Reduce Plastic Waste - Start using a solid shampoo and dish soap!

It was this simple mission my sister and I discussed many times together, “how could we reduce our own plastic waste footprint at home in our daily lives?” Neither one of us uses bottled water or drinks soda or pop from single use plastic containers. Neither one of us eats a lot of take out nor do we buy microwave dinners or use plastic silverware, so what was the easiest way for us to reduce our use of single use plastic products? The answer was simple, start using shampoo bars and reducing our use of zip lock bags and saran wrap.

I went and purchased two shampoo bars for us to try and we liked them okay, but they were not super great. After some discussion, my sister suggested that I make a shampoo bar. Problem Solved! So began my foray into soap making. I was determined to make a shampoo bar that we could both enjoy and use in our daily lives without having our hair feel oily or dry or layered in product build up. I am happy to report that we both love our shampoo bars! I have since added solid dish soap to my product line, which my sister and I both now use and love as well.

I have been making my own laundry soap for years as well as my own dishwasher tabs, and other cleaning products as a means to get away from the yucky chemicals, dyes, fragrances and other toxins found in almost all of our cleaning products. I started doing these things really because I like to learn to make things, it was just a fortuitous byproduct of my curiosity that these things are also better on the environment, not to mention a whole lot less expensive.

I have recently been reading some interesting articles online regarding plastic waste, please take a look at the links included below, the statistics are mind boggling. In short, reducing your own waste of shampoo and liquid dish soap bottles is a great reason to begin using solid shampoo and dish soap, with the added benefit of having naturally clean and healthy hair and wonderfully clean dishes in the process!

Most plastic never really breaks down; it just degrades into smaller and smaller pieces known as microplastics. Microplastics are found basically everywhere these days, from water ways to fish and wildlife as well as human organs and placentas of newborn babies. These microplastics have a devastating effect on us and our planet. Single use plastic is of enormous concern, with the rate of plastic production expected to quadruple within the next decade. Single use plastics are things like water bottles, soda bottles, microwave meal containers, plastic silverware, dish soap and shampoo containers, detergent containers and many more.

Jamie Leventhal, Associate producer of digital video for PBS (Public Broadcasting Systems) News Hour, reported in a September 25, 2018 article that “Humans produce 420 million tons of plastic annually, and as much as 14 million tons of plastic enter the ocean. Scientists are now finding traces of microplastics in our sea salt, beer and tap water.” Link to the full article: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/what-if-we-could-put-our-plastic-trash-to-good-use

Here are some facts gleaned from earthday.org – full article found here: https://www.earthday.org/fact-sheet-single-use-plastics/

• “At least 14 million tons of plastic end up in our oceans every year. Many countries lack the infrastructure to prevent plastic pollution such as: sanitary landfills; incineration facilities; recycling capacity and circular economy infrastructure; proper management and disposal of waste systems.” Source: https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-briefs/marine-plastic-pollution

• “When plastics end up in landfills, they aren’t harmless. They break down into tiny toxic particles that contaminate the soil and waterways and enter the food chain when animals accidentally ingest them. Source: https://dpw.lacounty.gov/epd/plasticbags/articles/googobits_07-21-05.pdf

• Researchers in Germany indicate that terrestrial microplastic pollution is much higher than marine microplastic pollution– estimated at four to 23 times higher, depending on the environment. This could ultimately have adverse health effects on humans and animals.” Source: https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/plastic-planet-how-tiny-plastic-particles-are-polluting-our-soil

• “Virtually every piece of plastic that was ever made still exists in some shape or form (with the exception of the small amount that has been incinerated).” Source: http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/7/e1700782

Check out these other great articles on plastic waste:

• National Geographic: https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/whopping-91-percent-plastic-isnt-recycled

• Open Edition Journals: https://journals.openedition.org/factsreports/5191

• UN Environment Programme: https://www.unep.org/interactives/beat-plastic-pollution/ It has a very cool interactive map showing plastic waste hot spots around the world.