DIY Lip-balm

Ingredients from WP (makes 100g)

• 40g Virgin coconut oil

• 30g Beeswax

• 10g Shea butter

• 15g Cacao butter

• 4g Jojoba oil

• 10 Balm sized jars or tins

Put all ingredients into a small saucepan & stir gently over low heat until melted. Carefully pour into small jars, allowing to cool & set. Beetroot & cacao powder can be added to tint the lip-balm or a drop of essential oil to make it smell delicious!


Specialist Recycling: Disposable Razors

Have you recycled your DISPOSABLE RAZORS through us yet?

The program accepted waste: Any brand of used razor blades and their packaging, including:

🪒 All brands of blades and razors (refillable and disposable products, and replaceable-blade cartridge units)

🪒 Rigid plastic packaging

🪒 Flexible plastic packaging

Please note: cardboard and paper packaging is recyclable through regular yellow top kerbside recycling. Please do not include these in your collections for this program.

Once collected what happens to it?

The razor blades and their packaging are broken down and separated by the material through Terracycle. Plastics are cleaned and pelletised to be recycled into new products, and metal materials are sent for smelting and conversion to new alloys.

Want a better option?

Instead of disposable why don’t you check out our Reusable Razors in-store or online.

Another option is to buy an electric razor or epilator for your hair removal needs as these can be reused for many years before being recycled as e-waste.

Want to know what else you can recycle through WP?

Check out our Specialist Recycling page!


Meet the Maker: Scarlett Eve

💚 Introducing Scarlet Eve 💚⠀

We thought you might like to get to know some of our amazing local suppliers, so we had a chat with Simone who sews the most comfortable personal hygiene reusables…

My awareness of environmental issues began in primary school. I remember the effect it had on me when I learned about the impact we were having on the planet, and how we could try to make things better. My efforts to live more sustainably became more of a focus when I was pregnant with my first child. Being part of the Modern Cloth Nappies community opened up a whole new world of ways to reduce waste day-to-day. MCNs naturally led me to Reusable Menstrual products, and I began sewing cloth pads for Scarlet Eve.

At Scarlet Eve, my purpose is to make and supply comfortable, quality products that will last with years of use. I source supplies locally to Western Australia and Australia where possible. I try to minimize packaging and aim for reusable packaging. I use as much of the fabrics as possible – offcuts from Menstrual Pads are used for other reusable items such as Face Wipes and Breast Pads.

I enjoy working with Wasteless Pantry because I feel like we share a common vision – to provide people with ways to reduce their waste and live more sustainably. It’s great for local businesses to support each other! It can be overwhelming trying to live completely waste-free.

My waste-free tip would be to do what you can when you can. Make small changes and build on them.


‘Go Wasteless’ Starter Guide

It’s a New Year and another opportunity to get cracking on reducing your waste. I love the enthusiasm that is generated from the calendar ticking over to January 1st, and all the new habits and resolutions that are inspired!

Step 1: Bin Audit

Starting with some ideas about what goes into your bin is the best first step. So as gross as it sounds, you are going to need to pay attention to what is going into your bin. If it’s a shared bin then it gets trickier and so picking a not too hot day/week to pull it all out on a tarp or the lawn is a confronting and informative way to find out exactly what has been hiding in there.

Group all the bits and bobs into as many categories as is useful to you:

Landfill – stuff that has no other place to go like disposable nappies and random little bits of plastic.

Compostable – think food waste, tissues, paper towels, hair from your hairbrush and dust out of the vacuum.

Recyclable – all the things that go in your yellow top bin.

Specialist recyclable – things like batteries, ink cartridges, toothbrushes, globes, spectacles, razors, mobile phones, e-waste and paint.

Step 2: Collection Bins

Now that you have figured out what you are dealing with, it’s time to make sure that you have all your collection bins sorted. Maybe you have only had a landfill bin in the house and so that is where everything has been going. Or maybe you figured out that you don’t actually know what goes in your yellow top recycling bin. Perhaps, your compost bin wasn’t cutting it as it was too big or too small and so nobody wanted to use it. Whatever you learnt, what is your solution?

