Category: Cleaning

Eco-Friendly Laundry Tips & Tricks

eco friendly cleaning products for the laundry

Using eco-friendly cleaning products isn’t the only way to be sustainable!

Great ways to lighten your load…

👚 Firstly, buy clothes made with natural fibres so that microplastics don’t end up in our oceans.

👖 Wash clothes less often (not your socks and jocks though!) I love anything that tells me to do less laundry 😆

🌿 Use eco-friendly cleaning products (like the ones we stock at Wasteless Pantry). If you refill your containers you get bonus eco points!

☀️ Opt for a clothesline for solar and wind-powered drying.

These tips will help you save money, get more wear out of your clothes, reduce your carbon footprint, and reduce microplastics in our oceans. Therefore, you’re winning! 

Okay, so let’s circle back to those eco-friendly cleaning products.

Not everything that has organic, eco, environmental, or natural on the label is actually friendly to the planet. Do a little research and reading to find the best options you have available to you. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just the best you can access.

The zero-waste laundry options we have at WP include:

​Refillable laundry liquids (top loader, front loader and wool wash/delicates options) – add 30ml to your wash for regular loads

Fabric softener – put 13 to 25 ml in your wash

Laundry powder and presoaker – 25g is used as laundry powder and a bit more (100g) as a stain remover/presoaker

Stain remover bars – the great all-rounder for rubbing on stains or for handwashing, especially when traveling, always apply to wet cloth

Organic Castile liquid soap – add 30-60 ml to your wash

These have all been locally made in WA, and are palm oil free, vegan, and greywater safe.

Soap nuts – add 4-6 half shells in a little bag or old sock to your wash (replace every 3-6 washes depending on how hard your water is and how heavily soiled your washing was to start with)

Once everything is clean, pop it out to dry on a clothesline or airer using wire pegs or bamboo pegs that will last for years!

Feel like you have the eco friendly laundry and cleaning sorted? How about checking out how to create a waste free bathroom next…


EnsoPet How-To Guide

No need for single-use ‘doggy’ bags when you can install your own EnsoPet pet waste composter and improve your soil too!

Quick overview

Bury the EnsoPet composter in the garden so just the lid is visible and the inside is free of soil. Use the tongs provided to drop your pets waste into the composter then sprinkle over the Ensopet starter bran. The micro-organisms do their magic breading down the waste quickly so that it should take months or years to completely fill (depends on the amount of waste your animals produce). If it does fill, cover over with soil and start again in a new location. Easy and hygienic.

Ensopet bokashi pet waste composting kit is suitable for many pets. For example, dog, cat, rabbit, guinea pig and many more.

The Full Details on How to Use Ensopet Pet Waste Composter

  1. Clip together the four sides to create a cylinder with no bottom.
  2. Dig a hole 40cm wide and 40cm deep away from edible plants.
  3. Place the EnsoPet poo composter in the hole and backfill with soil around the outside.
  4. Use the tongs to drop in your pet waste as needed and lightly sprinkle around 20g of starter bran per 100g waste (this is a rough guide, no need to weigh out your pets waste).
  5. Seal with the lid until you need to add more. Best if you are able to do this in small batches rather than a big load all in one go.
  6. The system needs to be kept moist so if it starts to dry out then add a little water when you are caring for your garden.

The micro-organisms remediate any pathogens in your pet waste as well as improving your soil. If you have large pets or particularly poor soil you may benefit from setting up two systems simultaneously. You can also add dry leaves, fine bark, spent potting mix to your composter if desired.

Now you should have the hang of your Ensopet Pet Waste composter. A similar style of system is available for your food waste too! Check out all the info about Bokashi Bins next!


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!


Can Going To Bars Reduce Waste?

Have you tried out personal hygiene, pet care and cleaning products in bar form?

Shampoo bars, conditioner bars, face bars, soap bars, deodorant bars, body butter bars, pet care bars, stain remover bars, dishwashing bars; the list goes on and on…

It seems that these are becoming more and more popular, with some good reasons for their popularity.

  • Bars are a concentrated version of their liquid counterpart.  Meaning that you are getting a comparable product, just without the added water and excessive packaging.  This is great because it means that fewer resources are needed to manufacture, transport and sell the product as they take up less space.  One little 110g shampoo bar can replace up to 3 full bottles of shampoo!
  • According to Ethique (one of the brands we have available), “each bar lasts 2-5 times longer than bottled beauty products because they’re super concentrated – you add the water – not us.”
  • Bars are super convenient when you are travelling!  Liquid quantities are often limited when travelling via aeroplane and even when this is not an issue, it is often much preferred to take a little bar than having to lug around litres of a product when travelling for extended periods.
  • Bars can be an economical alternative when compared to products of the same quality.  Wasteless Pantry only stocks palm-oil free options which we have tested and believe will be enjoyable to use for their intended purpose with great results.
  • Bars come with little to no packaging so there is no strain on our landfill or recycling facilities.  No need to send a plastic bottle overseas to be remanufactured into another product that then gets shipped somewhere else in the world again for use.  You just use the product and it’s done.
  • Our bars are safe for grey water and don’t pollute our waterways with plastics, microplastics or harsh chemicals.
  • Not all cleansing bars are soap! Each bar is made for a specific purpose and so has ingredients that benefit that particular application.

