Going zero waste with your home cleaning routine can seem daunting at first. But making a few simple swaps to more eco-friendly products can reduce your environmental impact dramatically. Here are the most effective zero waste cleaning swaps I recommend focusing on first.
Stop Buying Conventional Cleaning Products
The first step is to stop buying conventional cleaning products like all-purpose cleaners, bathroom cleaners, disinfectants, etc. These products often contain harmful chemicals and come in single-use plastic bottles that end up in landfills.
Instead, you’ll want to replace these with DIY cleaners made from simple ingredients like vinegar, baking soda, lemon, and castile soap. These ingredients are affordable, reusable, and work just as well at cleaning and disinfecting your home.
Swap Paper Towels for Reusable Cloths
Paper towels are incredibly wasteful and expensive over time. The average household uses up to 20,000 paper towels per year.
A better option is to use reusable cloths and towels to clean up messes, dry dishes, dust, etc. Opt for cloths made of natural fibers like cotton instead of microfiber to reduce shedding of microplastics.
You can also cut up old t-shirts or other worn out cotton items to make your own reusable rags. Just be sure to regularly wash them to prevent bacteria from building up.
Ditch the Disposable Scrubbers
Disposable scrubbing pads and sponges also create a lot of unnecessary waste. And scrubbing brushes with mixed materials can’t be recycled.
Instead, try using reusable scrubbers made of wood, silicone, or other sturdy materials. There are also zero waste scouring pads made from plant fibers that can be composted.
Stainless steel scouring pads are another great option for heavy duty scrubbing that will last for years.
Swap Paper Towels for Reusable Food Wraps
Disposable plastic wrap and bags create a ton of waste. But you can make an easy swap to reusable food wraps made of bee’s wax-coated fabric.
These reusable wraps form around food and keep it fresh, just like plastic wrap. But they can be rinsed and reused over and over.
You can even make your own reusable food wraps by purchasing bee’s wax-infused fabric. Just cut it to size, fold over the edges and seal with a hot iron.
Ditch Plastic Trash Bags for Compostable Bags
The average American family takes home almost 1,500 plastic shopping bags per year, which often end up as trash bag liners. This creates an enormous amount of unnecessary plastic waste.
A better solution is opting for small compostable trash bags made of plant materials like corn starch.
Or you could skip bags altogether and empty your small bins directly into your main trash can. For kitchen compost bins, use paper bags or try a system without any liners.
This takes a small adjustment but can eliminate hundreds of plastic bags per year.
Use Reusable Storage Containers Instead of Ziploc Bags
Americans trash 100 billion plastic bags annually, many of which are single-use Ziploc bags. These end up clogging our landfills and oceans.
A simple reusable swap is trading disposable baggies for reusable silicone storage bags or glass and stainless steel containers. There are many affordable options for leakproof bags and airtight containers that can replace bags for lunches, storage, freezing, and more.
Swap Paper Napkins for Reusable Napkins
Paper napkins and paper towels have a big environmental footprint. The average American uses 2,200 paper napkins annually.
Using reusable cloth napkins is an easy way to curb this. There are many options like cotton, linen, microfiber, bamboo, and hemp.
For an even lower impact option, make DIY reusable napkins out of old materials like scrap fabrics or old clothes cut into squares.
Use Reusable Food Storage Bags for Produce
Plastic produce bags are another big source of plastic pollution in our oceans and landfills. But we can easily avoid them by bringing reusable produce bags to the grocery store.
Reusable cotton mesh produce bags are inexpensive and can replace hundreds of single-use plastic bags over their lifetime. Or you can sew your own from scrap fabric or old mesh materials.
Some grocery stores even offer small discounts for bringing your own reusable produce bags!
Conclusion
Making these simple swaps helps reduce the staggering amount of disposable products, plastics, and paper waste produced by standard home cleaning routines. With a little adjustment to build a new habit, we can all dramatically lower the footprint of keeping our homes clean and tidy. Focus on making one change at a time until you build up to a Zero Waste cleaning routine. Small steps make a big difference!
