Do you want to make your home more eco-friendly but don’t know where to start? Well, I’ve got you covered with some simple kitchen eco-swaps that will significantly reduce waste in your home!
Don’t feel like you have to do them all at once; try making one swap per week and see how the changes positively impact your lifestyle.
Kitchen eco-swaps
Glass jars and bottles
Wash glass jars and bottles and reuse them for storing dry good like grains, legumes, flour and sugar. If you have a bulk-store nearby you could even take them with you to re-fill directly! Furthermore, you’ll always have containers handy for when you make delicious homemade treats like jams, chutneys, dips and flavoured water.
Fabric cloths
Replace paper towels with a reusable, machine washable cloth. You’ll reduce the amount of waste going into your bin and it’s cheaper in the long run. Go one step further and choose sustainablly made bamboo cloths that are long-lasting and fast-drying!
Laundry egg
Ecoegg’s laundry egg is a game changer. It’s a small, re-fillable egg-shaped container which uses natural minerals to wash clothes. Simply pop it in the washing machine drum and let it do its magic! It comes with a soft scent and each refill lasts upto 70 washes. Save money and the planet with this amazing item!
Beeswax food wraps
Ditch the clingfilm and invest in beeswax food wraps. I get mine from Cambridge-based Bee Bee Wraps and I adore them! Made from organic cotton and beeswax, these wraps are an eco-friendly alternative to clingfilm for covering leftovers and cut fruit and veg – in fact, I even think they keep food fresher! You can either throw them on the compost when they’re worn, or get a beeswax bar to freshen them up again!
Reusable produce bags
One of my major bug bears is all the plastic baggies in the supermarket fruit and veg section. They are so unnecessary! I normally have all my fruit and veg loose in the trolley or in a shopping bag, though I can understand that sometimes you want to separate soft and hard produce, or need to weigh it. Scrap those single-use plastic bags and get yourself some cotton reusable produce bags!
Compostable bin bags
Creating waste is inevitable, so every house needs a bin. Some rooms can do without a bag inside it, but in the kitchen I always prefer lining mine with a bin bag. Plastic bags can take hundreds of years to breakdown, but thankfully biodegradable and compostable bin bags are now available in most large supermarkets,
Silicon zip-lock bags
Zip-lock bags are so handy for lots of things: freezing meal portions, keeping sandwiches fresh when you’re out and about, or even for storing non-food related things in. But they’re often thrown away after just one use, which is why silicon zip-lock bags are a great alternative. They’re easier to wash and re-use over and over, meaning you’ll send far less plastic to landfill.
Reusable coffee filters
There are a crazy number of ways to drink coffee and most of them produce a lot of unnecessary waste. If you like filter coffee, try replacing the paper ones with reusable fabric ones. A caffetiere is also a great way to enjoy waste-free coffee, and you can mini ones for one or two cups. Or have a go at making a Turkish coffee, which involves boiling finely ground coffee with water and serving it straight into the cup!
Don’t forget that coffee grounds can go into the compost or mixed straight in with the soil if you have a garden.
Loose leaf tea
If you’re more of a tea-drinker, then ditch the tea bags and opt for loose leaf tea. Tea bags have been found to release lots of micro-plastics during the brewing process, which can pose a risk to human health. A healthier and low-waste option is to brew loose leaf tea and use a strainer to prevent the leaves from going into your mug.
Have you made any other kitchen eco-swaps in your home? Share them with me in the comments below!
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