how to reduce your plastic waste

I have been asked by some friends about what we do as a household to reduce the use of plastics and I thought it might be helpful to share them below:

• Resusable bags such as Lil Eco wet bags (sorry, couldn’t help myself)
• Cloth nappies and wipes. Some popular Australian brands are Bottoms Up Junior, Econaps and Designer Bums. If you would like to support WAHM (Work At Home Mum/Maker) brands like ours, you may like Hey Penny Designs or Bizzy Little Beans
• Cloth pads / period undies / menstrual cups 
• Metal straws / reusable cups for drinks out
• Re-useable pouches for snacks such as Stasher
• Getting refills at the store instead of buying a new bottle. We have been refilling our Dr Bronner’s liquid soap at Flora and Fauna
• Silicon lids for leftovers instead of cling wrap
• Recently started using shampoo bars instead of bottled shampoo which reduces the need for packaging

Plastic Recycling

• There may be times where the occasional plastic straw or coffee cup ends up in your hand. Don’t panic, you can recycle them at participating Seven Eleven outlets. I’ve seen some cafes offering cup recycling too.
• Collect soft plastic packaging and take them to Coles/Wollies to be recycled by Redcycle
• Send plastic beauty/skincare packaging to Flora and Fauna to be recycled by TerraCycle 
• Not plastic related but if you have unwanted clothes to get rid of, Manrags will take them off your hands.

If you want to reduce your waste, my tip is to start small. Change one or two behaviours to begin with and then add more gradually. I think we are creatures of convenience and if we try to do a lot at once, it may be too overwhelming and we end up giving up all together.

Thanks for reading

Lil 

P.s Share your eco tricks in the comments!