Have you switched to old style products? (recycling, plastic, buying)

[victimofGM]

For example, have you switched back to bar soap in a paper or cardboard box in place of plastic bottle body wash? Have you switched from disposable plastic razors or disposable heads for a double edge safety razor?

[North Beach Person]

No switching needed, never used plastic bottle wash. Went from an electric razor to a double edge safety razor when I retired.

I'm waiting to see if someone wants to take my fireplace ashes to make lye soap.

[gus2]

The only "switch back" I can think of is that we ditched sponges and use wash cloths in the kitchen. That way we have a fresh one every day, and we just throw them into the wash with the rest of the laundry.

[Hemlock140]

I have never used body wash, for many years just Irish Spring. For shaving I use the disposables from Costco, and with a beard just trimming I can get them to last a month, so the pack of 52 lasts me several years. We have cut down on the use of paper towels buy using a lot of microfiber towels, but is that an environmental improvement, if they have to be washed and dried?

[AtkinsonDan]

Originally Posted by victimofGM

For example, have you switched back to bar soap in a paper or cardboard box in place of plastic bottle body wash? Have you switched from disposable plastic razors or disposable heads for a double edge safety razor?

I have always used bar soap for showering. I have liquid soap from those clear plastic bottles at the sinks for period hand-washing throughout the day. I have never attempted body wash in the shower. Wouldn't most of it drip down onto the shower floor and be wasted?

[Parnassia]

Originally Posted by AtkinsonDan

I have always used bar soap for showering. I have liquid soap from those clear plastic bottles at the sinks for period hand-washing throughout the day. I have never attempted body wash in the shower. Wouldn't most of it drip down onto the shower floor and be wasted?

As for body washes in the shower, you don't pour the stuff on yourself, you put it on a scrub mitt or cloth. It doesn't drip on the floor until you rinse off. I still use some liquid soaps/detergents (which usually means a plastic bottle) because the septic system processes them more easily. Which means it needs pumping less often, which means less septic tank sludge that needs to be dealt with somewhere else. Bar soap and dry detergent residues still go somewhere. But, in exchange, I select the product based on non-petroleum based natural ingredients and whether the container can be recycled.

I try to buy products packaged in paper or plant-based biodegradable material. Wish more household products made use of those options, but suspect the chemical nature of the product in the container limits that.

[JONOV]

Honestly, I can't be hassled with a safety razor. The 5 bladed safety ones are just so much quicker. I really only have bodywash in my travel kit.

[engineman]

Disposable razors are trashy.

I never liked liquid soap. My wife does, so we have both.

[slowlane3]

I shower with bar soap. For handwashing, I squeeze out only a tiny bit of dispenser soap, and keep a half.gallon bottle of generic soap (sold at Target) to refill the same dispenser many times. Have shaved electric for 50 years.

[in_newengland]

I still use bar soap. I still save glass jars with covers for storing food. I save pieces of paper and use the other side. My apartment complex has recycling bins but I've read that nothing much gets recycled anymore except good glass and cardboard cartons. Apparently China is tired of buying our used plastic goods.

I buy things second hand whenever I can and they are usually better made than most modern junk and much cheaper too. In my state we use cloth shopping bags in the grocery stores instead of getting all those plastic bags. I do worry about all the excess packaging when something arrives from some place like Amazon and would rather just go to the store and be able to get it but stores don't usually have what I want anymore. You have to buy online. They even tell you that.