Green Swaps

A while back, I decided to make a 'green swap' each month, and see how we liked it.  I tried bees wax wraps, and didn't get on with them terribly well. I am so not a fan of the smell of honey or bees wax, and the wraps simply didn't smell good to me. 

The Beloved made a compost bin for me in the summer. This has lead to a significant reduction in our household waste. It's now full, and he made another one. Whilst the contents of the first bin break down, I'll be adding to the second bin. 

Also in the summer, the Elder Offspring sent me a shampoo bar from Lush. I made the switch almost immediately. Currently we are using 'Jason and the Argon Oil' bars. When my supplies of conditioner started dwindling, a local shop started a re-fill service. We now have conditioner from them. The Beloved also uses their bodywash. I use some homemade soaps in a shower puff, and like that better. The soaps have also replaced the liquid soaps by the sinks.

Before Christmas, I increased my supply of fabric bags: this cut down hugely on wrapping paper. 

January was for 'no single-use plastic bottles'. It was a difficult challenge, but I managed it. Although, I could be seen in the supermarket gently flicking bottles to check if they were plastic. Two multiple-use bottles were bought to use with Top Banana's re-fill service.  The only BBQ sauce I could find in glass contained Jimmy Bean whisky. The sauce is just about okay, but when it has been used up, I will buy Heinz BBQ sauce in plastic. The taste is so superior. Thankfully, I don't use sauce frequently at all. It might amount to 6 bottles a year, and all of them will be recycled. The others are still using single-use plastic bottles at time, but there has been a significant reduction in them.

February's swap is  soap nuts for laundry powder. This is going really well. I've been really pleased.

The green swap for March is sitting in the pantry, white vinegar with citrus oil. The peel from citrus fruits was placed in a clip-top jar, and then covered with white vinegar. It's then left in the dark for 4-6 weeks, and then vinegar strained into a spray bottle. It's a food grade product (vinegar, orange and lemon), and can be safely used around the home for all sorts of cleaning. I'll see how it goes when I strain the vinegar on the 1st of March.

The idea was one green swap per month. This is to allow me the chance to evaluate the swap, and see if we want to keep it. It also means the swap gets a chance to become the new normal. So far, it's working well.