Emma Tries Environmental

Reusable Period Pads: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ / ⭐⭐⭐ Why is this swap necessary? The average woman over her lifetime will use 11,000 tampons. These plastic applicators are equivalent to 5,500 plastic bags, and period pads use just as much plastic as the applicators. 90% of period pads are plastic, and given that 50% of the population will have a period for the majority of their lives this represents a vast, vast amount. Based on women making up half of the UK’s population (34,084,000 women), this is 187,462,000,000 plastic bags. Considering most of us are refusing to buy plastic bags anymore, this is a crazy amount. Luckily, there are more and more alternatives appearing in the market. From reusable period pads to menstrual cups, reusable pants to applicator free tampons… the list goes on. I was initially a bit sceptical about reusable period products. They should be reliable and comfortable, and a lot of people I talk to share some of these doubts. As someone said to me, “If there is one place you ...

  Bamboo toothbrush: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Why is this swap necessary? It was found in a study that 1 billion toothbrushes are thrown away each year in the US alone. Each toothbrush weighs about 20 grams of unrecyclable plastic, this is before you even start to consider packaging. Given you should replace your toothbrush about every 3 months, roughly 320 toothbrushes a lifetime, this is no surprise it starts to add up to a vast problem. Additionally, studies have also started to come out about the health benefits of switching from plastic. It’s not a massive surprise given the amount of chemicals in the production of plastic, such as BPA. However, I cannot claim this is why I switched to bamboo toothbrushes, nor can I claim I know the ins and outs of the health benefits, but that additional reason is never a bad thing. Bamboo provides a sustainable substitute. Bamboo grows very fast, one of the fastest growing plants on the planet, growing up to 3 foot in 24 hours! It is sturdy, light weight ...

Reusable cotton pads:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Hi, my name is Emma and I try environmental swaps so you know what you should and shouldn’t be investing in. We all know that doing our bit is essential, but some of the alternatives are so expensive! Therefore, it is important to know which are worth it before making the switch. One day, hopefully they will all become the cheaper option. But until then, I will trial these items and let you know before you try it for yourself! Why is this swap necessary? The majority of cotton pads and face wipes contain plastic, and even those that say they are biodegradable there is currently no standard for how long this needs to take. Therefore, they could claim that taking 200 years is biodegradable, which doesn’t count, in my opinion. I had been using the Simple Biodegradable Make Up Wipes and in addition, to my suspicion on their ‘biodegradable’ status, the packaging wasn’t recyclable and they are quite pricey compared to alternatives. (Ranging from £1.50 to £3.49....