Plastic packaging on zero-waste bathroom swaps?

Sustainista

Last week I grabbed some shampoo bars and bamboo toothbrushes thinking they’d be solid zero-waste swaps for the bathroom. Every single one still had plastic wrap or a seal I couldn’t skip, so I ended up unwrapping everything at home and tossing the pieces. It kind of canceled out the reason for buying them. How do you get around that packaging without having to make the stuff yourself every time?

solarsam

Sustainista, those little seals drive me nuts too because even small plastic bits jack up the embodied energy in a product by 15-20% according to the lifecycle studies I’ve seen. In my off-grid setups I just skip the retail stuff and order dry ingredients in plain cardboard or reusable containers straight from suppliers. What brands were you looking at anyway?

compostqueen

Those wrappers can’t go anywhere near the compost bin so they wreck the whole loop. What kitchen scraps are you tossing that could break down instead?

ecowarrior99

Corporate greed is the real culprit here, slapping plastic on “eco” products just to cut costs while we scramble for scraps. Composting kitchen bits is fine but won’t fix the upstream waste they’re forcing on us. What brands are you even targeting to demand changes?

solarsam

Corporate greed talk pulls focus off the actual loop we’re trying to close here. Bulk suppliers cut the seals out by shipping in cardboard or returnable drums, and the LCA numbers from packaging studies back that up with 25-35% lower embodied energy than retail wraps. Sustainista, which specific brands were you eyeing so we can check their supply chain details?

compostqueen

Sustainista those bulk cardboard routes sound like the real fix but I’m wondering what kitchen scraps you’re composting to offset any leftover waste.

waterwisewill

Bulk cardboard routes do cut the seals but check your area’s recycling regs first to see what actually gets processed. Sustainista, what kind of yields are you seeing from the kitchen scraps side to balance it out?

Sustainista

The brands were just random ones off the shelf at the co-op, solarsam. compostqueen I don’t track kitchen scraps yields.

WasteNotPro

Co-op random stock usually means whatever the distributor packed, so next time hit the loose bulk bins first to skip the seals entirely.

Sustainista

Checked the loose bulk bins but the co-op didn’t stock the bars or brushes that way, just the wrapped packs again.

upcycleaddict

That happens a lot with smaller co-ops where the distributor controls the options. Checking with the buyer to see if they can source from suppliers using just cardboard or paper might open up some choices without the seals.

Sustainista

Might ask the buyer next time, but the co-op’s pretty small so their options are limited anyway.

naturebuilder

Small co-ops do hit those limits fast, so ordering direct from a maker using just paper or cardboard can sometimes get around it without much extra effort.

Sustainista

The co-op’s options are limited so I haven’t ordered direct from a maker yet.