This weekend, we’re holding a massive 40% off sale with free UK delivery too!
Enter the code BANKHOL40 at checkout. The minimum spend for this offer is £40.
Sale ends midnight on Monday 31st August. Don’t be late 😉
Are you looking for some super easy plastic free swaps for your home? In this article, we’re going to look at 9 of our best selling favourite products and suggest easy ways to reduce plastic usage.
Sick of using up plastic scourers and foam sponges? They’re the ultimate in environmentally unfriendly kitchen products, and usually have to be thrown away before they wear out because they become so unhygienic.
Fortunately, the humble coconut is here to save the day.
Coconut fibre is stiff and durable, so it’s the ideal material to tackle baked-on dirt in the kitchen or soap scum in the bathroom. Our favourite coconut-based scrub pads are these large Saffix pads for kitchen and bathroom.
Each pad measures 10cm x 15cm and is tough enough to use for a few months if cleaned after each use. The pads are made from coconut fibre bound with natural glue, making them environmentally friendly and safe to use around the home.
When the pad breaks down, you can pop it in your black bin or compost it at home. You don’t need a hot or industrial composter for this.
Home compostable bin bags are handy if you want to store food waste while you’re waiting for the food waste collection. You can also use them to pop garden waste into a bag that you can easily dispose of, or to line a caddy for food waste that’s destined for the compost bin.
A few brands are now making these bags in different sizes and quantities.
For example, at Smug we have 3 easy swaps:
All of these bags have the Vincotte OK-Compost logo to certify that they will break down in your home compost bin.
We’ve tried all of these brands and can confirm that they break down safely and quickly.
Watch out for non-compostable bags that have to be hot composted or industrially composted – most homeowners don’t have the facilities for this.
Solid washing up liquid is a really easy plastic free kitchen swap. And when you think about it, making the switch from shampoo to solid shampoo was easy enough – so it makes sense to ditch plastic in the kitchen too.
This 200g solid washing up bar from the Zero Waste Club has a coconut oil base and is 100% vegan.
You could also swap to the plastic free, vegan No Tox Life solid washing up bar, made from Quillaja Saponaria, also known as the South American ‘soap bark’ tree.
Just like natural soap, solid washing up bars need to be stored in a dry place away from humidity and steam. Consider using your plastic free washing up bar with a soap bag to help it lather; the soap bag also makes it really easy to hang your bar up to dry between uses.
These solid washing up bars are great for camping trips, weekends away, or just for reducing the amount of plastic you use in the kitchen.
Beeswax food wraps are a clever way to preserve food in the fridge without using cling film. But what about the vegan alternative?
Fortunately, there are also a plastic free vegan food wraps for those who prefer to avoid animal products in the kitchen.
At Smug, we have 2 varieties of easy plastic free vegan wraps:
These are an easy plastic free kitchen swap if you want to avoid plastic tubs and cling film. Once your wraps reach the end of their usable life, they can be composted at home safely too.
We’re going to finish up with one of our all-time favourite plastic free kitchen swaps – an easy alternative to getting your refills from the refill shop.
Ocean Saver refill drops are plastic free and plant-based. Each tiny box makes 750ml of eco-friendly household cleaner.
What’s more, these products are very inexpensive and can be mixed in bottles you already have at home.
If you’re struggling to get to the refill drop during COVID-19, or you just find refilling and carrying bottles a challenge, these refill drops are a great solution. Easy, plastic free refills that you can do in your own kitchen just by dissolving the sachet in warm water.
What’s your favourite easy plastic-free swap for the kitchen? Let us know in the comments below.
Here at Smug, we sell a range of beautiful natural deodorants.
They smell much better than the ones you buy in the supermarket. And they look nicer too.
But from time to time, natural deodorants can irritate the skin. This article will explain why, and how you can stop it happening.
Natural deodorant burns because of the baking soda (bicarbonate of soda) in the formula. Not all natural deodorant brands contain baking soda, but if you’re experiencing redness, burning, or itching, it’s possible that this is the reason why.
Baking soda is effective in keeping you fresh. But it can also be a little harsh on the delicate skin in your underarm area.