Bars are just super handy and easy to use!

The main thing to remember when using bars is to make sure that they dry out well between uses.  Pop them on a soap rack, coconut fibre scourer or other drying option between use to harden up.  Soft bars mean that you use more than you needed and are just washing that product down the drain.  A waste of product and money!

      • Have you made the switch? Would you consider it?

Easy Quick Eco Cleaning Tips – How to Clean Your Kettle

Like a squeaky clean kettle but don’t want to have to scrub it?

You have two Wasteless options:

1. Throw in a used lemon and boil your full kettle a couple of times, letting it sit until all the nasties have lifted then rinse and you’re good to go. Or

2. Throw in a tablespoon of citric acid that you bought in your BYO container at ‪#‎wastelesspantry‬ then boil and rinse, no wait time for you next lovely cup of something yum! ‪


Clear the Clutter

Why would a Wasteless Pantry website have a blog post on decluttering? How unrelated could that be?

Not at all!

If you have so many things in your home that you can’t find what you need then this is a waste.  If you buy the same thing again because you didn’t know you already had one, then that is a waste.  And if you lose time or peace of mind everyday trying to control all the clutter that accumulates then you know what I think that means….

I love to chat about all things decluttering! I will post this in a series of bits and peices because if you let me I’ll go on and on about it all day!!  These are ideas that I have collected from too many sources to quote and have been tried and tested in my own home.

To get started:

First off start with the end in mind – do you want completely clear or just less than now?  If you want clear – remove everything from one tiny space, like a chair that collects clutter or one shelf or one draw, only put back what you LOVE.  If you are sure you don’t love it get rid of it – sell, donate, recycle or trash.  If you’re not sure then put it in a box in the garage or shed with a date (one or two months). If it doesn’t get rescued by the due date then it goes.
If you simply want less – same process but just one box at a time that leaves the house.

Guidelines:

  1. Only ever focus on one tiny space at a time until you get the feel good – ahhh – moment when you look at that space.
  2. Protect that space above all others.
  3. Don’t do too much too quick.
  4. Avoid looking through the box a second time before getting rid of it – you’re instincts are right and you don’t need to second guess yourself.

 

“Have nothing in your house that you do no know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”  – Wiliam Morris

But what do you do with items that you want to keep but don’t fit anywhere in the location where they belong because you haven’t decluttered that space yet?

You’re not going to like this answer but in reality I put the stuff in a box and shove it wherever I can in that room until there is space.  I know this sounds really bad but the idea is to not get side tracked and miss out on the feel good from the space you are tackling.  Yes it feels off to be cluttering up other areas but they were cluttered anyhow.  Sometimes you have got to get the motivation from that single focus to overcome the overwhelm and inertia.  Once I’ve sorted that one little space I can free up my energy to tackle the next.

Prioritise based on impact

I try to prioritise spaces by what will have the biggest impact for me – visual or functional.  Like in the kitchen the visual of a clear bench is awesome, but the functionality of being able to get a cup out without fighting 50 others spilling is also important.  But the cupboard with serving platters that get used maybe once a month might not be a priority until the other two have already been tackled.

Find duplicates

Put all like things together too – all your pens together or all your serving utensils, etc – you might find duplicates (or more) – ‘keep the best, get rid of the rest’. Seeing them together makes the decision easier sometimes.

Think outside your four walls

Also think about storage more liberally – maybe you can ‘store’ some of your gear at a friends or family members home where it will get used more often and then you can call upon it when you actually need it. For example, my brother has a fan we weren’t using much – if we have a family function where it would be handy we could just ask that he bring it along. It’s not necessarily about ownership, simply sharing things so they get used to their best advantage.  Just something to think about – not for everyone, I know.

Challenge yourself!

If you are serious about getting the clutter under control how about setting yourself a challenge to not buy anything except necessities (food/toilet paper) unless something else leaves the house first.  No new kitchen appliances until at least one is donated or moved on first…

Make life simpler and waste less, one pantry shelf at a time.

Are you inspired to tackle the clutter or have your own tips to share?  Leave your comments below or share on our Facebook page.