Still, when you sit and think about how many rolls the average home uses each year, you can see how all that plastic adds up. Who Gives A Crap is probably the best-known green swap for toilet paper and ships direct to your door with each roll double-rolled and wrapped in paper. However, brands like Naked Sprout give them a run for their money and come unbleached. This means the paper won't be white, but it is another win for reducing environmental impact. With both brands coming in cardboard, you can recycle or even compost the packaging.

Choose cleaning refill drops

Did you know that when you buy a bottle of cleaning spray, it's mostly water weight? The active ingredients are only a tiny part of the cleaning liquid. Really, there is no need to keep buying plastic bottle after plastic bottle filled with water. You can buy one of these pods for the same price, drop it into your empty glass bottle, and add warm water to dilute and refill the same bottle. This means cleaning your bathroom stays the same for us, but it's miles better for the planet.

 Our guest blog is written by Emmy, aka The Greener Guru. She's a green-living mum of 3 and a purpose-driven blogger trying to demystify sustainable living. Find useful tips on her blog or chat about all things eco-living on Instagram @thegreenerguru.

What are the benefits of going plastic-free in the bathroom?

Going plastic-free in the bathroom has several benefits. It reduces plastic waste and its negative impact on the environment, helps protect marine life, reduces exposure to harmful chemicals found in plastic products, and promotes a more sustainable and eco-friendly lifestyle. In this guide, we share 5 plastic-free bathroom swaps to help you get started.