It’s a New Year which means many of us will have set some resolutions or goals. Whether it’s to make some simple swaps to be more eco-friendly and reduce your plastic waste or to keep the house clean and tidy, we’ve got you covered.
Here we recommend some eco-friendly cleaning products as well as some great hacks to keep your house sparkling while not harming the planet.
Start small with eco-friendly cleaning products
At EcoVibe, we want to make your life as easy as possible. That’s why we’ve created a range of starter kits to make eco-friendly switches super simple.
Our sustainable starter kit contains four clear glass spray bottles, and one glass screw-top bottle and a pack of our water-soluble cleaning sachets. The five sachets include a bathroom surface cleaner, kitchen surface cleaner, oven cleaner, glass and mirror cleaner, and a floor cleaner, so it covers all bases (and all rooms).
Why buy sachets rather than refills? Refilling is great, but still uses a lot of carbon to transport pre-mixed liquids. By using a sachet you reduce the carbon footprint as less volume has to travel from A to B, it’s that simple!
But what about the cleaning products I already have?
We’d never recommend throwing away something you already own. Instead, use it up, and consider using the bottle again, either by refilling at a zero-waste store or even better, using some cleaning sachets.
Our cleaning sachets are super easy to use. Just add water and shake, plus you reduce the transportation carbon footprint of a pre-filled bottle by 94%!
If you’re sick of your old plastic bottles or they’re getting old, they can be an absolute pain to recycle. Instead of throwing them away so they end up in landfills, Terracycle can recycle the hardest to recycle materials, including a lot of cleaning materials.
Cleaning with household staples
Not got your EcoVibe order in yet? There are loads of natural ingredients that you’ll probably already have in the cupboard so you can kickstart your year with a clean house.
Bicarb and baking soda can both be used to rub away tough stains in anything from your pans and hob to your toilets and sink. If you’ve got a particularly stinky fridge, an open tub can act as a natural odour remover.
If having windows open over the festive season has left some mould or mildew, a formula of white vinegar and tea tree can help clear this away in 30 minutes or less.
Everything you need for a clean and healthy kitchen
A lot of cleaning products contain a lot of nasties which aren’t great for our respiratory systems or anywhere near food. For a safer alternative, natural and vegan products are just as effective, but a lot less harmful to us and the planet.
We’ve pulled together some of our favourite kitchen cleaning staples including our sponges that are made from waste offcuts of wood made into pulp and once you’re done with them, they can go in the compost bin!
Switch paper towels for a reusable alternative
We’ve all learnt to love paper towels. So much so that 80 rolls are used per person per year! Although the paper towels themselves are often plastic-free, the packaging often isn’t, plus producing all that paper means that 51,000 trees are cut down to produce the paper towels we use in just one day.
Luckily there is an alternative, Unpaper Towels are a washable and sustainable alternative. They’re waffle weave so they’re absorbent and are handmade in the UK. They’ll last you for years, meaning you’ll quickly save money, and once they’re really worn, you can just cut them up and pop them in the compost.
Make some easy laundry swaps
In 2021, our EcoEgg made its TV debut on Shop Well For the Planet, so we thought we should highlight some of our other superstar laundry products.
Switch to our laundry stain remover and you’ll not only stop harmful bleaches and solvents heading into our waterways, but you’ll also take better care of sensitive skin. Unlike normal stain removers which are filled with nasties, this easy to use soap can be rubbed onto stains prior to washing and isn’t filled with any harsh chemicals.
We totally understand that in the winter months it can be nearly impossible to get your clothes dry naturally. So once your clothes are washed and super clean, it’s worth adding in a dryer egg that can reduce your drying time by up to 28%. Obviously, a fantastic way of saving you money on your energy bill, our dryer eggs also lightly fragrance your laundry without using any harmful chemicals.
Ready for a fresh start?
Make sure you let us know in the comments below how your eco-friendly cleaning journey is going.