If you’re trying to make more sustainable choices in the New Year, you’ve come to the right place! I’ve done a fairly extensive amount of reading about various environmentally friendly products. In this post, I will take you through all of the eco-friendly solutions that our family has found over the years. Not only are these choices better for the environment, they should be better for your health as well.
A word of warning: this post is chock full of shameless self-promotion (because our farm makes some awesome sustainable products) and affiliate links (so our family can keep buying the things that we love). With that said, let’s get to it!
Body wash in plastic bottles = Bar soap with a compostable label
Of course, the first thing I’m going to talk about is our goat’s milk bar soap. We started making it in 2018, and I don’t think we’ve used body wash since. Our soaps are made with completely natural ingredients, including milk from our own goats. We use our bar soaps for our hands, faces, and bodies. We also make a foaming liquid hand soap for those who prefer that option.
Shampoo & conditioner in plastic bottles = Shampoo & conditioner bars
We love shampoo bars! We often get asked why we don’t make them ourselves, since we make soap. The short answer is that soaps and shampoo bars are not all that similar. Soaps have an alkaline pH, while hair care products should be slightly acidic. I have tried making shampoo in the past, and I wasn’t happy with the results, so instead I buy Suds & Eco shampoo and conditioner bars through Zero Waste Store. (The peppermint is our favorite scent!) The shampoo bar does contain sodium coco sulfate, which is technically a synthetic ingredient, but since it is derived from pure coconut oil, I feel safe using it.
Clay cat litter = Compostable pine cat litter
We compost manure from the goats, pigs, chickens, etc. that we raise here on the farm, so I thought: why not compost the “manure” from our house cat? Clay cat litters cannot be composted because they are inorganic, but pine pellets are 100% compostable (in large scale composting systems like our community composting program that have a pathogen kill step). We have been using Arm & Hammer Feline Pine for about 6 months now and we’re very happy with it; the fragrance of the pine is sufficient to mask most odors. Plus, it’s not dusty at all, which is great for our kitty’s respiratory health.
Toothpaste in plastic tubes = Toothpaste tablets
My husband and I both use Unpaste toothpaste tablets and we are pretty happy with them. We have tried other brands of toothpaste tablets in the past, but we settled on this one because it has a fluoridated option. Toothpaste tablets aren’t quite as user friendly as more traditional toothpaste (you have to chew them up before you can begin brushing), but the compostable packaging and more natural ingredients make this trade off worth it for us.
Plastic toothbrush = Bamboo toothbrush
We chose to start using bamboo toothbrushes from Bite because they were one of the only brands I found that offered a completely biodegradable toothbrush. Some of the other brands I looked at had metal staples holding the bristles in place, making them uncompostable. I like that the bristles are made from castor bean oil, so we’re not getting those microplastics in our mouths twice a day. My only complaint is that they don’t offer smaller toothbrushes for kids.
Mouthwash in a plastic bottle = Mouthwash tablets
These mouthwash tablets are very similar to the toothpaste tablets we buy, just a little crunchier in texture. I’ll be honest, they’re not my favorite thing to use, but my mouth feels super fresh afterwards. They contain nano-hydroxyapatite, a fluoride alternative which helps to prevent cavities.
Laundry detergent in plastic jugs = Laundry soap in reusable glass jars
We’ve been using our own laundry soap exclusively for going on five years. Initially, we started making it as a way to use “ugly” bars of our goat’s milk soap, but it has become so popular that we’re now pulling “perfect” bars out of inventory to grate them up! It’s made out of shredded bar soap, washing soda, borax, and baking soda. We package it in quart Mason jars (which can be reused infinitely), or we offer a bulk compostable bag-in-box option.
Dryer = Clothesline
According to EnergyStar.gov, clothes dryers account for 6% of total residential electricity consumption in the United States. Cutting back on the amount of energy used to clean our clothes is helpful not only to the environment, but to us, as we notice a pretty significant decrease in our power bill during the months that we are not running our dryer. I tend to wash clothes early in the morning, so that by the time I’m done milking the goats they are ready to come out and spend the day in the sun.
