How do you reduce your plastic waste?

The author is Mari Tiira, founder of EkoElsa.

I have long been an environmentally conscious recycler and cloth diaper mom.

When choosing consumer products, the values that are important to me are minimum waste and recyclability. I use the goods I acquire until the end of their life, and if an item still has usable life, I try to pass it on to the next person who needs it.

I remember how excited I was when the first plastic recycling bin arrived in our hometown. I thought it was truly amazing that plastic packaging materials would get a new life, and that the Earth's oil resources would no longer be needed for all plastic products.

See EkoElsa's beneficial soap bars here:

But why is single-use plastic more popular now than ever? Shouldn't we be trying to get rid of it and find alternative solutions?

ECO-TRAUMA

When our heart-child, Elsa, was in intensive care at the New Children's Hospital for five weeks, I experienced an eco-trauma. Over those five weeks, I had the opportunity to form an idea of the amount of waste generated daily from the care of one small child. It was a bag full of single-use waste. And even though I am a nurse by profession and wanted the best possible care for my child, I was still shocked. Disposable diapers, disposable wipes, of course disposable nasogastric tubes and syringes, disposable bed protectors, disposable gloves, disposable baby bottles, disposable suction tubes, disposable cannulas... even nurses' protective gowns are disposable. I felt that my waste quota was full.

 

Photo: New Children's Hospital and Elsa Ilona Tiira 9.10.2018-18.2.2019.

After recovering for a few years from Elsa's death, my interest turned back to environmental values and my family's skin, and I started looking for ecological bar products in stores. They were really hard to find.

I realized then that there is a really big problem here:

How the detergent industry operates. There are a lot of problems that increase the producer's profit margin but at the same time leave the consumer with limited options.

The soap sold in stores contains at least 80% water and is packaged in a plastic bottle. The bigger and more colorful the plastic bottle, the better it stands out and sells on store shelves.

So, it has not been profitable for the producer to manufacture a small bar product, even though it is much more effective, long-lasting, and environmentally friendly than a plastic bottle.

This multiplies every person's plastic waste burden.

WHAT IS YOUR PLASTIC FOOTPRINT?

A Finnish consumer produces up to 20 kilograms of household packaging plastic annually.

Does your own waste burden feel bad? Do you also see something in this system that needs fixing? And if you can't fix the system, could you at least fix something on your own behalf?

What could you do to reduce your plastic consumption?

If you haven't yet tried EkoElsa's beneficial bar products, take a look at our selection and by all means try what the additive-free and plastic-free world of bar products can offer you and your family?

See EkoElsa's bar product selection here:

EkoElsa's products are not only plastic-free and water-free, but they also feature deeply rooted, domestic raw materials and a 100% responsible production method. We employ people in Finland in a Key Flag-worthy manner and support domestic agriculture by selecting raw materials from local producers. We have been awarded for our work in supporting biodiversity and are Päijät-Häme's climate partners.

Here are a few concrete tips on how you can reduce your plastic waste:

What if you replaced all your cleaning product bottles with one small bar and one spray bottle? You would reduce 1.6 kilograms of plastic waste per cleaning soap bar and lighten nature's chemical burden by 100%. Buy Anna Cleaning Soap here:

Or what if you swapped irritating bottled shampoo for a natural bar shampoo? One bar lasts at least as long as two bottled shampoos, saving 130g per bar and up to 1500 grams of plastic per year! Buy EkoElsa's natural and effective bar shampoos here:

Could you try washing your hands with skin-nourishing bar soaps and stop buying hand soaps packaged in plastic bottles? One bar soap lasts for handwashing for 3 months, while liquid soap usually consumes 2-3 bottles in that time, meaning you save 780 g of plastic per year. Explore EkoElsa's nourishing bar soaps here:

What if you stopped using shower gel and switched to plastic-free bar soap? One bar lasts for one person for up to 2 months, while shower gel lasts at most a month, meaning you save 780g of plastic in the shower per year.

And if you've never found a shampoo that's suitable and easy to use for your dog's skin, then try Elsan Ekopaja's gentle and completely fragrance-free "Elämäni koirat" (Dogs of My Life) care series? The dog bar shampoo is full of good stuff and can wash your dog 5-15 times, depending on the dog's size. The bar conditioner will probably last two years, and by using these products, you'll also save your dog's plastic footprint by up to 260g.

1500g + 1600g + 780g + 260g + 780g = 4790g, or almost 5 kilograms!

Even with these small changes, you too can be part of a bigger transformation. You've reduced your plastic waste burden from 20 kilograms to 15 kilograms per year!

With small changes, you've saved five kilograms from your plastic footprint!

Be part of a cleaner tomorrow with EkoElsa.

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