Trying to reduce waste can be a bit of a challenge sometimes. Everything is pre packaged and readily available at the supermarket. All you have to do is pull your favorite hair product, or food item off the shelf, throw it in the cart and head to the register.
However, most of us in this community, are aware of the harm that the immense amount of plastic waste is having on the health of our planet and its passengers and have decided to do something to reduce our footprint.
At home, we took these four small steps to reduce plastic and organic waste:
- We replaced plastic grocery bags with cloth ones
- We bought aluminum drinking straws
- We made a three-tier compost system
- And we buy fruits and veggies from the farmers market (with no plastic packaging)
But one of the things we’ve been trying to get rid of without success were plastic shampoo and conditioner bottles.
Until today.
We decided to take an afternoon stroll in the neighborhood and took our dog Compadre with us. As we approached one of the buildings that has a courtyard with a huge tree in the middle,
we saw a sign that said welcome to the startup station. Then, a series of colorful pop-up stands with all sorts of different products on display from small business owners…
dried fruit, hand-made art
and this:
These are shampoo and conditioner tablets made by a local business. They package it in a paper container and paper bag (which we'll recycle when we go back for more).
They have several different aromas. We chose hibiscus & lavender.
This morning I put these Rapunzel locks to the test to see If I'd be able to manage the switch.
I was actually quite surprised; as soon as you add water, you massage the tablet in your hair and it will start to foam. It feels and smells really nice and afterwards, you leave the shower feeling nice and clean :)
I'm going to start to count how many showers one can get from a single tablet, but I'm sure that we'll be bringing a few less plastic bottles into our home starting today.