Move towards Zero to Minimal Waste

"Green" cleaning and natural personal- care

Let’s take a look into the waste we produce from our cleaning products and personal care products.

Every month everybody uses copious amounts of products in the kitchen, the bathroom and general household, and that all come in some form of packaging.

So while many of us may make great efforts to separate our waste for recycling, the real answer is to cut down on the packaging used in our purchases wherever we can.

Recycling is good but is not a sustainable solution in the long run without making other changes too.

While you are reducing waste in this way, you can be saving money and feel empowered.

DIY products

By making your own products you will know exactly what goes into them. You can feel confident to use them and your mind will be at ease knowing that there are no harsh chemical ingredients that can be harmful to you or your family.

Yes, the thought of it does sound overwhelming. I thought I could never do that but I was wrong. There are so many super simple recipes out there that will have you making natural DIY cleaning and personal-care products in no time at all.

By using natural, herbal and essential oil ingredients, you ensure you keep the use of chemicals down to a minimum – or nothing at all – and you’re suddenly rid of all those pesky toiletries bottles! A major zero-waste hack!

You will feel confident that you know exactly what is in the products that you are using and that it is safe for your health and well-being and that of your family.

Here are my top Zero-waste hacks for the home:

ZERO-WASTE KITCHEN HOT TIPS

1. Buy or save a collection of re-usable glass bottles, spray bottles and jars. They are essential when reducing waste. Buy and store bulk dried foods (pulses, grains, etc),

2. Preserve your cleaning products, soap-nut concentrates etc. in these reusable jars. (I use tomato sauce glass jars and condiment jars)

3. Make your own soap-nut concentrate for an all-purpose cleaner, floor detergent and dishwashing liquid.

4. Swap synthetic cleaning sponges with natural biodegradable cleaning cloths or sponges

5. Eliminate plastic food wrap and replace with beeswax food wraps or use glass storage containers and lids.

6. Avoid all plastic bags and single-use packaging. Buy some re-usable, washable bags or other containers to take shopping with you, in which to buy fruit, vegetables, loose nuts, seeds, pulses and such like.

   See Resources

ZERO-WASTE CLEANING

There are so many better greener ways to clean than by using detergents. If a product has an unpronounceable ingredient then it is best discarded!

If you convert to "green-living" you can say goodbye to the "detergent-aisles" in the supermarket and all the plastic bottles that take up so much cupboard space.

The other great advantage is that living a "green life" costs a lot less money!

Ingredients that you will need for making your cleaning products are minimal.

Vinegar (white and apple cider)

Bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

Castile soap

Soap-nuts or pure soap flakes.

Essential oils can be added too and are super, not only for their therapeutic benefits but also for their perfume.

Some Green Cleaning Recipes

1. Floor Detergent for tiles: In a bucket, mix soap-nut concentrate, or Castile soap or some pure soap flakes, and optionally a few drops of essential oils of tea-tree and/or lemon or lavender. Top up with hot water.

2. Wooden Floor Detergent: In a bucket, mix soap nut concentrate, soap flakes or Castile soap together with half a cup of apple cider vinegar, a few drops of cinnamon and/or wild orange essential oil, and top up with hot water.

3. Multi-purpose Spray for surfaces: Add one-quarter volume of white vinegar to three-quarters of the volume of water in a spray bottle. Add a few drops of essential oil of tea-tree and/or lemon and/or wild orange.

4. Wood Polish: Mix a quarter of a cup of olive oil with a quarter of a cup of vinegar plus 10 drops of your favourite essential oil. Try lemon, orange or lavender.

5. Dishwashing: 2 cups of liquid Castile soap or soap nut concentrate, 20 drops lime essential oil, 10 drops lemon essential oil or your own favourite.

You can find many more DIY recipes at Dr Josh Axe's website - https://draxe.com/beauty/castile-soap/

https://draxe.com/beauty-category/cleaning/

ZERO WASTE PERSONAL CARE

1. Clean your face with re-useable cotton and/or bamboo pads and use washable menstrual and incontinence pads

   https://lunapads.com/

   https://www.earthwisegirlsuk.co.uk/reusable-sanitary-towels-c-1.html

2. Swap disposable razors for lifetime use razors

3. Replace plastic toothbrush with bamboo toothbrushes that have natural bristles. They can be sterilised periodically for extended use.