In our house, we have a landfill bin, compost bucket and recycling bin in the Kitchen, Bathroom and Study/Office. We have a little battery collection bin in the draw with the new batteries. I pop bread tags, ink cartridges, used pens and toothbrushes into the shopping bag I take to Wasteless Pantry so that I can remember to drop them off each week. I put globes in my car for dropping off at the Sports Centre I go to. We have a box in the shed to collect any e-waste as that only gets dropped off about once a year.

Make it easy to collect your specialist recycling!

Think about putting all the information about what goes in each Collection Bin on it so that everyone can make good choices. And make sure to let the whole household know where they all are!

Step 3: Use What You Have

At this point, you might be rearing to go get all the cool zero waste gear so that you can tick the box of feeling wasteless. Hold your horses!

We would love you to instead use up all the products and food you have first before you think about getting anything new. With the exception of expired products and food which needs to be disposed of, it is usually best to just swap things out as you finish them up. Good reasons for this are that:

  • Saves money
  • Prevents waste
  • Reduces clutter
  • More gradual change is usually easier to keep up long term

So instead of going out and getting new containers, reuse jars and takeaway containers. Instead of getting shampoo bars, use up the last of all your shampoo samples and leftovers first. Instead of buying a fancy BYO coffee cup, take one from home. And yes, we want you to use up all the food in packets in your pantry, fridge and freezer too.

Anything that has passed it’s used by date could be a risk to your safety, but anything past it’s best before you can use your common sense as most likely it is just not quite as flavoursome and delicious as it was before.

Step 4: Gently Make a Change

Find one thing at a time to change.

Pick one area you’d like to wasteless and just start there.

When that is easy and hard for you not to do, then do the next thing.

Slow and steady, you’ll get there!


Coffee Body Scrub

Coffee body scrub is a great way to use coffee grounds and look after your skin at the same time!

Ingredients ☕️

– 1/2 cup of brown sugar

– 1/2 cup of coconut oil

– 1/2 cup of coffee grounds

– 1 tbs vanilla extract

* you can also add some honey to shea butter for extra hydration.

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and store in an airtight container. Easy!


Cinnamon Lip Scrub Recipe

Lip scrubs have become an essential part of skincare routines, gaining popularity for their ability to effectively remove flakes and old dead skin cells from the lips. By incorporating a lip scrub into your routine, you can improve the texture and appearance of your lips, making them smoother and more radiant.

Properly exfoliating your lips is crucial as it allows the moisture from lip balms to deeply penetrate the skin instead of just sitting on top of a flaky surface. This means that by exfoliating first, you can maximize the hydration benefits of your lip balm.

Regularly using a lip scrub can also help prevent chapped lips and keep them soft and supple. It can remove any buildup of dry skin, allowing your lips to better absorb the nourishing ingredients in lip products.

Furthermore, exfoliating your lips can promote better lipstick application. By removing dead skin cells and creating a smoother surface, lipsticks can glide on more evenly and last longer. This can enhance the overall look of your makeup and give you a more polished appearance.

Incorporating a lip scrub into your skincare routine is simple and can be done once or twice a week. Gently massage the scrub onto your lips using circular motions, then rinse off with warm water. Follow up with a moisturizing lip balm to lock in the hydration and keep your lips smooth and healthy.

By regularly exfoliating your lips, you can enjoy the benefits of improved texture, enhanced hydration, and better lipstick application. So why not add a lip scrub to your skincare arsenal and give your lips the pampering they deserve?

 

Ingredients

2 tsp cinnamon powder

1 tbsp of honey ( or you can use aloe vera)

1 tbsp olive or coconut oil

4 tbsp brown or raw sugar

 

Method

Mix all the ingredients until they form a grainy paste. You can make the scrub courser or softer depending on the liquid-to-sugar ratio, to suit your needs. Store in an airtight container.


Cleansing Face Mask

Cleansing face masks are a great way to keep your skin healthy as well as taking some time out of your day for yourself.

