Top 5 Plastic Free Swaps for Everyday Life

July 13, 2022By Kara Reich

Let's be realistic, going completely plastic free is nearly impossible but making better choices to avoid plastics where you can is a great start. I’m sharing my top 5 plastic free swaps for items you use everyday. Oh by the way, I don’t get any commissions for sharing products. Honestly, I love them that much I just want to pass on the swaps to you.

Ditch the Jugs

Who else wonders how laundry seems to pile up? With 2 adults and 2 kids in sports, we end up doing 4 loads of laundry a week. That adds up to a lot of the heavy rarely recycled jugs of detergent.

Did you know that the average laundry detergent is 80% water? Two years ago we switched to Tru Earth laundry strips. They’re strips of concentrated detergent that you toss into your washer. Easy Peasy! No plastic! No more lugging heavy bottles around. And they work very well to clean clothes. I’d call that a win.

Say bye to Aerosol

Growing up in the 80s, I was an Aquanet girl. For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, it was a hairspray in a can that left a cloud hovering all around me (cough cough). Then came dry shampoo also in an aerosol can that my sister turned me on too years ago.

After realizing breathing in all those fumes and knowing those cans are not great for the environment or my health, I knew I had to create a dry shampoo that worked but was super easy to use and didn’t leave me coughing every time I used it. At last..Save the Do Dry Shampoo a powdered, super blendable holy grail packaged in compostable and recyclable cardboard (zero waste) tube was born! Have you tried it?

Me Time Botanicals Zero Waste Lip Balm Plastic Free Compostable Lip balm

Another Zero Waste Swap

I think I have a dozen tubes randomly living in my car, purse, desk, bathroom, nightstand, my jacket because I can’t go anywhere without my lip balm. Well, as you know, my lip balm came in a plastic tube. And let’s be honest, we all throw away the tube once we’ve gotten every last bit out of it.

So..what’s a girl to do? FINALLY, I was able to swap out packaging to a cardboard tube. HOORRAY! So you can have your lip balm and know it’s zero waste.

Your Teeth Need Love Too

How many tubes of toothpaste have you tossed in your lifetime? Or when the tube is almost empty but you know there’s a lot of product still in that darn tube but you can’t get to it so you cut off the top to scrape it clean. Been there!

Enter Bite, little bits of toothpaste that comes in a jar that you pop in your mouth, chew up, and start brushing with a wet toothbrush. Voila. No more tossing toothpaste tubes in the trash. I made the swap a couple years ago and I won’t go back. Yes, it is an adjustment but they do work (my dentist even said so). They even have bamboo brushes for one stop shopping.

Love Lotion but not the packaging?

Same! If love transforming dry, scaly, cracked hands, feet, and bod to super soft, smooth, and mega moisturized skin but not a fan of trying to get all the product out of a lotion bottle, I got you too.

Switching to a hand and body cream or balm in a jar or a body oil is a great swap.