Using Essential Oils for Cleaning & Personal Care

Lemon, tea-tree or peppermint essential oils are ideal to be added to a cleaning spray, like using essential oil of lavender to a fabric spray, or rose essential oil in a face mask. Integrating essential oils into a daily routine can make a huge difference in your usage and money spent on shop-bought cleaning and personal care products.

The initial cost of essential oils may seem exorbitant, but when you think how much money you will save on cleaning products and personal care products and how "going green" can be so much kinder to your health, then it is a no-brainer.

Furthermore using essential oils in your daily products has indirect therapeutic effects on the body that are non-toxic and stimulating.

DIY Recipes for personal care

Dry Shampoo

This is such an easy product to make. Just thoroughly mix a few drops of your choice of essential oil into half a cup of arrowroot powder. My personal favourites are citrusy and floral notes, like lemon, wild orange, lavender and rose.

The powder can be tinted with organic cocoa and/or nutmeg powder and then it is multi-purposed as it can be used as loose face-powder.

Tooth-powder or paste

Tooth-powder is very simply made by blending a few drops of essential oil of peppermint or tea-tree into food-grade clay powder. To use, the tooth-brush is moistened and dipped in the powder and used as normal to brush the teeth.

You can also make tooth-paste by blending food-grade powdered clay or bicarbonate of soda with coconut oil and your preferred essential oil. This can be stored in a small jar. Coconut oil has the added advantage of antibacterial properties.

Reasons to make your own toothpaste

An advantage of not using bought tooth-paste (apart from the money saved) is that the majority contain additives such as -

1. Fluoride - is connected to strengthening teeth (but definitely not in this form, studies have shown). Fluoride may, however, inhibit thyroid function by blocking the points where the essential amounts of iodine can access the thyroid for correct thyroid activity.

2. Triclosan - designed to fight plaque and gingivitis but is a disruptor of hormones.

3. Sodium lauryl sulphate - for its foaming action. It is linked to skin irritation and painful canker sores.

4. Aspartame - Aspartame, an artificial sweetener, is metabolized inside your body into both wood alcohol (a poison) and formaldehyde. It's been linked to birth defects, cancers, brain tumours and weight gain.

5. Preservatives - including DMDM hydantoin, diazolidinyl urea, imidazolidinyl, polyoxymethylene urea, quaternium 15, sodium hydroxymethylglycinate, 2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol (bromopol), 5-bromo-5-nitro1,3 dioxane (bronidox), methenamine, glyoxal. parabens. These all have unhealthy effects so numerous I will not start to list them!

6. Carageenan - According to a report, food-grade carrageenan is associated with intestinal inflammation that can lead to cancer, even in small doses. Two decades' worth of independent research has also linked it to:

   • Increased free radical formation

   • Inflammation (a precursor to cancer)

   • Disrupted insulin metabolism

   • Insulin resistance

   • Glucose intolerance

7. Propylene glycol is also used in antifreeze and paints. Studies have linked propylene glycol to skin, eye and lung irritation, as well as organ system toxicity.

8. DEA (Di-ethanolamine) - a foaming agent but also a hormone disruptor.

9. Micro-beads - which get trapped between teeth and under the gums. This makes a gap for food debris to enter and cause tooth decay.

10. GMOs like citric acid, citrates, xanthum gum, xylitol and sorbitol

11. Glycerine- Although glycerine is not toxic, when applied to the surface of teeth it is thought to leave a residue that is hard to remove. You might have to rinse your mouth two to three dozen times to be able to remove it.

    It is thought that the microfilm layer, that glycerine forms, prevents the absorption of the essential minerals, calcium and phosphorus, that should occur normally in the remineralisation process. This could accelerate tooth decay and other dental problems.

     

There are so many beautiful recipes for personal care and once you have your basic ingredients I feel sure you will get hooked on making your own personalised cosmetics and cleaning products. You can tweak your aromas to suit your personal taste.

Your future health and well-being and that of your family, but also the Earth, will thank you for it.

Resources

For more personal care DIY recipes go to https://draxe.com/beauty/

For all sorts of washable pads, soap-nuts etc

UK - https://www.earthwisegirlsuk.co.

North America - https://lunapads.com/

Washable vegetable storage bags (also useful when travelling, keeping together socks and other small items in the laundry)-

Re-usable vegetable bags USA

Re-usable vegetable bags UK