As a generation that has a renewed interest in acting for the best
interests of the environment, encompassing sustainability into our everyday
lives is the ultimate end goal. However, on a budget, and a timetable, and
in the first few independent years many of us experience, knowing where to
begin in living alone is a massive issue, let alone how to do it
sustainably.
It doesn’t have to be impossible though. There are several brands and
websites that allow you to integrate sustainability into your everyday life
without detracting from your lifestyle, which I’ve put into a handy guide
for you:
Shops:
The Wild Tree Shop
is a great example of sustainability integrated with shopping. ‘We offer
reasonably priced, yet contemporary and stylish alternative to everyday
items,’ states the website, which sells plastic free products such as make
up removers, shopping bags, straws, cups, toothbrushes, lunch boxes, and
water bottles.
The Kind Shop
is another good shop, selling UK products that are organic, vegan,
sustainable and plastic free. These included skincare and beauty but also
food and chocolate, which can be found here:
https://www.thekindstoreonline.co.uk/
. Another cool thing The Kind Shop offer is
The Kind Box
which allows customers to choose from gift boxes, or create their own with
a variety of sustainable products which can be personalised with a card and
sent to a lucky recipient of up to 8 cool items.
OrganiCup
is a greener alternative menstrual products that aims to reduce the 200,000
tonnes of waste in packaging and wrapping produced per year by replacing it
with 1 reusable cup that can be used for as long as years. Made of ‘100%
medical grade silicone,’ as an available mineral on the planet, even the
packaging avoids waste, being made of recyclable carton with instructions
printed directly on these to prevent extra waste. So far over 369 million
disposal period products have been avoided, and the company is also
involved in initiatives with 600 England schools.
PHB Ethical Beauty
: is home of 100% organic, natural, vegan and cruelty free products
according to their website, which advertises that 20% of their profits go
to Charity. They also have a specific section of products for vegan,
cruelty and palm oil free makeup too!
BYO/Bring Your Own:
BYO is a shop in London, Tooting Market that offer the local citizens a way
to shop with less packaging and food waste. The shop operates with 4 simple
steps: bring your own jar/container etc; weigh it; fill it with whatever
you wish to buy; then pay based on what you have brought. There are several
other similar shops throughout the whole country, and a list of over 100
Zero Waste shops and where they are can be found
here
: so you can find a shop near you!
Clothes:
Lucy and Yak
is a fashion brand with a distinct look and sustainability ethos. With an
emphasis on traceability, they incorporate ‘fully traceable cotton,’
currently in 2 of their dungarees, as an addition to the other
certifications they enact on their clothing to make sure it is
environmentally and socially responsible. Each tailor sews a number into
the dungarees produced by Lucy and Yak which can then be traced back on the
website
to see exactly who made your clothes. And if products aren’t up to
standard, for example a button that popped off or a top that comes out a
bit smaller than it was supposed to be made, you can also head to the
company Depop page where
these products are sold with a full description of why they were declared
faulty so you can still procure them.
Rapanui
Clothing is another brand, with a focus on reducing the waste from over
production of clothes. Using natural materials as opposed to plastic, they
make products as they’re ordered from the customer, using
renewable energy to power the production as well. After production, all
products are printed and sent from the UK in plastic free packaging that’s
actually designed to be coloured in by the lucky customer. At the end of
use, when your products are worn out, you can send them back and the
materials are recycled back into new products as they’re ordered.
Wearth London
, specialising in eco-friendly produce, has a different approach to
shopping sustainably where they amalgamate other smaller sustainable
businesses into their platform. Currently with over 250 UK brands involved,
they are an online shop that specialise in ‘environmentally friendly and
ethical shopping,’ which are vegan and cruelty free.
Websites:
https://cookingonabootstrap.com/
is an example of a great sustainable website for reducing food waste. By
Jack Monroe and described as ‘the #1 budget recipe website,’ the link will
take you to recipes for soups, lentils, pasta, rice and even microwave
meals from as little as 34p per portion meals which incorporate ingredients
you’d specifically have in the back of the cupboard, such as ‘Microwave
Marmite Mac n Cheese,
https://toogoodtogo.org/en
is ‘the #1 anti-food waste app,’ on the net. With 44.4 million users so
far, resulting in a saving of 91.2 million meals saved since 2016, the app
connects the user and their house to shops/restaurants that have food that
hasn’t sold. Their website also has a blog on how to reduce food waste from
several angles, including ugly produce, understanding expiration dates and
storing food in the best ways.
The Olio App
, is similar to Too Good To Go, but allows users to snap their own photos
and set pickup destinations to share with others around them, and does not
limit to only food. Also allowed via the Olio app are handmade crafts
(these have to meet certain standards to be sold), plants, cosmetics,
medicines and pet food, however note these also need to meet certain
standards depending on which type of product it is, such as being within a
use by date.
