~Please note this post contains affiliate links, which means if you click on it and purchase, I’ll receive a small commission which helps support my writing and research.~
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There are a lot of sneaky products out there that we have gotten used to buying, and often don’t think about the possible lower-waste alternatives that are available.
I’m thinking in particular of products like chicken broth, body wash, and orange juice that are diluted with water in order to be ready to use. This presents a few problems in terms of creating more waste:
- There is more packaging to hold a larger volume of product.
- This packaging is usually plastic because the product is liquid.
- It is heavier and bigger to transport, therefore more fossil fuels are used to move this product from manufacturer to retailer.
- If you order from an online retailer, the packaging used to send the product to you will be substantially more, well, substantial.
So, buying more concentrated products is a tiny little shopping habit that can reduce a lot of waste over time. And if you read my first blog, you’ll remember that my whole philosophy with making changes is 1%∞. Just a little change every day can add up to a lot of change over time.
I’ll use body wash and shower gel as an example, but these concepts and comparison can be applied directly to many other ready-to-use products.
So, what's the big deal with buying concentrated products?
- Water!
Okay, the first ingredient of every bottle of body wash is water. Enough said.
- Cost!
A bottle of body wash costs anywhere from $.25/oz to $1.25 per ounce.
Let’s say the average is about $.40 per ounce.
- 1 oz a day at $.40/oz = $12 per person per month
Bar soaps range from $.50 per bar to $5 per bar for the fancy ones. The one we use is $2 per bar and lasts a month for two people.
- 1/2 bar per month = $1 per person per month
- Waste!
- Bar soap comes in a thin paper box or paper wrapping and that’s it as far as it goes for packaging. Even if you don’t recycle it, it will decompose in a few months.
- Body wash comes in a plastic bottle, which is technically recyclable, but probably not actually recycled in practice by municipal recycling facilities.
- Weight!
Liquid consumer products weigh a lot more than dry products, which means much more fossil fuel is used to transport it. The packaging is also larger, which means less product can fit in a truck for transport. While you may need one truck to transport a load of bar soap, you may have to use 2 trucks to transport the equivalent of liquid soap.
- The weight of an average bar of soap is 4 oz, so that’s 2 oz per person per month.
- The weight of a 16 oz bottle is about 1.5 lbs, so that’s about 3 lbs per person for 2 bottles per month.
- Shipping!
If you are ordering your liquid products online and have them shipped to you, they are coming in large boxes, with lots of packaging to prevent breakage. Some even have special plastic wrap to keep them from leaking. That is one more box that doesn’t need to be produced and more plastic wrap that doesn’t need to end up in a landfill.
Have I lost you yet? I hope not. This is a very detailed way of explaining how small shopping habits can make a big difference, but I think a lot of people may just not be aware of the full impact of their buying decisions.
Here are a couple more suggestions:
Instead of this 32 oz box of broth for $2.19...
...buy this 16 oz jar of Better Than Bouillon Chicken Broth Base (affiliate link) for $14 makes 608 oz, which is the equivalent of 19 (!) boxes of broth.
Instead of this 52 oz bottle of orange juice in a plastic bottle for $4...
...buy this Minute Maid frozen concentrated orange juice in a paper carton for $3 and get 48 oz of juice.
I'd love to hear about products you have found that minimize waste, drop me a note in the comments.
~Sarah