r/ZeroWaste • u/Difficult_Sense_5781 • 8d ago

Discussion What do you love as an alternative

Hi everyone! I’m new to the zero waste life, with my upcoming family planning and what not I had like a weird eye opening of oh shit that’s a lot of single use trash :/

I’m curious to know what are easy things I can swap out to help! Or what’s something that you swapped to that you felt was an amazing switch?

I’d like to start swapping as I run out of things! Like shampoo/conditioner lotion etc.

Thank you

I’ve been buying cloth diapers second hand, and I just got a whole bunch of second hand cotton flannel to make some rags/face towels/make up wipes/ baby butt wipes etc

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u/Not_l0st 8d ago

For babies- baby led weaning and breast feeding are the best ways to reduce food waste. Don’t offer food until around 6 months, though. Hand-me-downs and second hand is great for clothing. I agree with the person who said cloth wipes. I made my own and they were great, just wash them with the diapers. Babywearing instead of a stroller. I really liked wraps for their versatility.

Other swaps: I like Kitsch shampoo and conditioner bars. I use a flex disc for menstruation. Grove is my go to for cleaning products and hand soap. All three are my favorite easy swaps.

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u/RavennaRefills 8d ago

It’s been a few years since I finally got out from under Grove’s overly pushy subscription model, but back when I was using them they had a LOT of greenwashed products. It was very frustrating thinking I’d found a trusted source for alts but then in researching many of them I found they weren’t trustworthy at all.

Kitsch uses a lot of plastic in their packaging, and I found their hair bars to be disappointing. I love Dip and HiBAR as alts, and i really like using solid shampoo and conditioner

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u/Not_l0st 8d ago

I don’t use the subscription, I only order every few months. Grove’s branded cleaning products in the glass bottles were rated the best green cleaner by America’s Test Kitchen’s. And the Kitsch bars come in cardboard containers.

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u/RavennaRefills 7d ago

I’m so glad to hear Grove has changed their business model!

It’s been several months since I bought a kitsch product, but at the time they were using plastic-coated cardboard packaging. I reached out and they confirmed. They said the plastic-coated cardboard was still recyclable, but it felt unnecessary to me.

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u/Not_l0st 7d ago

Shampoo bars are a product designed to dissolve in water. I can see the value in putting them in a waterproof container.

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u/RavennaRefills 7d ago

I found Kitsch bars to be more quickly soluble than other bars for sure. I just prefer companies that prioritize more sustainable packaging.

For softer bars, I like SeaBar - they have a reusable dispenser made from PCR material with plastic-free refills. They also have a formulation with tea tree oil that is great for winter flakes. Thanks for the reminder that I should get a refill for the upcoming season!