Top sustainable products you can swap to go eco-friendly this Earth Day

World and trees graphic image with the text: 22nd April 2022. Earth Day. Savoo logo.

Earth Day is a globally-recognised day, during which individuals and businesses alike take time to demonstrate the importance of protecting the environment from man-made causes of climate change.

2022 marks the 52nd year Earth Day has been celebrated and now more than ever, countries across the world are pulling together to make changes for the good of the earth’s ecosystems. Rainforests, oceans, and the global climate are facing massive challenges due to carbon, methane, microplastics, and other deficits caused by unsustainable practices. You may well have heard of damages caused by the fuel and energy industry, but did you know that a wealth of practices in the agricultural, food, and retail industries also play a huge part in the climate crisis?

We’ve investigated and chosen some of our top sustainable product swaps to ensure you can find the right eco-friendly products to suit your lifestyle while helping you go green for the planet. And because making sustainable choices should be for everyone regardless of personal wealth, we’ve highlighted our top discount codes to help you save money on your new planet-friendly purchases!

Toiletries

Toiletries get used daily, often more than once, so it’ll come as no surprise that these sustainable product swaps will have a massive impact on your carbon footprint this Earth Day. Read on for our top four sustainable toiletries swaps, and find out how you can save on your new planet-friendly buys.

Switch face wipes for reuseable face cloths

What:
Your easy wet wipes switch is to purchase reusable face cloths. The Body Shop stocks soft, reusable cloths made from bamboo and organic cotton. At just £10 for a bag, you’ll get one pad for each day of the week, and a handy little cotton wash bag for the washing machine. Better still, since they contain no synthetic materials at all, you know you’ll also be avoiding microplastics – tiny pieces of plastic from synthetic materials that pollute the world’s water systems and food – from being released.

Why:
Face wipes are not biodegradable: meaning wherever they end up is where they will stay for hundreds of years. Since 2013, the number of wet wipes found on beaches in Britain has increased by 50% – an average of 35 wipes per kilometre – according to the Marine Conservation Society. What is more, over 90% of material causing drain blockages investigated by Water UK was found to consist of wet wipes.

In a massive breakthrough in the fight against wet wipe pollution, Boots has vowed to remove all plastic-containing wipes from its shelves and online by the end of 2022. Boots UK is one of the top wet wipe retailers in the country, shifting more than 800 million wipes in the past year alone. In fact, the wet wipe sales of Boots account for roughly 15% of all face wipe sales in the UK: so this is a huge move by one of the top retailers, indicating the fight is one we should all get behind.

While they may seem better, disposable cotton pads are not organic, meaning they use vast amounts of chemicals, pesticides, and fertilisers during production.

Clump of waste wet wipes

Replace tampons and sanitary towels with menstrual cups and period pants

What:
For people who get periods, replacing tampons and sanitary towels with menstrual cups and period pants is a simple and planet-friendly switch!

You can have a big impact by purchasing period pants and a Mooncup. Wuka period pants are a great alternative; a single pair will save 200 single-use disposable sanitary products ending up in the ocean or in landfill! Buy five pairs and you’ll spare an equivalent of two years worth of tampons and pads. For those who prefer to avoid period pants, you can shop the Boots range of menstrual cups from Mooncup, Tampax, and Boots own-brand.

Women wearing Wuka period pants. Text reads: WUKA Re-Purpose

Sustainable swap: WUKA period pants

Why:
45 billion period products are thrown away annually, worldwide. In the UK alone, that equates to 200,000 tonnes of sanitary waste being sent to landfill every year. That’s not the end of it though, because as well as going to landfill, an additional 700,000 panty liners, 2.5 million tampons and 1.4 million sanitary towels are flushed down the toilet.

These products either end up choking beaches (in 2013, The Ocean Conservancy found 27,938 used tampons and applicators on world beaches on a single day) or else suffocating landfills. Each menstrual pad is made up of as much as 90% plastic material, or as many as four plastic bags!