Rose face mask recipe:

A tablespoon of White Kaolin clay ( you may need to add a little more or a little less)

A few drops of rose water (DIY by simmering rose petals in water for 20 mins) or plain water

Mix until all clumps are dissolved and it is a paste-like consistency.

Apply to your face with a brush or your hands. Leave on for 15 mins and then rinse off with water.


Rose Petal Bath Salts

Rose petals can be used for so many different things.

You can use them to make rose water, make a romantic bath, you can cook with them, make tea and potpourri mix.

 

You can also make bath salts.

 

Ingredients

1 cup of epsom salts

10-20 drops of essential oil of your choice

1/4 cup pink lake salt

1/2 cup of rose petals 

 

Method

In a glass bowl mix epsom salt and essential oil.

Stir until there are no clumps and the oil has been absorbed.

Stir in the pink lake salt and rose petals.

Keep in an air tight jar. 


DIY Air Freshener

A super easy and affordable way to make a zero waste air freshener is by:

Add together 3/4 cup of water, 1 tbsp of vanilla extract and 10-15 drops of your favourite essential oil.

Add the ingredients to a spray bottle and shake well.

Easy peasy and smells so good!


Zero Waste Beauty

"True Beauty Comes From Within"

We know this to be true and yet so many of us still love to tend to our outer beauty too.

There are so many products out there claiming to make us look and feel prettier, sexier, younger, thinner.  They do so by marketing to us products in packaging that is excessive, difficult or impossible to recycle, with ingredients that aren’t necessarily good for our health, and that are polluting to the environment.  Where is the beauty in that?

Zero waste beauty is about quality natural ingredients, minimal packaging and finding what feels good for your skin.

It is also about embedding joy into your self-care rituals by caring for your skin the way that works for you rather than what someone else says you have to do to feel better about yourself.  So have fun with it!

A few ideas to transition toward a zero waste beauty routine include:

Instead of liquid cleansers in little bottles that are hard to recycle, you could switch to Face Bars.  Made with certified organic vegan ingredients, no palm oil or other nasties, right here in Western Australia.  To use simply lather on wet hands or a cloth, cleanse face with gentle circular actions and rinse off.

Oily Face Bars assist with balancing oil production and clearing problem skin.

Mature/Dry Skin Face Bars nourish, moisturise and gently cleanse skin.

Baby Soft Face/Body Bars are for the most sensitive skin.

The reusable alternative to cotton wool balls or cotton rounds.  Made with super soft fabric, they can be used to cleanse, tone or remove makeup gently.  Once used they can be hand washed or added to the laundry for use again and again.

There are plenty of recipes on the internet for making your own makeup remover.  

One of the easiest is to put a little Coconut Oil or Olive Oil on a reusable facial wipe to remove makeup and then cleanse as usual.  Another is a mix of 1/2 Jojoba Oil and 1/2 Witch Hazel Extract.  Yet another is 1/4 cup Jojoba Oil melted together with 1 tablespoon of Beeswax.  Each have their pros and cons depending on what your skin responds to best and how much effort you want to put in.  

The joy of being part of the Wasteless Pantry community is that you can easily grab just enough of each of these ingredients to try it out.  If it doesn’t suit you there is no waste, and if it does suit you, you can tweak to your hearts content.

Many exfoliators of the past contained microbeads.  Little bits of plastic that you would rub against your skin and then wash down the drain.  This would then end up in the oceans, where they entered the food chain and came back to us in our seafood!

Microbeads are unnecessary when we have lots of options for natural exfoliators in our pantries.  Mix salt, sugar, quick oats or used coffee grinds with your favourite oil to a thick paste for a quick and easy scrub.  Depending on how fine your scrubbing ingredient is (castor sugar has a more gentle action than raw sugar granules) this can be used on both face and body.  Due to the oil in your scrub, once rinsed off skin will also already be moisturised too!

