7 Easy Tips for an Eco-friendly 2021 with Celeste from Natural Supply Co.
Meet Obus lovers, Celeste and her dear friend and co-owner of Natural Supply Co, Sarah. Like us, these two ladies pack all their orders themselves, and are equally committed to minimise as much waste as possible every day.
From limiting packaging from suppliers, reusing what they can and aiming for a zero-waste approach to business, they embrace the slow living lifestyle, and look for quality over quantity in all aspects of their lives.
Passionate about providing natural, yet delightful, beauty, skincare and lifestyle products, we asked Celeste to share some of her best tips on how to make small changes to take care of ourselves and our environment.
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Kermit the Frog may sing ‘it’s not easy being green,’ but, with a little preparation, I beg to differ! Over the past couple of years, I’ve been making conscious decisions to try and reduce my family’s impact on the environment; avoiding single-use plastic in particular, which has crept into so many facets of our day-to-day lives without us even really noticing. But not anymore!
I know it can be overwhelming to get started on a more eco-friendly lifestyle; I have had a lot of people contact me about this, as I’ve shared my progress and tips on Natural Supply Co’s Insta stories. But I really believe the ‘progress, not perfection’ mantra. I am not perfect. I don’t pretend to be perfect; plastic still comes into our home. But I really believe that if we all make a few small changes, we can make a difference to the environment.
So to that end: here are some tips to help you make some positive changes in 2021!
Get a bread bag
Taking a reusable cotton bread bag to the bakery, and getting your loaf sliced directly into that, means saving a single-use plastic bag for every loaf you buy. That’s about two a week for my family; which means we are saying ‘no thanks’ to about 104 plastic bags a year. It all adds up!
Switch to a biodegradable dish cloth
Next time you need to throw away your manky dish cloth, don’t replace it with a plastic one from the supermarket; buy a biodegradable version instead. You can use it just like your normal kitchen sponge, but when you’re finished with it, you can pop it into your compost instead of sending it to landfill. We love the fun prints from Retrokitchen; I’ve been using my two on rotation for 12 months, and they’re still going.
Invest in a reusable coffee cup and water bottle
The trick is remembering to keep these with you when you’re on-the-go! I swear by the stainless steel Frank Green cups and bottles, which are coated in ceramic on the inside so your drinks taste just like they would in a cup at home. They’ll also keep your drinks hot (or cold) for hours on end. Plus, a lot of cafes will take 20c to 50c off your coffee price when you BYO cup, so if, like me, you drink a lot of coffee, it won’t take long to pay for itself.
Ditch the plastic toothbrush
By switching your toothbrush to a bamboo or corn option, you can save a lot of toothbrushes from ending up in landfill, where they will take hundreds of years to decompose. You can pop your bamboo toothbrushes in the compost when you’re done with them; just snap off the bristles first. I love this pretty pink one!
Take reusable produce bags to the supermarket
We all know to take our shopping bags to the shops now, but have you got a stash of reusable produce bags, too? These are really lightweight so they won’t affect the cost of your shop, but you can use them over and over again instead of bringing your fruit and veggies home in plastic. We stock a few varieties, some that are made out of recycled plastic bottles; talk about going full circle! You can just chuck them in the washing machine when they’re dirty, and use them forever more.
Ditch the single-use makeup remover wipes
We get it; taking off makeup at the end of the day is one job too many for some of us. The good news is, Biologi have made it easy with their reusable microfibre makeup removing cloths. Just wet them with warm water, use them to remove your makeup, then rinse them out – and repeat tomorrow! They come in a pack of three, in a mesh bag so you can chuck them in the washing machine and not lose them! We swear by these beauties for simplifying life, and looking after the environment at the same time. Plus, they can be used thousands of times, which will save you big bucks in no time at all.
Switch to cold water
Did you know that by switching from hot to cold water in your washing machine, you can greatly cut down on electricity bills and reduce your environmental impact? According to the 2019 American Cleaning Institute Sustainability Report, about 90% of the energy used by a washing machine goes toward heating the water. But new product innovations mean a laundry cycle can now be done using cold water with no loss of performance, greatly reducing energy use. The difference to the planet is huge: if each household used cold water for four out of every five wash loads, they would reduce their annual CO2 emissions by 392kgs – that’s the equivalent of planting more than one-third of an acre of forest. If everyone made the same switch, the overall reduction would be vast. Can you imagine?
I hope this has given you a few ideas on easy ways to make more eco-friendly choices. We’re always happy to chat about the right eco-friendly switches for your situation, so please don’t hesitate to reach out if you’d like some help!
ABOUT CELESTE ROBERTSON
Celeste Robertson is one-half of local small business Natural Supply Co, which she co-owns with Sarah Scott.
Natural Supply Co is the destination for all things natural, organic and zero waste, stocking all eco-friendly products mentioned in this article. Geelong customers can shop at 5 Rutland St, Newtown or online at naturalsupplyco.com.