Did you know you could save around $750 and 797 plastic items from landfill every year simply by swapping five common household products with waste free alternatives?
With rising costs of living in Australia, it's a great time to not only make lifestyle changes that benefit the environment but your household budget too. By reducing the use of everyday plastic items, you're not only reducing waste and saving money, but you're saving the resources used to produce those items in the first place.
Here we compare the annual costs of these five common disposable products with the cost of reusable alternatives from Biome: disposable water bottles, takeaway coffee cups, disposable razors, laundry liquid and plastic bags and cling wrap.
Takeaway coffee
Average takeaway coffee in a disposable coffee cup costs $4.00.
Sustainable alternative: KeepCup 8oz costs $19.00 from Biome.
Receive up to $0.50 discount when you use your reusable coffee cup at Responsible Cafes.
Waste saved: 250 single use coffee cups*
Annual savings: $106*
*Based on a $0.50 discount on one coffee per day for 250 working days minus the cost of the KeepCup.
Bottled water:
Mount Franklin Spring Water Bottle 600ml costs approximately $2.15.
Sustainable alternative: Cheeki 750ml Stainless Steel Water Bottle 750ml costs $32.95.
Waste saved: 250 plastic water bottles*
Annual savings: $504.55*
*Based on one bottle of Mount Franklin water per day for 250 working days minus the cost of the reusable bottle.
Disposable razors
Gillette Venus Disposable Shaving Razor, three razors per pack, costs $11.
Sustainable alternative: Parker 95R Unisex Safety Razor including five blades, costs $46.95 from Biome. Replacement blades cost $5.95 for a pack of five.
A safety razor can last a lifetime with care.
Waste saved: 39 plastic razors*
Annual savings: $80.69*
*Based on ten year average of five shaves per blade/razor shaving every second day minus the cost of the safety razor.
Laundry liquid
Omo Active Clean Laundry Liquid Detergent Front and Top Loader one litre (20 washes) costs $10.00 = $0.50 per wash.
Sustainable alternative: That Red House Soapberries one kilogram bag (365 washes) costs $42.95 from Biome = $0.11 per wash.
Waste saved: 8 plastic bottles*
Annual savings: $60.84*
*Based on three laundry washes per week.
Zip lock plastic sandwich bags & Cling wrap
Hercules Click Zip Resealable Snack Size Sandwich Bags 65 pack costs $3.25 and an average Cling Wrap is around $5 to $10.
Sustainable alternative: Full Circle ZipTuck Reusable Sandwich Bags $19.95 for a pack of two from Biome.
Waste saved: 250 single use plastic zip lock bags or plastic wrap based on 250 working days per year. We don't have the verified statistics, but we estimate many households buy around six rolls of cling wrap per year.
Annual savings: $20 to $60
Further reduce plastic waste
These calculations show how easy it can be to save hundreds of dollars while reducing plastic waste, but there are many other money and waste saving alternatives.
You can further reduce your waste by swapping plastic cling wrap to reusable beeswax wraps, plastic takeaway cutlery to reusable bamboo or stainless steel cutlery, shampoo in a plastic bottle for a shampoo bar, and by making your own skin care products from natural ingredients instead of purchasing products in plastic containers.
For more plastic waste free, money saving ideas click here >
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