Moving towards a Zero-Waste Household

I recently posted about how you can commit to a zero-waste lunch, here's a few suggestions for extending zero-waste practices to your household!

During the COVID-19 lockdown earlier this year we saw a sudden shortage of household paper products like toilet paper, paper towel, facial tissue, etc as people were panic buying.

Unfortunately for my household, right as people were starting to panic buy we were very low across the board for household paper products. This got me to thinking - what can we do around the house to reduce usage of such products, thus stretching our thin supply of these items? It's not that big of a stretch really - we already use cloth napkins, cloth shopping bags, etc.

Fortunately, I was spending a lot of time poking around Etsy Canada. I wanted to support small businesses and also, a lot of the spring craft fairs I usually attend were cancelled.  Event managers were recommending that ticket holders do what they could by supporting the craft fair vendors who also had online shops.

I discovered a bunch of ways that we could cut down on paper product waste around the house, ideas below! BONUS - all vendors mentioned here are based in Canada!

Facial rounds from Farm Girl Design in Hillsborough!

Reusable make up remover pads/wipes/facial rounds

I wear make up every day and LOVE using the reusable facial rounds! I don't feel bad about using lots to take off my make up end of day. A lot of vendors make them in different patterns which is also fun. I also use them for applying toner. I don't wear nail polish much anymore these days, but I imagine you could use them to remove nail polish also!

Reusable handkerchiefs or baby wipes from Creation AMG

Handkerchiefs

This was a big one! Both my spouse and myself have terrible seasonal allergies, and during peak allergy season (March-April), we easily go through a box of tissue a week. My spouse had a couple cloth handkerchiefs that are saved for formal events (you know, to look slightly classier while crying your face off at a wedding). I found, however, that they were too big/bulky for me and we generally needed more around the house.

After some experimentation, I found that 'one ply' flannel wipes on Etsy are best. They are smaller than these handkerchiefs you can find in store, and are most like using a single-use tissue -- we use these most like regular kleenex and then throw them right in the laundry basket after.

Hankies and travel pouch from spaghettis in Beloeil!

You can also use proper handkerchiefs like the ones above. So pretty with all the different fabrics!

Tissue holder by PaperPurlsStitches in Penticton!

If you want to stick to disposable tissues, I found these nice tissue holders - instead of getting those disposable packages at drug stores, you can fold your own tissue and store it in these nice pouches. 

Unpaper Towel

Unpaper towel by CheeksAhoyHandmade in Peterborough!

Just use these like you would paper towel! Since we got these, our paper towel usage has gone WAY down. Pretty much the only thing we are using regular paper towel for is 
for cat-related messes...my cat is really big, and is prone to making the occasional large mess if ya know what I mean. 

Beautiful patterned paperless towels by HartCreativeCo in Oakville!

A lot of Etsy vendors  make these so you can wrap them around a paper towel tube to get into the habit, I honestly found these very easy to adapt to and just keep them in the drawer with my tea towels, dish cloths, etc. Plus, this way, when all the cloth napkins are in the wash, we just use an unpaper towel instead for meals.

Other good ideas
Cheese block wrappers by CreationMaridam in Sainte-Luce!
Ultimate commitment points: reusable toilet paper by LaFabriqueFamiliale in Trois-Rivières! (side note - I use mine just for pee and just for me, would NEVER make guests use this!!)
Beautiful reusable shopping bags by Judy's Homemade Handicrafts in Kimberley!
Produce and bulk bags by GoSewEco in Brantford!
Furoshiki aka reusable gift wrap by Louloumini and MiniLou in Mount-Sainte-Hilaire!
Zip pouches in all sorts of sizes and patterns for food, snacks, etc by Mysgreen in Surrey!
Try a little of everything with a zero waste starter kit from CheeksAhoy Handmade!

Etsy Canada has so many talented vendors! No, this is not a sponsored post, I just feel strongly about supporting small businesses, especially those run by women :) Be sure to set "Shop Location" to Canada and "Item type" to handmade: