It’s that time of year again where we encourage you to make a few simple swaps within your day to day life to reduce single use plastic during Plastic Free July. But they’re not just for July – they’re for life. Simple swaps, simple changes that can easily become part of your day to day life are far more likely to stick than big overwhelming plans. Trust me, I’ve learnt the hard way. I’ve made the grand plans, and they never stick (or even get started to be fair). So I’ve learnt to stick to small simple changes that I can implement over time.

Back in January I wrote a blog about our ‘One swap a month’ strategy I’d taken from a customer. Can’t lie – we’re at a stage now where it’s hard to keep making more changes. Not because we’re perfect zero waste people, in fact we’re far from it, just more that some of the ideas are impractical, too expensive or unrealistic. We keep trying and working on things though. Technically speaking we’re doing okay now I’ve reviewed our list. We’ve successfully swapped another 8 things this year so far, so 4 more to go and we’ll be on track.

Anyhoo. We’re here to share five products that we’ve got on our website for you that you can easily swap this July that will make you wonder why you didn’t swap sooner! And no, you don’t need to swap them all – just try one and go from there. Every swap, every bit of single use plastic not used does make a difference.

• Shampoo Bars

Arguably one of my favourite swaps. We’ve got 4 fragrances to choose from, plus some unscented sample bars too. They come in cardboard packaging, or paper if you go for a sample, so no plastic around. You’ll find they last really well, they lather up beautifully, so you don’t need to use a lot. They smell AMAZING, and leave your hair feeling incredible, in fact, most people who use them don’t use conditioner either so it’s a double win on reducing your single use bottles in the bathroom! The easy part is making the swap, the hardest part is choosing your favourite fragrance!

• Safix Scrub Pads

These are great little scourers for your kitchen. They’re made from coconut fibres so when they’re finished with, you can compost them too! They do their job to perfection and despite their rough feeling, they do not scratch your pans. The best bit? They’re only £2 each! So they’re a brilliant, inexpensive swap to make.

• Wooden Nail Brush

I love these. They’re so cute. They’re small, and technically designed for kids, but why can’t adults have fun little animals printed on their nail brushes too? They’re made from FSC certified beech wood and tampico bristles, so they’re completely plastic free. They’re an easy swap to make from your old plastic nail brushes, AND you get to choose which animal design you want on your brush too! Because nail brushes don’t have to be boring!

• VENT for Change Notebooks

I’m just putting this out there that if you’re in the market for a plastic free ‘teacher thank you gift’ these notebooks are just what you need. Or maybe you’re an avid list writer like me and need a new notebook. It’s probably not what you expected to see here because mostly speaking, notebooks aren’t made of plastic. However, there’s a good reason to put them on here. A few in fact –

• They are made from recycled paper and other reclaimed materials – such as cherry husk, coffee beans, kiwi pulp and lavender flower. Before you ask, no they don’t smell like the materials.
• They look good and DO good – VENT for Change donate 5% of their profits to education projects around the world, so by choosing their products you’re supporting children to get an education. Not bad eh!
• They have thought about everything – there’s lined paper, numbered sections for those trusty lists that never get completed and even a small blank space to doodle/scribble your ideas in. They’re also available in A5 or A6 too.

So they’re my reasons why the VENT for Change notebooks are a great swap to make, especially if you’re in the market for a teacher gift!

• Fill refills – Not currently available on line (Doh)

Okay, so I said this would be about easy swaps you order online, and here I am ruining that. For good reason though! If you’re local to us (Coxhoe, Co. Durham) you can get started with one of my favourite simple swaps – refilling. We are at the Coxhoe market on the first Saturday of each month (between 10am-1pm) with our Fill refill station. It’s not online currently because logistically it would be too complicated to organise online orders at this stage.

We have 6 products to choose from currently – Handsoap, Washing Up Liquid, Laundry Liquid, All Purpose Cleaner, Bathroom Cleaner and Cleaning Vinegar. You can choose to bring your own bottle (please make sure it is clean and free from other products before bringing it), or buy a filled glass bottle from us at the market. Once it’s empty, or nearly empty, you can bring it back and we’ll fill it. We weigh it so you only pay for what is put in your bottle.

They’re vegan friendly, no harsh chemicals are used, and the drums are returned to the company when empty so they can be refilled all over again. This is a fabulous way to reduce waste, so if you are local, come on down to the market to get started!

We do also offer pre-filled glass bottles of our Fill products at Wing and a Prayer too, so if you can’t make the market you can buy bottles from there and return them to Wing and a Prayer ready for us to collect and refill for you (there is a 48 hour turn around for these). Take a look at how the refill system works in our blog.

Now we’ve given you the ideas, it’s over to you to choose your simple swap for this Plastic Free July…so what will it be?