February 15, 2022

12 ways to lower your impact on the environment while in your bathroom

We sell solid shampoo for men, not because we believe we need yet another gender specific product in the world, but because we estimate that 64 million shampoo bottles are thrown out in the UK each year thanks to men washing their hair.

We want to get that number to zero.

To do that we launched Tidy shampoo aimed specifically at men to help convince more of us to make the switch and to help more folks reduce their use of single use plastics.

To those who have made the switch, we applaud you 👏.

Here are some more ideas for things you can do in the bathroom to further reduce your impact on the environment:

1. Use a solid shampoo (if you're not already 😉)

Obviously we're biased, but at Tidy we believe losing your bottle when it comes to shampoo is a good thing. Each solid shampoo bar you buy saves one bottle from needing to be made, transported, filled, transported again, stored, sold, used and thrown out. Only 63,999,999 more a year to go...

2. Use a solid soap instead of shower gel

Speaking of losing your bottle, try going gel free and switching to a solid soap bar for showering.

They last longer, are less wasteful and have come a very long way since the days of your Gran's bar of imperial leather.

Try something like one of these offerings:

Or you can try using a two in one shampoo and body wash bar like Jim's Bricks Shower Brick.

Some of our customers (and our founder James) even use Tidy shampoo bars as hair and body wash all in one. Do more, use less 🙌.

3. If you have to use bottled shampoo or soap, use a refillable one

Solid shampoos and soaps are great, but not for everyone. If you do need to use a liquid version, try getting one from your local refill shop, using one bottle over and over is better than one per month or so.

4. Use a solid or refillable toothpaste

There's a theme here isn't there 😉...

It sounds weird, but we promise you solid toothpastes are a thing.

In a similar vein to solid shampoos and soaps, solid toothpastes are better for the environment as they don't need the plastic tube regular toothpastes normally come in.

There are a growing number of products in the market. Here are just a few examples:

Alternatively you could try a refillable toothpaste like Noice. Their offering comes in a glass bottle and they send you refills in recyclable bottles straight to your door.

5. Ditch the plastic toothbrush

If you like your electric toothbrush, this one may be a hard one to sell...

Manual brushes just don't quite match up in cleaning power of electric brushes do they? But better cleaning comes at quite some cost (both literally and figuratively).

An electric brush is mainly plastic. Their batteries, at least in our experience, degrade faster than your smartphone's. Which encourages regular replacement. And the head replacements are crazy expensive (the toothbrush folks have learnt from printer and razor companies, have you noticed? Sell the thing "cheaply" and make the money on heads / ink / blades...).

A bamboo toothbrush is plastic free. Can be fully recycled and doesn't cost the earth.

Like any manual toothbrush, they may not clean quite as well though...

Fortunately there is a "halfway house" option. There are more and more recyclable electric toothbrush heads on the market. Try:

And, there are people out there trying to address the electric toothbrush waste problem: Battery free powered toothbrush.

6. Use recycled toilet paper

If you're one of the folks who hoarded toilet rolls at the start of the pandemic, skip over this one, you'll not be in a position to try this swap for a while...

27,000 trees are cut down every day just to make toilet paper. Swapping to a recycled paper toilet roll or a bamboo paper roll could help stop that waste.

Try this offering from Whogivesacrap.

Or one of these:

7. Use bamboo or reusable ear buds

The advise from medical professionals is don't put anything smaller than your own finger in your ear. So you may be better off just not using cotton buds all together.

If you do use something to clean your ears, try a recyclable bamboo cotton bud or a silicone reusable option.

See:

8. Use refillable bathroom and toilet cleaners

When it comes to cleaning your bathroom you can also reduce your environmental impact.

Companies like Ocean Saver and Spruce offer concentrated cleaning products that use less packaging.

Others offer refillable options such as:

Alternatively you could make your own cleaning products using fewer chemicals:

9. Turn the shower off while lathering

So far we've concentrated on ways you could shop differently to reduce your environmental impact. This one is free, you can start today (or tomorrow, depending on when you're reading this...) and takes zero effort.

Simply turn your shower off while you're lathering up. Not only will it save water, it will also reduce your heating bill (less hot water wasted, less needing to be heated) and it will reduce how much shampoo and / or soap you need to use as less of the product will be washed away before you've lathered.

Win, win, win.

10. Turn the tap off while brushing your teeth

Another "costs you nothing" change you can make. Turn your tap off while you're brushing your teeth. The average UK household's water pressure runs at between 10-15 litres per minute.

If you brush your teeth for two minutes, twice a day and leave the tap running while you do, you're using (as a rough, conservative, estimate) 40 litres of water per day. That's ~14,600 litres per year!

11. Only flush the loo for a number two

Another water saving tip. Don't flush after peeing. Or only after every other pee. There's a reason the gent's in public toilets use urinals over regular toilets; they save a lot of water. Instead of installing a urinal at home, just pull the chain less often.

12. Use the correct flush (on a modern toilet)

Speaking of the chain; if you've got one this won't be relevant...

If you have a fairly modern toilet with a duel option flush on it, and they are both actually connected (it's surprising how often they're not!!!) use the right one for the job.

Only peed? Use the smaller of the flushes. Deposited more? Use the bigger flush.

What did we miss?

Have you reduced your impact on the environment while in the bathroom in other ways? We'd love to hear how! Tell us what you've done by leaving a comment.

PS

We have no affiliation with any of the brands or products that we've linked to from this blog post. We just like that they're offering alternatives to the single use plastic options more commonly used in bathrooms across the UK. Other brands are available in all cases 😃

If you have a favourite that you think should be listed here, let us know in the comments and we'll add them to the lists.