Going Green: Changes in the bathroom can help the planet

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When it comes to making green choices around the home, a lot of people think about turning down the thermostat and eating less meat but the bathroom is a place where the choices you make and the products you buy can make a difference to the environment.

To cut back on plastic pollution, Bamboo toothbrushes are a great choice for the environment and better than plastic ones – especially as we use around 300 toothbrushes in a lifetime and each toothbrush can take up to 400 years to decompose.

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Switching from shampoo bottles to bars is a great way of using less plastic. They’re widely available in lots of places now and are also great to travel with as they’re not a liquid so don’t leak or cause issues at security.

You can make environmentally friendly choices when it comes to toilet tissue too opting for non-bleached recycled or bamboo rolls. When it comes to cotton wool balls for makeup removal, use washable pads instead. Women use over 11,000 menstrual products in their lifetime. Worse still, around 2.5 million tampons, and 1.4 million sanitary pads are flushed down the loo every day, which is a shocking amount of plastic waste that often ends up in the sea. The three Ps are pee, poo, paper: Anything else needs to go in a bin. If you don’t have one already, a recycling bin in the bathroom sets good practices too.

Period pants have been around for years and switching from tampons to menstrual cups will have 16 times less carbon impact so it’s never too late to make a change on the products you use. They also save a lot of money.

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Washable or eco-friendly bamboo continence pads are better for the environment too and are worth seeking out if you or someone you care for uses them.

There are behaviour changes in the bathroom to help the planet too, it’s not all about what you buy.

Toilet flushing accounts for a third of household water usage so not flushing as frequently will make a difference to the planet and your water bill too if you’re on a water meter. There’s a saying – if it’s yellow, let it mellow, we don’t have to flush the toilet constantly.

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Taking shorter showers saves water and energy too, so again good for saving money. You can get egg timers for four minutes that stick to the inside of your shower to get used to taking shorter ones. A plumber can fit water saving shower heads and fix any leaks to instantly reduce water wastage.

Instead of drying towels in the tumble dryer, hang them outside or if wet, over a rail and let them dry naturally too. A dehumidifier will avoid damp from drying indoors.

Keeping ourselves clean doesn’t have to make the planet dirtier and wise choices can save money and plastic too.

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