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There is a commonly believed myth that if a product is sustainable to the consumer that product should cost more. In some instances this can be true, for example wheninvesting in a reusable water bottle rather than buying a cheaper, single-use plastic one. Or paying extra to offset journeys such as flights or train rides.However, at ekologik our mission is to make effective, sustainable products affordable compared to the plastic covered alternatives.
With the cost of living becoming an ever pressing concern, and the ideology that sustainable products must be expensive, as a team we have selected 4 sustainable swaps that don’t break the bank.
Clothes: I doubt you will be surprised to hear that fast fashion is a major contributor to global warming. The speed of their production, distribution and use is unsustainable, to say the least. Unfortunately, fast fashion tends to be cheap and therefore it is often the most attractive option for buying new clothes. At ekologik, we understand that buyingnothing is the best option for the planet. However, if youneed to buy something, we advocate for buying second hand. We personally enjoy shopping on second hand apps for clothes and shoes. When shopping on second hand sites, you can filter for ‘lowest cost first’ and find items for as little as £1, as well as creating ‘bundles’, where you can purchase multiple items from a seller, reducing the cost of the items and saving money on postage. However, the rise in popularity of thrifted or vintage clothing has meant that prices on second hand sites and charity shops have increased, isolating the people whoneed to use second hand shops in order to clothe themselves and their families. Therefore it is unsurprising that people on a tighter budget sacrifice the desire to be sustainable and shop fast fashion, especially for fast growing children.
Cleaning: ekologik produce affordable cleaning products. We believe that products have to be accessible in order to encourage everyone to make sustainable choices. Therefore our range of household eco cleaning pods are the most affordable on the market. We encourage using the bottles you have at home already, and once you’ve used up your current products, save the bottles to refill with our pods! You can also subscribe to save more money, and receive our refill bundle every 6, 8 or 10 weeks. Keep an eye on our social media for our latest deals, savings and voucher codes.
Food: Current rising living costs has seen massive inflation in the cost of food. It seems that more than ever, the majority of food is sold in plastic packaging and unfortunately, plastic-free alternatives, such as shopping in green grocers or refill shops, tend to be the more expensive choice. We recommend buying plastic-free fruit and veg in the supermarket, where possible.We acknowledge that buying food in plastic is inevitable when on a budget. At ekologik we love using the app ‘Too Good To Go’, who strive to eliminate food waste and have created an app to connect food businesses and consumers looking to ‘rescue’ the leftover food at the end of the day. Too Good To Go has hundreds of different options of restaurants, shops and greengrocers. They have several options for green-grocers, and you can usually buy a large box of fruit and veg for £4. You do not get to choose what comes in your box, however we enjoy being creative with cooking with the ingredients that they give us and have someknacks that ensure we do not waste any food, such as freezing, storing in jars of water and blending into smoothies or soups!
Cosmetics: The cosmetics industry is dominated by plastic packaging. It seems that every item is sold in plastic which can only be disposed of in landfill. We could recommend many businesses who sell cosmetics to refill shops, or in compostable packaging but we are yet to findaffordable cosmetics in natural or compostable packaging; expensive alternatives dominate the market. However, similarly to the section on buying new clothes, we love buying cosmetics from second hand apps. You can filter for brand new with tags, or brand new without tags if you would prefer to have unopened and unused cosmetics. We love finding bargains on Vinted, and find that we can afford brands we would usually be unable to. Although this does not solve the plastic issue, it is ensuring that the products are being used, unlike if the seller discarded them. We recommend looking into ways to reuse the plastic containers, or how to properly recycle them. Superdrug provides arecycling scheme for lots of typically non-recyclable items.
We hope that these sustainable swaps provide you with some tips on how to make sustainable choices.
