Sustainable saviours

Turn your beauty cupboards into plastic-free zones

You’ve doubled your recycling efforts, slowed down on fast fashion and never leave home without a reusable water bottle, but when was the last time you thought about the environmental impact of your beauty regime? While we Brits now recycle 90 per cent of our kitchen packaging, only half of our bathroom waste gets recycled. This means bathroom waste accounts for 30 to 40 per cent of total landfill, where items such as shampoo bottles, wet wipes and toothpaste tubes can take up to

500 years to decompose. Consider also one study that claims the average British woman produces

527 items of cosmetic and hygiene waste each year, and it becomes clear we need to think more consciously about the beauty and self-care purchases we make.

The path to making planet-friendly pampering purchases isn’t always easy. My own journey to a plasticfree bathroom started back in 2018 when I could no longer stomach all the non-recyclable plastic bottles of shampoo, conditioner, soap, moisturiser, shower gel and fake tan piling up. Since then, I’ve tried out hundreds of different products*. Many have been a revelation, but the real challenge comes in finding products that work with the specific needs of your skin and hair – and fit in with your lifestyle. No self-respecting gym bunny is going to compromise on sweat protection just because a deodorant is packaged in compostable cardboard! Ultimately, the product needs to work as well as your favourite non-sustainable deodorant, cleanser or moisturiser, if you’re going to make a permanent sustainable swap. The good news is that each of the following products has been tried and tested so you can be confident in their efficacy and ethical credentials.