A Day In The Life of a Zero-Waster: Part 2

6.00am

I’m at the pool, and upon arrival I’m given a coloured band (one of those paper-y but plastic-coated ones that’s sticky on one end and then impossible to remove without scissors…), to show the staff that you’ve paid for the session. However, there is of course a finite number of colours that these bands come in, so I always put mine on very loosely so that I can just about get them off over my hands and then reuse them without needing to cut them and throw them away. It may sound small, but it’s all in the details! I also tie my hair back for swimming and use eco-friendly hair ties from Kooshoo Organic (although I’ve heard that Tabitha Eve is another great brand for hair ties).

7.20am

I’m back from swimming so it’s time to have a shower and wash my hair. For shampoo and conditioner, I use the brand Faith In Nature, which I bought from a shop in town that has a small zero-waste section. The products are liquid and come in plastic bottles but whenever I run out of the product I go back to the shop and use their refill stations to fill the bottles back up again. No more packaging or bottles are purchased in the process! I used to buy the solid shampoo and conditioner bars from Lush but found that they were too expensive, especially considering how quickly I got through them and therefore how frequently I was buying new ones. I never use body wash (water and/or shampoo is more than enough) anymore, but if I felt the need to use it again I’d buy solid bars of soap and use those instead of bottled products.

For styling my hair, I’ve cut a lot out and soon realised that they were never necessary. I will occasionally use Lush’s hair moisturisers though, as you can collect the empty pots and bring five back to a Lush store for them to recycle; you then get one of their face masks for free in return (which by the way are amazing, and you can later return that pot and continue the cycle).

7.45am

Make-up. One of the minefields of trying to live a zero-waste life... unless of course you feel happy to just scrap using make-up entirely, which would be the more eco-friendly option!

Two months in and I’m almost out of setting powder, but my foundation/concealer will no doubt last me at least another year or two as I don’t wear much on my skin. Zero-waste setting powder can be a little on the expensive side, but nonetheless I’ll be buying it in bamboo pots first and then simply buying refills (which some brands sell online, like ZAO). For mascara, I’ve not yet run out of the typical plastic tube mascara which I buy from E.L.F. Cosmetics (it’s vegan and cruelty-free). When I do eventually finish it though, I’ll buy mascara that comes as a solid block in an aluminium tin, from Bain & Savon (sold at Peace With The Wild online). I’ll just need to keep a hold of the current mascara brush I have and re-use that. For eye liner I don’t use much at all – I usually just put a dot on the outside corner of each eye and when I soon run out of the plastic-packaged liquid liner I have at the moment, I’ll be buying it in a glass jar and again keeping and reusing the brush that I currently have.

On a side note, one small thing I almost forgot about is deodorant. I tend to switch between using semi-solid deodorant (which melts between your fingers into a cream) from The Natural Deo Co and a cream deodorant that comes in a sugar cane-based tube from Nuud. I love them both and they work perfectly; The Natural Deo Co also does one specifically for intense exercise, which is brilliant for if I’m going running or doing a body pump class.

To be continued...