Use solid shampoo and conditioner bars instead of plastic bottles

What:
Aveda beauty brand focuses on wellness and holistic beauty, making it the number one choice for those looking for effective yet kind product swaps.

The Aveda “Shampure” haircare itself is 94% naturally derived: meaning it’s better for your hair, skin, and the water systems it will end up in after being washed down your drain! With ethical ingredients and plastic-free packaging, the “Shampure” bar is a brilliant swap to make this Earth Day.

Why:
It takes a whopping 450 years for a plastic bottle to decompose. In fact, it is thought that every piece of plastic ever created is still in existence.

Not only that, but the decomposition process of a plastic shampoo bottle releases millions of tiny microplastics into ecosystems across the earth: most recently and alarmingly found in human blood in 2022.

Since it is in a concentrated form, your shampoo bar will last longer than liquid shampoo. A single solid shampoo will remove three 250g plastic bottles from your yearly plastic waste!

Microplastics on a beach

Microplastics in the ecosystem

Select a refillable deodorant

What:
Wild deodorant is the first zero-plastic deodorant creator in the world! Using refillable deodorant applicators and 100% plastic-free refills, Wild has created a product that’s as great for your underarms as it is for the world!

Made from bamboo pulp, your refill case can actually be composted down to nurture plants or a healthy garden. There’s no better time or reason to make the switch.

Why:
Every time you refill your refillable deodorant, you replace 30g of plastic that would’ve otherwise ended up in landfill!

If you’re more partial to a spray can deodorant, did you know that the aerosol industry is a major contributor to toxic air pollution? National Centre for Atmospheric Science discovered that around 6.1% of all volatile organic compounds (a type of toxic pollution) come from aerosol products – which is more than every car in the UK combined!

Food

Did you know that the UK alone produces 9.5 million tonnes of food waste each year and that over ⅓ of food produced across the globe goes to waste?

While these figures are particularly poignant, considering roughly 8.4 million people in the UK are currently experiencing food poverty, waste poses an immense threat to the planet when factoring in overcrowded landfills. Although food waste breaks down and decomposes naturally over time, it produces harmful greenhouse gas, 25 times more damaging to the environment than CO2.

So what can we do about it?

Surprisingly, the bulk of food waste comes from households rather than businesses, such as restaurants and supermarkets – so positive change can take effect from your very home this Earth Day 2022. By taking the time to implement small changes to your lifestyle, you can make a world of difference to the growing food waste crisis.

Waste bin bags of food waste

Pile of food waste bin bags

Sign up for food subscriptions and meal boxes

An easy way to eliminate food waste is by opting into food subscriptions and meal boxes. Beyond a ready-made guarantee for delicious meals every night, you also avoid the issue of wasting unused ingredients, only required in small portions to make up a specific recipe.

HelloFresh is the UK’s leading recipe box delivery service, providing fresh, high-quality ingredients to make curated recipes to suit your needs and wants. While HelloFresh makes tackling food waste simple, you can also save heaps of money in the process by never buying more food than you need. Through a combination of pre-measured components and value for money prices, food subscription services are a great way to eliminate your household’s contribution to food waste. And, why not make a saving while you save the planet using our HelloFresh discount codes!

Hello Fresh vegan meal kit

Sustainable swap: Reduced food waste meal kit from Hello Fresh

For some variation between your meal box deliveries, you can also redeem a Gousto discount code from Savoo. Recipe box businesses are becoming more popular than ever, so it’s super easy to find a voucher to support your journey in cutting down waste and costs in 2022.

Go vegan

Have you ever wondered how many meat-free days a week will make a difference to climate change? Well, just one day of your week is all that’s needed.

Whether you’re vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, flexitarian, or in the process of cutting meat out of your everyday diet – all efforts contribute to a greener future.

According to the non-profit campaign Meat Free Monday, having at least one plant-based day a week can help slow climate change and conserve the life of animals, greatly reducing suffering, all while boosting our own health.

