Want to Live Plastic-free? Here’s How to Shop Differently

I mentioned in one of my previous articles how my shopping habits changed when I started to live plastic-free. These changes revolved around where and how I buy my necessities now. So I just wanted to give a heads up to anyone wanting to cut down on plastic that it will change your shopping habits. Based on personal experience, the best way to cut down on plastic waste is to utilize your refill options and swap to products that aren’t plastic based.

Something I need to make sure to clarify in these posts is when I say “live plastic-free”, I’m specifically referring to single-use plastics. While I am steadily changing out plastics, both single-use and durable, my focus is mostly on the single-single use plastics. This is because they are one of the biggest contributors to plastic waste that we, as individuals, have some control over.

To live plastic-free requires changing our habits

So, it’s just a matter of changing our habits. Easy right?… Wrong!

Good intentions don’t automatically create good habits (it would be great if they did though). My own efforts to go plastic-free frequently remind me that good habits require intention, awareness, and constant effort to develop. Which is one of the reasons I’m glad to share this journey with you! Blogging helps keep me mindful and accountable for my goals. And hopefully these insights can be of benefit to anyone else wanting to cut down on their plastic dependency.

If you are wanting to change your habits, I highly recommend the book, Changeology* by John Norcross and Co. The link will take you to my book list on bookshop.org.

Swapping daily necessities for their plastic-free counterparts

Did you know that there are quite a few daily necessities that have plastic-free alternatives? Here’s a list of the ones you can usually find at most zero waste stores, either online or in person.

• Hand soap
• Dish soap
• Dishwasher soap
• Laundry detergent
• Face cleanser
• Shampoo
• Conditioner
• Body wash
• All-purpose cleaner
• Toilet cleaner
• Glass cleaner
• Toothpaste
• Toothbrush
• Dental floss
• Mouthwash
• Hand lotion
• Body lotion
• Sunscreen
• Razors
• Feminine pads

Many of these alternatives can be tablets that you reconstitute with water or can be refilled at the bulk/zero waste stores. If you’re not familiar with bulk food and zero waste stores, they have large bins, barrels, and/or tubs that you use to fill your own containers. You’ll notice I didn’t include any foods in this list, just daily essentials – foods are a whole other list.

Shopping to live plastic-free: Online ordering

These days I buy my personal care, cleaning products, and pantry items at the local bulk food and zero waste stores. Before that, I ordered many of these items online because that was my only option. The plus side of ordering online is that you can usually find a company that carries the variety you need. So you only need to place one or two orders per month to get what you need. The downside of ordering online is that it can be a bit more expensive. Especially if you forgot something in your first order and your “emergency” order isn’t enough to get free shipping.

There are several online companies that have a monthly subscription to help with getting your refills on a regular basis. Automating certain tasks can often be very helpful. I don’t have any companies I can recommend for their subscription service because I usually did bulk buying from them instead. I’m only mentioning the subscription service to let you know that there are companies with that option if that’s a better option for you.

Shopping to live plastic-free: Bulk and zero waste stores

Now that I have access to bulk food and zero waste stores, I actually haven’t placed any online orders in awhile. Except for specific plastic swap items I have my eye on. Yes, I still follow my one product swap per month policy even after several years changing out plastic items. It’s definitely become a habit and I’m still finding things to swap/replace.

A lot of people start with plastic swaps and reusable items to decrease their plastic waste. However, these items can be a bit pricey. So when I started to shift to a more plastic-free lifestyle, I began by budgeting for one plastic swap per month, including the refills. I covered more about the beginning steps to live plastic-free in another post if you want to check it out.

Back then, I had a separate budget line for my plastic swaps and refills. But now that I’ve swapped out quite a few things, and I can get the refills locally, its all been merged into my grocery budget. Because along with the refills, I also get quite a few of my pantry items at the bulk food store as well.

What do the new shopping habits look like?

Whether you are buying online or locally, plastic-free living will change your shopping habits in a couple of ways. You’ll still be shopping at the grocery store, but you’ll likely be adding the bulk food/zero waste store to your weekly errands. Or you’ll be placing about 2-3 online orders a month if you’re not able to buy locally.

When I first started my efforts to live plastic-free, I was purchasing items and refills from several different companies. So that was about 4-6 orders a month. Once I figured out the products I really liked and found an online shop that carried most of my items, I was able to simplify to the 2-3 orders per month (this also included the bulk food orders). Same with the bulk stores (there’s actually a few in my area!), I was making a couple of extra errands every week for over month until I figured out who carried what and I got my routine figured out.

The refills for the plastic alternatives no longer feel like a side-project and have become a part of my regular errands now.

Making these things from scratch

At first, I used to make several of my cleaning necessities from scratch. It proved to be a good plastic-free, natural alternative that was also cost effective. It did take a bit of time to make them but it wasn’t too bad because I would make big batches.

But then came the day that I moved and my homemade laundry detergent wasn’t dissolving well in the washer. That got me looking online for alternatives. Since the companies also carried a variety of cleaning solutions I started to use those instead of making them myself. Then when I discovered my local bulk/zero waste stores it became even more convenient to just buy what I needed. And the bulk refills are usually a pretty good price.

Cost comparison to live plastic-free

Again, this is just my personal experience. If I didn’t have the bulk food stores nearby I would probably go back to making some of my cleaning products from scratch. Mostly because it was more cost effective than buying online.

I’ve included this general cost breakdown for the laundry products I was using. Please remember this is a general estimate based on the laundry detergent options I was using. While they are all natural detergents, this really doesn’t compare anything other than the cost per load for the specific companies I bought from. These prices are likely to vary with different companies, but like a mentioned earlier, this is just to give you a general cost comparison.

• Laundry tablets I was ordering online ~ $0.32 per load
• Laundry detergent from the bulk store ~ $0.19 per load
• Homemade laundry detergent ~ $0.10 per load

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