Sustainable Life: how to create a zero-waste bathroom

Posted on 5 August, 2020

Zero waste is a journey. It starts with just one step.

Like any journey, it will feel easy at times. Other times it will feel like you’re climbing a snow-covered mountain in a snow storm.

Our everyday choices can make a huge difference to a zero-waste journey. Simply switching brands creates a new habit and could save tonnes of waste, over our lifetimes.

There are no rules for which step you should take next, on a zero-waste journey. Start in your kitchen, bedroom or…the bathroom.

Here are seven simple tips for starting a zero waste journey, in your bathroom.

Switch to soap bars, instead of liquid soap in a pump pack

You’ll save oodles of packaging waste—if you buy soap bars in cardboard wrapping. Most pump pack bottles are recyclable, but the ‘top’ that pumps is not recyclable.

Re-fill liquid soap in pump packs

If you love liquid soap in pump packs, switch to re-filling your bottles. Simply keep the pump packs that you already have and refill. Source your liquid soap for refilling from a bulk food store, or from your local supermarket.

Switch to bamboo toothbrushes…and put them into your home compost at the end of their tooth brushing life

You can pull out the nylon brushes, or just accept a little nylon in your compost. If you don’t have a compost, you can simply bury used toothbrushes in your garden, they will break down (eventually).

Bamboo toothbrushes can be sourced almost anywhere, from specialty online stores to normal supermarkets.

Recycle your toothpaste tubes and plastic toothbrushes

You can use Teracycle and Colgate’s specialist recycling service—they’re the only recycling service available in Australia for oral care.

The service works when you buy a ‘box’ that arrives in the mail. You then fill the box with used items and post it back to teracycle. They do the sorting and the recycling.

If you’re not keen to recycle at home, some dentists and specialist outlets offer oral care recycling services to their patients.

Say goodbye to toothpaste in a tube

Replace it with toothpaste tablets that come in a paper box. You can source these online, from Australian stores, or from your local bulk outlet.

Simply chew the tablet, then brush your teeth.

Be loyal to cotton

Source towels and bath mats that are 100% cotton. That way, at the end of their life, you can place their scraps into your worm farm and they’ll be devoured…and transformed into a liquid garden fertiliser.

Turn old towels into hand towels, washers or cleaning rags

When your towels get a hole or a stain, instead of throwing it out, chop it up. Use it as a rag. If you have a sewing machine, convert a large towel into hand towels or washers. Then, moisten the remaining threads and throw them into your worm farm.

Choose one step, to be your next. As you climb that mountain, may the snowstorm clear and the sunshine brighten your day.