Along with the kitchen, bathrooms are probably the most wasteful rooms in the house. Most people have lots of items in their bathroom they've never used, or have only used a couple of times, and there's plastic galore. So it's also one room where making small changes can make a huge difference to the amount of waste products.
Only 52% of people say they regularly recycle items from their bathroom, this means a heck off a lot of bottles, jars, and packets going into the bin every single day. Part of this is because it's confusing knowing what can be recycled, and because a lot of packaging for bathroom products just isn't recyclable. So today I'm going to be talking all about creating less waste in your bathroom, whether you're a seasoned zero waster or someone completely new to all of this. 

 Items I use:
  • Toilet Paper: For toilet paper I use the wonderful Who Gives A Crap, which is made from recycled paper and comes in paper packaging. 
  • Soap: I use a soap bag and bar of soap for my body, this means I can exfoliate in the shower and use no plastic with my paper packaged soap. For the sink I use refilled soap from Faith in Nature that I buy from a local zero waste shop.
  • Deodorant*: I recently switched to Zero Waste and vegan deodorant by Coconut Matter,  I'm happy to say I've finally found a zero waste deodorant that actually works. 
  • Moisturiser: For Moisturiser I use Lush's Argan naked face oil, this is packaging free and smells delightful. Mkese my face feel guuud.
  • Razor: Another recent purchase I've switched to a bamboo and metal safety razor by World of Bamboo. With Safety razors you only need to replace the blades, creating a lot less waste than conventional razors. 
  • Makeup Wipes: For makeup wipes i have some really cute Dinosaur and Doughnut cotton wipes I use for cleanser/ face products, and for makeup removal I love my ditsy cloth! I just pop it in the wash every couple of weeks and it works with water or a small amount of makeup remover, no more environment and sewage damaging wet wipes.
  • Sanitary Products: I personally don't use any sanitary products (yay for the Mirena coil) but wrote a whole post about plastic free periods if you're interested. 
  • Toothbrush: I use three different toothbrushes, a recycled plastic one, an old electric, and a bamboo one. This may sound excessive but it's just because I've tried a fair few! And I tend to find that the bamboo one's bristles are a little too soft for an effective clean. 
  • Toothpaste: I've used Georganics Tooth Powder for a while now, but .I do have issues with it not making me feel as fresh as other tooth paste and so I do switch between this and conventional toothpaste. 
* These products were gifted to me by Coconut Matter, all opinions on them are my own.

I'll be honest with you guys though, I have quite bit to go to make my bathroom more zero waste, it's a process after all. so here are the items I need to change to make things more zero waste
Things to work on
  • Shampoo and Conditioner: I've tried one or two refillable and packaging free shampoo's but I haven't quite found one that's right for my hair at the moment. As someone with coloured and oily hair finding a shampoo that both washes my hair and preserves my colour is not the easiest thing to do. But I'll keep looking.
  • Dry Shampoo: I tried using Lush's loose dry shampoo but I haven't found it very effective and so mostly still use spray cans.
  • Toothpaste: As I said above, I change between zero waste toothpaste and conventional toothpaste because the former doesn't quite clean/make my mouth feel as fresh as I'd like it to. Again, I'm gunna keep looking
  • Deodorant: Similar to the toothpaste, though I am happy to have found zero waste deodorant that actually lasts me 24 hours, it's not perfect and doesn't protect as much as I'd like on really sweaty days, so I'll be using my conventional 48hr deodorant on really hot days or days I know I'm going to be a very sweaty being. 
  • Makeup: Another one to work on, I currently only own a few zero waste makeup products, but I did write a post on 24 zero waste and sustainable makeup brands so will be aiming to replace my makeup with zero waste alternatives when it runs out.
  • Skincare: I don't have much of a beauty routine, but I do want a bit more of one, and a waste free one at that.
I think the general idea with this is to buy less, and be more conscious when you go and make purchases. It can be so easy to go into the store to stock up on beauty and bathroom supplies and just end up buying loads of stuff you don't really need.


 Coconut Matter Review
Coconut matter were kind enough to gift me some of their deodorant to try and to feature and I'm I've finally found a zero waste and vegan deodorant that works for me! I am very happy to report. I've tried a few different ones in my time and with almost all of them I've ended up smelly in the first couple of hours of wearing them. I'm quite a smelly gal. But these actually do last for the twenty four hours they say they will. They're designed to be used on any part of the body that sweats but I've only tried them on my pits.

They're also ethically hand made in a slow and sustainable way, all wonderful things.
Free: This one is fragrance free which I find odd, I'm not going to lie. I find it really strange putting on deodorant that doesn't smell like anything at all, but it still works and means it won't be clashing with your perfume smell.
Spring: A more floral fragrance, I really like this one as it blends well with some of the perfumes I use.
Zen: This is more of a bergamot and cedar wood type smell which I usually love, but not so much on my pits. I find that if I do end up a little smelly with this deodorant on it doesn't mask the smell especially well for me.
Hero: This is definitely my favourite fragrance, a zesty smell that just feels fresh. It also masks my natural body odor well if I do happen to sweat a lot while wearing it.

The only thing to get used to is because the pop up section of these is cardboard, you have to hold the deodorant up while you put it on, but that's really minor! And though they last for the 24 hours, and often longer, on days where I'm getting a serious sweat on I do get kinda smelly. So my solution is that on days where it's really hot and humid outside, or where I'm going to be doing  serious amounts of sweating I'll use my conventional - not so environmentally friendly - deodorant, though that's not perfect, it does mean I'm buying a heck of a lot less plastic and supporting brands doing good a lot more.

These deodorants aren't too cheap $16 each, but are designed to each last for 4 months, so actually work out at around $4 a month which is very affordable.


It may seem like there's a lot to do to change from a very wasteful bathroom but as I always say when talking about zero waste, it really is about taking things one step at a time and just trying! Plus you can save money in the long run with a lot of these products.

Have you got any swaps I haven't talked about? Any zero waste products you really love? Let me know below.