The summer is finally here and with it comes Plastic Free July, an Australia-based movement and registered charity gone global. Particularly in a packaging-centric, COVID-19, online shopping era, Plastic Free July could not be more timely. Their vision is to create personal engagement and consumer refusal of plastics for the month of July.
July is almost coming to an end, but there are still ways to start now. The challenge to go plastic-free doesn’t stop. Product creators outside the movement have risen to the plastic-free challenge 365 days a year. From paper packaged soaps to biodegradable food wrappers, these five products find creative ways to eliminate plastic use:
Plastic & Polymer Free Threads by Kotn
Plenty of fashion houses from big names to fashion startups are changing their packaging and design materials to go natural. One Canadian brand, Kotn, steps it up and goes plastic-free down to the thread.
Kotn is a B Corp Certified brand, meaning they are as committed to their values of being environmentally and socially responsible as they are to turning a profit. These values are built into the structure of the company itself.
In Portugal and Egypt, Kotn partners with family-run cotton farms to fair trade for sustainable Egyptian cotton and Portuguese Better Cotton Initiative certified high-quality cotton. In honour of the cotton industry and the lands it comes from, Kotn innovates its use of all-natural fibres. Using unique weaving and sewing techniques, the natural fibres allow for stretch and maintain design while avoiding synthetic polymers as much as possible.
With every purchase of a Kotn product, rural Egyptian communities receive funding for schools, while you receive a beautiful natural fibre garment packaged in recycled mailers with recyclable tissue.
Laundry Detergent Strips by Tru Earth
Tru Earth is a Canadian brand advocating for environmentally responsible practices even in your laundry room. Ryan McKenzie, one of Tru Earth’s founders, found inspiration after viewing the level of plastic in children’s toys and tv programming. So, Ryan and his partners created a sustainable laundry detergent that came in strips.
Tru Earth’s eco-strip laundry detergent eliminates the use of gallons upon gallons of fresh water in liquid laundry detergent production. But, Tru Earth doesn’t stop there. Reinventing laundry detergent in solid form, Tru Earth replaces plastic packaging with biodegradable paper.
This eliminates the need for ineliminable plastic laundry bottles used in liquid detergent and 94% of emissions that come with transporting the large bottles that add up in space and weight.
Beeswax Food Wrappers by Nature Bee Beeswax Wraps
Single-use plastics in the food industry are arguably the highest contributors to plastic waste and are notoriously hard to avoid. From hard plastic Tupperware to Ziplocs and cling wrap, saving and packaging food has become reliant on plastics. Beeswax wraps provide a solution that is reusable and environmentally friendly in more ways than one.
Nature Bee Beeswax Wraps is a women-run, Canadian company that creates beautiful beeswax wraps in all sorts of fun colours and patterns. Their wraps can replace common plastic cling wrap/saran wrap for up to one year if cared for properly. They will stretch, stick, wrap, and waterproof as well as household cling wrap around just about any container.
Made of 100% cotton, jojoba oil, and sustainably sourced beeswax, their products are 100% biodegradable, ecofriendly, and smell like honey. Nature Bee is even running time-limited Plastic-Free July sales on bundles of their signature beeswax wraps.
Shampoo bars by VIORI
Shampoo bars are popping up everywhere and for good reason. Aside from being on-trend with all kinds of aesthetics, shampoo bars eliminate the need for single-use plastic bottles for these everyday hair care products. VIORI, a shampoo bar retailer, takes the ecological virtue of the shampoo bar to the next level.
They are not only environmentally conscious but socially responsible to the cultures they work with. VIORI embodies respectful business practices by partnering with the Red Yao tribe of Longsheng province in China. VIORI’s partnership with the Red Yao tribe has produced completely plastic-free, sulfate-free, paraben-free, phthalate-free, and ethically sourced business practices.
The agricultural Red Yao tribe uses traditional, sustainable practices of harvesting rice – the main ingredient in Viori’s soap bars. All raw resources are purchased at 100% mark up so the women of the Red Yao tribe are partners in the business and their values and respect of the land are fully protected. 5% of profit goes back into the economic and ecological support of the Red Yao tribe and their homeland. From the traditional mooncake shape of their products to the paper packaging and ecologically responsible production, Viori shampoo and conditioner bars provide a beautiful, easy way to go plastic-free.
Tablet Household Cleaners by Blueland
While TruEarth and Viori have bathrooms and laundry rooms covered, going plastic-free is holistic – a full-house, complete lifestyle. BCorp certified company Blueland is here to fill the gap. Built on the ideals of reusing and refilling, Blueland has already saved 1,924,880,000 plastic bottles and almost 11 million square feet of plastic waste from entering our environment.
Blueland does this by producing tablets that are simply dropped in water and dissolved into everyday household cleaners. They produce handsoaps, dish soap, laundry detergent, all-purpose cleaning sprays, bathroom cleaning sprays, mirror sprays and more. They even retail biodegradable sponges made from all-natural ingredients to help you reduce your plastic impact. Thanks to paper packaging and small tablet sizes, Blueland products cost less to produce and to buy. They even have convenient kits complete with their sustainable glass spray bottles and a full range of tablets to help you start going plastic-free.
The Plastic Free July community offers even more tips, tools, and resources when you sign up for the challenge. Even on the signup form, they encourage whatever commitment you can make. Whether it be for one day, all of July, or from now on, with these five brands, it’s never too late to go plastic-free.
This article contains an affiliate link(s). Learn more.
