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Tiana Or Gordon 15. 1. 2023 Contemporary urban life is not sustainable. Whether we like it or not, there are some aspects in everyday life that we simply cannot do without. Our grocery-shopping routines, our personal hygiene practices, and even our daily communication with each other is usually largely dictated by what products are available and where. No matter how sustainable we personally aim to become, in practice, those aims are nearly impossible to achieve, not only due to the difficulty of finding and obtaining sustainable alternatives to regular consumption patterns, but also because truly committed attempts at sustainable living would separate us from everyone else. For example, many are aware of the damage resulting from regular shipping of produce from distant parts of the world to countless chain stores in cities, but in practice, going to the supermarket is simply the more logical, cheaper option than frequenting farmer’s markets or even growing our own herbs and vegetables at home. Luckily, thanks to pressure and commitment, consumer culture is beginning to change. More and more sustainable companies are on the rise, and established brands are also taking steps to introduce eco-friendly products and solutions to everyday unsustainability. They may be still somewhat more to difficult to learn about and to reach compared to the established alternative, so the Green Office is here to help. Here you can find just a taste of the many cool solutions to everyday consumption patterns and product that are readily available and are definitely worth the switch. 1. Packaging-free hygiene products Soap, shampoo, and lotions are items that we use every day. Personal hygiene products have a long history, and dominate many stores in any shopping mall. Over time, however, natural hygiene products gave way to chemicals bottled in single use packages only to be released into the environment crowd up landfills. Plastic packaging, the default way to deliver the products to consumers, has trained us not to reuse the bottles, and to view hygiene products as substances that must be sterilely wrapped by as much plastic as possible. It is precisely the single use packaging that creates so much waste in the industry. Luckily, packaging-free products are gaining popularity and becoming easily available! As a start, one must look no further than Lush Cosmetics, where you can find so called naked products of everything: from soaps bars and shampoos, to toothpaste and mouthwash. The products come in dry form and foam up at touch with water, becoming easy to use high-quality solutions to the packaging problem. Here you can find the company website. Lush is not alone in offering products of this kind. Happy Soaps Amsterdam makes organic soap, shampoo, and lotion bars, which are also handmade in The Netherlands. 2. Sustainable beauty products Makeup, lipsticks, perfumes, and other beauty products are infamous for the harm they inflict on animals and to environment. But there are more than just a few brands committed to sustainability and to animal rights. The Body Shop is easy to find in any part of Amsterdam, and is entirely organic and free of animal cruelty. It is also taking step to improve the stores’ sustainability and accepts back packages and remains of used products for recycling. Of course, there are also many more sustainable makeup brands, some of which you can find in the overview here . And seeing as we’re already talking about makeup, it is also worth mentioning that the era of disposable remover pads should definitely be over now that there are reusable makeup remover pads widely available. 3. Supermarket herb garden I will be the first to plead guilty of frequenting the supermarket rather than waiting for and travelling to farmer’s markets to do my groceries. However, supermarkets do not necessarily have to be unsustainable. A fun example is an Albert Hejn in Purmerend . The store has a fully functioning herb garden, from which customers can simply pick the herbs they need out of a green variety growing on the spot. Let us be inspired by this idea and make sure other supermarkets do the same! 4. Staying safe, staying sustainable – just in case of another COVID scenario The past three years have proved to us how important it is to maintain a clean environment and practices to protect each other from infections. When dealing with COVID, and also with any other type of germs of bacteria, sterility is key. Sadly, this also means that millions of single use face masks were mass produced and tossed to the bins over this period, harming people and the planet. Single use face masks are not the only thing we can wear to prevent virus spread. The Czech-made Nano Space offers high quality antivirus scarves that can be used and washed indefinitely, next to protecting our health. 5. Correctbook: because sustainable education is not digital Everyday practices do not only concern the home and self-care. For many of us, and for most children all around the globe, school and studying is a crucial aspect of everyday life. Paper and writing equipment is essential to studying, regardless of how integrated education and digital technology will become. However, writing paper is non-reusable, and its production is definitely not sustainable. In many countries, too many children do not have access to paper and other basic school equipment, even if they do have access to education. Correctbook is a Dutch solution to the paper problem. Their erasable notebooks provide the space for practice and for note taking, which can be easily cleaned for endless use. Additionally, the company’s profits are used to financially support children living in extreme poverty. Why not purchase your own Correctbook today? 6. Fairphone And the most important for last, the thing no one can nowadays live without – the mobile phone. The tech industry is plagued with ill practices involving human rights violations, resource misuse, and impossible recycling. Additionally, phones seem to be designed to break quickly so that we have no choice but to buy new ones regularly. Fairphone is a Dutch phone company that actually started as an awareness campaign about the dark side of the industry. Its products are sustainable, fair-trade, and recyclable. The phones are available for purchase through their website , and also in numerous electronics stores around Europe. I hope you were inspired by this short overview, and that next time you are in need of an essential everyday product you will know where to get the sustainable option. Sources: Spring Wise. ( 2017, January 5). Dutch shoppers pick own herbs in supermarket garden . Spring Wise. https://www.springwise.com/dutch-shoppers-pick-herbs-supermarket-garden/ Scripps News. (2019, June 27). The beauty industry's solution to plastic waste [YouTube video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvlO5sWBqyM
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