Meat Free Monday facts & figures…
Around 30 bathtubs full of water will produce just one beef burger.
A section of rainforest gets cut down every hour to make room for grazing cattle, and these areas are the size of 100 football pitches.
We use roughly a third of all land on Earth for livestock production.

If you’re on the lookout for organic, natural and sustainable product swaps to cater for your plant-based days, enjoy our Planet Organic discount codes to help you save on planet-friendly food and household items.

Woman food shopping for vegan food

Vegan food shop

Plan your food shops

Simply taking the time to write a list and plan what you’re going to eat for the week before heading out to the supermarket will save you heaps of money, ultimately limiting food waste and unnecessary overspending.

Whether you plan designated meals for each day, only buying the necessary ingredients to create those meals, you make a conscious effort to pick products with reduced packaging, such as fresh vegetables, or avoid the dreaded food shop on an empty stomach – there are so many small ways to make a big difference!

Shop locally, in season

Another way to reduce your carbon footprint is by doing your best to buy British produce that’s also in season. Walking, cycling or taking public transport is the most environmentally-friendly means of getting to your nearby supermarket. Not only are you helping to secure your local community and economy, but you can also enjoy the promise of fresher ingredients, less packaging and reduced damage when your food hasn’t travelled far and wide to reach your plate.

Kitchen and homeware

Swap aluminium coffee pods for recyclable coffee pods

What:
If you love your cup (or two) of coffee in the mornings, switching to a recyclable coffee pod is an easy, daily sustainable change you can make! Compostable pods from Charles Liegeois are biodegradable, meaning you can let them decompose in your average compost bin. What is more, the packaging they arrive in is also eco-friendly!

You can shop the compostable coffee pods from Coffee Friend, and even better, bag a bargain when you use a Coffee Friend discount code from Savoo.

Why:
You might not have known it, but coffee pods are some of the most devastatingly polluting forms of household waste. Despite the fact they’re often made of aluminium, the aluminium is coated in plastic designed to help it withstand the heat of the coffee machine – making them extremely durable and tough to degrade, break down, or recycle.

Packaging Online’s research found that 29,000 plastic-coated coffee pods every month (that’s 350,000 every year) will go to landfill, where they will then stay for 500 years.

Choose a plastic-free cleaning product

What:
Refill your existing household cleaning bottles with dissolvable cleaning tablets and save tens of plastic bottles winding up in landfill every year. Pick up a Big Green Smile discount code to save on OceanSaver’s eco-friendly cleaning products! The OceanSaver dissolvable refill tablets come in recyclable cardboard packaging. Not only that, but the ingredients are all plant-based and non-toxic, meaning when they end up in the world’s water systems, they’re kind to the ecosystem.

You can also find OceanSaver’s products at Dunelm and Tesco, and save with Dunelm discount codes from Savoo.

Why:
By 2050, it is estimated that there will be more plastic in the sea than fish. While there are many contributors to plastic pollution in our oceans, the home care industry is responsible for around 29 billion plastic bottles, tubs and containers being used every year.

Plastic waste in the ocean surrounded by fish

Plastic waste in the ocean

Cut down on single-use food storage and invest in beeswax wrap

What:
Beeswax wrap is an eco product swap that’ll save metres of tin foil and clingfilm being used every year. In packs of different sizes, the organic material, often cotton or linen, is coated in beeswax which is antimicrobial and breathable – great for keeping all sorts of food fresh! Better still, it contains no toxic plastic or chemicals that can contaminate your food on contact.

Shop the kitchen utensils range at John Lewis to grab your very own pack – which should last you around a year! Check out the John Lewis discount codes from Savoo to make your ethical purchase even more affordable.

Why:
Cling film should be one of the first things you remove from your kitchen usage when making your eco-friendly home swaps. An enormous 1.2 billion metres of cling film is used and thrown away annually in the UK. That’s 740,000 miles – in other words, enough to wrap around the earth 30 times!