A favourite zero waste beauty ritual for me is using a clay mask.  I buy clay in my own container from Wasteless Pantry which I mix up with either water, oil or cooled herbal tea depending on whether my skin needs clarifying, moisturising or soothing the most.  Leave on for 10 minutes and then rinse.  Skin is silky soft and there is no packet to throw away!

If clay doesn’t suit your skin, another alternative is raw Spray free honey, which you can also get from Wasteless Pantry.  Raw honey is an active product which is said to hydrate and treat troubled skin.  It’s a little messy to apply but the results are worth it.  Plus if you happen to get a little in your mouth, you wont be complaining.

1/3 Apple Cider Vinegar or Witch Hazel Extract and 2/3 water or Rose Water

Add essential oils if this is your preference.

Great for tightening pores and brightening your complexion.

Too easy!

We are very lucky to have a thick luxurious Organic Moisturiser available from The Family Hub Organics, made locally, vegan and palm oil free.  Particularly beneficial for dry, damaged or aging skin this amazing moisturiser is gentle enough for those with sensitive skin including those with dermatitis & eczema.  Scented and unscented options are available.

Apply to clean, dry skin on the face or body & gently rub in until absorbed. 

We ask a lot of our moisturisers and this one doesn’t disappoint! Just bring your container in to refill so you can try just a bit without the waste.  Our moisturiser is in the league of those brands that package in a 50ml bottle and have words like anti-aging, revitalising, sensitive and regenerating in their ads, but with organic ingredients that don’t harm the earth and at a fraction of the price.

The Family Hub Organics have created a lightweight Body Lotion for us that is soothing, hydrating and leaves skin feeling well cared for.  Palm oil free, vegan, locally made, made with organic ingredients and zero waste; so it ticks all the boxes.

Apply to clean, dry skin & gently rub in until absorbed. 

Another great win for waste reduction! We have a few varieties of scoopable Deodorants containing only natural, aluminium free, palm oil free ingredients that are made locally in Western Australia.  You get to smell pretty all day long and nothing has to be disposed of in landfill or the recycling bin.  We even have a Bicarb Free Deodorant for those with sensitive armpits.  Natural deodorants generally come in a 30ml tin and you only need a little so this lasts a couple of months.  Just put a little on the end of your finger to wipe on each clean armpit.

Not strictly for your skincare but still helpful to look beautiful.  Getting the plastic free alternative to our usual tools of the trade is a great investment when your old plastic one starts to fail.  Old plastic brushes are not able to be recycled and so are only destined for landfill, whereas bamboo is a renewable resource that can be composted in a hole in your garden!

One of the things I missed when swapping to a zero waste beauty routine was pore strips.  I know they aren’t important in the scheme of things and so I gave them up without too much fuss.  But then Wasteless Pantry started stocking Activated Charcoal and I was able to have fun with this again. YAY!

The recipe is simple: mix 1/3 activated charcoal with 2/3 gelatine powder or agar agar powder and keep in a little jar.  Be careful with the activated charcoal as it can stain clothing and bench tops. Then when you want to make your strips simply mix in a little hot water to make a thick paste.  Use your finger tip or a small brush to apply over a small patch like your nose or chin and allow to dry.  When it is dry simply peel off and rinse dry.  It is so gruesomely satisfying to see all those little blackheads stuck to the peeled off mask.

All these ingredients are available at Wasteless Pantry so you can just grab what you need to try it out without having to invest in big quantities of hard to find items!

I’m adding this one in just because it is lovely to have a scented bath at the end of all your primping and preening. 

To make Bath Tea, simply add whichever petals and herbs of your liking to a small bag (like the ones we have available for using with soap nuts), pull closed and steep in your bath with you.  Much easier to clean up than throwing the petals directly in with you and you can always add a handful of epsom salts for good measure too.  My favourite combination is rose, lavender and chamomile as it is so calming before bed.  Wasteless Pantry have a range of aromatic herbs and petals in our Spices and Herbal Tea sections as well as rock salt and epsom salts if you want to DIY bath salts too.

What other zero waste beauty ideas do you love?