Some people can use baking soda deodorant without any issues, but others will find that their skin becomes a little itchy towards the end of the day. Some people never feel irritation, but notice small red marks.
And since the ingredients in natural deodorant are very different to the ingredients in supermarket-bought deodorant, this reaction often takes people by surprise.
You can stop the itching sensation from some natural deodorants by gently rinsing the product away at the end of the day. You can use ordinary soap and warm water to do this.
If you shower every day, make sure you actually wash the areas where you apply deodorant rather than just letting water rinse over them.
Why does this work? If you apply natural deodorant with baking soda for two consecutive days without washing, you will start to get a build-up, and that’s usually when the burning or itching kicks in. It’s not harmful, but it’s a sign that you’ve got too much product building up.
There are a couple of other things you can do too.
Stay away from ‘strong’ natural deodorants as these tend to have more bicarbonate of soda in them.
Use a little for the first few days and gauge your reaction (you may need to use less than you think).
If none of this works, switch to a brand without baking soda. Check the ingredients carefully. For example, The Natural Deodorant Co. is one company that doesn’t use baking soda in its formula.
Natural deodorant is a great product that is more eco friendly than supermarket brands. Although some of the products cost more, they tend to last longer, and many brands are vegan, cruelty free, and plastic free too.
If you need more help before choosing your next natural or plastic free deodorant, drop us a line via the contact page and we’ll do our best to advise.
I’m VERY excited to announce that we have some brand new, plastic free multivitamins that are also vegan/ veggie, gluten free, and entirely plant based. With 19 vitamins and minerals, these quality multivitamins come in a cork pot that can be refilled, and packed in a card outer box.
It’s so difficult to find vegetarian and vegan multivitamins, and if you’re veggie/ vegan yourself, you’ve probably spent ages looking through ingredients on cheap multivitamins trying to find tablets and tablets without gelatine or lactose.
I’m looking forward to getting some feedback on these brand new plastic free tablets.
Each pack contains 60 multivitamin tablets and costs £29.50.
Our washing up bars are a great plastic free replacement for washing up liquid in plastic bottles. A 230g bar lasts around 6 months, but it’s also quite an investment if you’ve not used a solid washing up bar before, so we’re pleased to be able to add an affordable 155g size as well.
All washing up soap bars are vegan and eco friendly – you can use your left over dishwater to water your plants!
We’ve been selling these wonderful compostable & plastic free cleaning cloths for a while now, and they’ve been really popular.
EcoLiving has now brought out a brand new set of designs featuring Australian wildlife. 10% of the profits from the wildlife set will be donated to WIRES in Australia, an organisation helping to save animals affected by the bush fires.
Each pack of 4 cloths costs £7. The cloths are made from cellulose and cotton with water-based prints and can be hme composted once they reach the end of their life.
Saffix coconut products are truly amazing: durable, affordable, and compostable too. This scrub pad is hard-wearing and designed to exfoliate the areas of the body where hard skin builds up, like the heels and knees. At the end of its life, the whole pad can be composted in any home compost bin.
The best thing is that these amazing pads cost just £2 each!
Pick up this affordable addition to your plastic free bathroom with your next order. We have lots of these in stock, but if they’re anything like the other Saffix products we sell, they’ll disappear pretty quickly!
Eco Floss is the first floss we’ve sold that is free from both silk and nylon!
This floss is compostable in a hot bin and is made from 100% renewable waste byproducts from corn production. The packaging is also bio-based and can be used to dispense the floss.
I’ve just restocked our stash of Turtle Bags, which I know will please lots of you who have ordered multiple colours in the past.
First off, we have the brand new YELLOW bag which is a perfect spring addition!
We now have more stock of the following bags:
Turtle Bags are £6 for the long-handled type and £5 each for the ones with short handles.
We’ve got just four jars of this gorgeous Valley Mist natural baby balm up for grabs. Made with almost entirely organic ingredients, this gentle balm is free from ingredients that can irritate newborn skin.
This would make a really nice gift for a new mum as part of a plastic free care package, or a nice treat for yourself if you’re putting together a few treats for when your baby arrives.