Cling film’s close relative, tin foil, can be used for food preservation and is recyclable. However, the reason this isn’t an ideal product swap is because tin foil can only be recycled when it has no food contamination. You’d need to thoroughly clean your tin foil before you can safely add it to your recycling bin – a little-known fact for those who use it as their chosen planet-safe cling film alternative.

Clothing

The fashion industry alone accounts for around 10% of greenhouse gas emissions and roughly 20% of wastewater. While previously, clothing was probably not the first thing that came to mind when thinking of fossil fuel superusers, fast fashion is now known and understood to be a sizable cause of the environmental crisis.

With next to nothing prices and vast options hitting the market, the fashion industry is consumed by micro-trends, low prices, and poor quality, resulting in an easily disposable wardrobe that ultimately winds up clogging landfills, unused, unwanted, and unworn. The average person currently has a clothing collection five times bigger than their grandparents, and while you may consider yourself somewhat of a fashionista – fast fashion is anything but glamorous.

While the effects are shocking, the result is simple. Buying fewer of the things we love from ethical and sustainable origins is one vital practice we can all put into place for Earth Day 2022.

Bamboo plants

Bamboo plants used to make bamboo clothing

Bamboo clothing

If you’re on the hunt for sustainable swaps, choosing garments made from less harmful materials is a great place to start. Bamboo is often the topic of conversation concerning sustainable fashion for those attempting to find garments made from alternatives materials to the likes of cotton, for example. The upsides of bamboo are that it’s one of the fastest-growing plants on the planet, requiring little water and no chemicals, fertilisers or insecticides to grow and flourish.

Thought Clothing prides itself on providing fashionable garments that are also considerate to our planet by using only natural and recycled materials. With a choice of fabrics, including more eco-friendly bamboo, organic cotton and hemp – Thought Clothing aims to make sustainable swaps a more practical, accessible and affordable inclusion into the lives of everyone.

Thought Clothing Earth Day

Sustainable swap: Thought clothing bamboo clothes

The bamboo clothing collection covers everything from dresses to leggings, jumpsuits, trousers, tops, and even down to your socks – so it’s easy to make more sustainable decisions for the entirety of your wardrobe.

While Thought Clothing aims to keep prices low to encourage more conscious shopping habits, you can save even more by using one of your Thought Clothing discount codes.

Vegan footwear

Making more sustainable choices while populating your wardrobe doesn’t mean you have to miss out on fashionable styles from your favourite brands. With retailers such as Dr Martens and Veja, you can find the same heritage quality, known and loved for timeless designs, simply by shopping from the vegan ranges.

Beyond greater affordability by leaving leather behind, leather production is environmentally damaging, causing detrimental effects through energy and water-intensive processes, and gas emissions from rearing livestock while impacting deforestation.

Save on even the most popular styles, such as the vegan Jadon Platform Boots and classic 1460 Ankle Boots, using our Dr Martens discount codes, and find the latest vegan Veja footwear for less at retailers like Office and Selfridges with the help of our vouchers.

Piles of clothes in a clothes factory

Clothes factory waste

Swap clothes with friends

According to Sustain Your Style, on average, clothes are only worn seven times before being disposed of, while a small amount of 20-30% of the garments in a women’s wardrobe regularly gets styled. Micro-trends and a fast-paced industry are a huge part of the issue concerning fast fashion and environmental strains.

However, while you may have a fair few items stacked up in the back of your wardrobe, convincing yourself they’ll come in handy one day, why not rehome your old and unused clothes to give forgotten garments the limelight they deserve.

You never know, something you may consider old news could be red-carpet worthy to a friend. Swapping clothes with loved ones is a great way to refresh your wardrobe for free while also giving unwanted items from your own clothing collection a new lease of life, ultimately keeping them away from landfills. Why not spend your Earth Day 2022 hosting a Swishing party for a fun and practical solution to growing your sustainable habits?

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