Conventionally raised meats = Pasture raised meats
I could write an entire blog post about the benefits of pasture raised meats, but I’ll try to keep this short and sweet: pasture raised meats are more sustainable than conventionally produced meats because there is significantly less fuel expended per pound of product. Pasture raised animals harvest much of their own feed by grazing, whereas animals raised in confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) rely on equipment to plant, spray, harvest, process, store, and deliver feed to them. We raise all of our chicken, turkey, pork, and goat on pasture (during the grazing season, that is).
Imported produce = Local produce
Locally produced fruits and vegetables tend to be more environmentally sustainable than imported fruits and vegetables because the locally produced options travel fewer miles to reach their final destination. This distance is commonly referred to as “food miles”, and is one metric by which the carbon footprint of what we eat can be measured. During the growing season, most of the produce that we eat comes from our garden, or from other local farmers that we see at the farmers’ market. (We provide some fresh produce to our community via our farmstand.) We try to preserve as much local food as possible by freezing or canning it, and we attempt to eat what’s in season, although we do still purchase bananas and other tropical fruits at the grocery store from time to time.
Plastic servingware = Compostable servingware
Not all paper products are compostable! Many plates and cups are coated with wax or plastic which can contain harmful chemicals (think PFAs). This is especially concerning if the servingware is going to be used to reheat food in the microwave. Repurpose is the brand that we use for all of our Breakfast on the Farm supplies. All of their products are made from plant based materials and are BPI certified compostable.
Dumpster = Textile recycling service
As farmers, we tend to be pretty hard on our clothes, so much so that there probably isn’t a thrift shop in the word that would accept them as a donation by the time we’re through with them. Instead of throwing our old clothes away, we send them to Retold Recycling. Retold is a domestic textile recycling service. They send us a bag with a prepaid shipping label, and we stuff it full of old clothes and send it back to them. Yes, the bags cost money, but it’s not much and it’s well worth it to us to know that our old clothes aren’t being shipped overseas to become litter on a beach somewhere.
Disposable plastic food storage bags = Silicone food storage bags
Even though they’re pretty pricey, I swear by these Stasher bags. Instead of wasting money on plastic storage bags that just get thrown away, I chose to invest in a set of super high quality food grade silicone bags. They have a flat bottom, so they stand up on their own, which makes them easier to fill, and they are dishwasher safe.
Trash can = Compost bin
We waste very little food in our household, probably because we know how much works goes into producing it. Rather than throwing away what we don’t eat, we compost it. Everything from vegetable peels to egg shells to leftover pasta to chicken carcasses goes into our compost bin. We are fortunate in that we have the space and ability to compost. For those who are not able to compost at home for any reason, we offer a free community composting program.
Synthetic dishwasher pods = Biodegradable dishwasher pods
We’ve use the unscented Dropps dishwasher pods for quite a while. I like that they are packaged in cardboard, rather than in plastic, and that they are 81% USDA Certified Biobased. They do a good job of cleaning our dishes, and we always have them on hand because they offer a subscription option, which is super convenient!
Plastic sponges = Plant based sponges
We ditched plastic sponges last year for these wood pulp sponges, and they’re pretty much exactly the same. The only difference is that when they’ve reached the end of their useful life, we can toss them in the compost bin instead of in the trash can.
Plastic scrub brush = Bamboo scrub brush
We use scrub brushes for all kinds of things around the farm and in the house. We’ve been enjoying these bamboo brushes from Zero Waste Store. The bristles are made of yucca and agave fibers, so the entire thing is compostable. Thus far, they’ve proven to be quite durable. I don’t think that we’ve had to compost any of them yet.
What are some of your favorite eco-friendly solutions? We’d love to try them! Leave a comment below with your recommendations.
This post contains affiliate links. When you click on an affiliate link and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission on that purchase, at no additional cost to you. Many of the images in this post were borrowed from other websites.