35 Products And Companies That Make It Easier To Live A Greener Life
By Farah J
This planet is our home, and protecting mother earth is our responsibility. But we often pretend to be oblivious of the fact that this homeland of ours — our only home — is dying because of us! There are things we can’t control, and there are things that we can. It’s not too late and it should be our top priority to fix what we can while we can.
Of course, we wouldn’t have this call to action without providing some solutions. Some companies are going green, and others are helping the rest of us do so. Biodegradable and reusable products are more accessible than ever before, and some businesses are choosing greener alternatives to standard single-use plastics. Let us present to you the best “go-green” business upgrades!
Safe and green
From the warehouse to your doorstep, your packages change hands many times during the shipping process. And sometimes, if the items are not well-protected, they get damaged. Companies usually use bubble wrap or Styrofoam to keep your stuff safe in their boxes.
Except, neither of these are environmentally friendly — no matter how much we like bubble wrap. So, this got business companies thinking about how they could keep their items safe as well as their environment. The answer? Cut paper and cardboard that can be recycled later!
Skin and earth-friendly tissue
You most likely have heard about the proverb, “a drop of water makes an ocean.” The same goes here: one tissue doesn’t seem much, right? But when one tissue adds up with other ones, it has a huge toll on mother earth.
Wouldn’t it be great if you didn’t have to feel guilty about throwing away a used tissue paper at all? This company made tissues out of bamboo pulp. It isn’t bleached and is completely recyclable and environment-friendly. It’s perfect for sensitive skin and a sensitive environment!
Stan a green queen!
Even though most brands outsell themselves, others don’t do as well; their industry is a dump at the end of the day. Well, it wouldn’t be appreciated if they trash their items, and let useful and recyclable material useless and go to waste!
Alternative Apparel is a brand that makes its outfits completely out of recycled components. You may doubt their clothing’s quality, but it is just as durable as many of the top-name brands. On top of that, their packaging is also biodegradable! Go as green as possible!
The grass is greener on this side
When building cities, we don’t usually think about how much greenery we are losing in the process, especially when paving roads and parking lots. We clear the areas and lay concrete over them as if greenery and plants aren’t what we need to survive!
At least someone was in their right mind when they started their business. Instead of covering the whole wide area with concrete tiles to make a parking lot, they used cinder blocks with open portions in them to let the grass continue growing. Greenery added beauty to their space as a gift!
Paper bags for groceries
Some produce like grapes and tomatoes are packaged in plastic containers. Unlike larger vegetables, you can just stack a pile of grapes and not expect a huge mess everywhere. But just think about how many plastic containers stores go through every day!
Even if you bring your own bag, you’re leaving a plastic container behind. But not at this store. They had enough of the waste and replaced the wasteful plastic boxes with paper bags. Just take the bag, and don’t take part in plastic waste.
Cotton net bags
It warms our hearts that people are trying and doing their part to save this planet by going green in every step of their life and helping others do the same. They have started thinking creatively to end the use of plastic bags — the worst source of trash on the planet!
Some have started using paper bags in their grocery stores, and some introduced cotton netting bags. They do the same job as paper and plastic bags and are even stronger and more reliable. Not to mention eco-friendly, reusable, and even washable!
Billboards into bags
When you go down the road, you see billboards lined up by the roadside, advertising something every other second. And, you might pass by a few days later and find a new array of advertisements posted up. We wonder where the old ones go.
Well, the answer is the landfill. However, RareForm, a bag company, stepped up and made a worthwhile decision: turning billboards into bags! They upcycle these vinyl signs into something of more use than a driving distraction. Less waste, more use!
Kaffee grounds
Whether it is in the morning before work, in the afternoon break, or later in the evening, most of us rely on coffee for our daily hustle. Cafés have become a required stop for the majority population all over the world. Well, unfortunately, coffee cups aren’t included in the list of “green items.”
While the Styrofoam cups have been replaced by “paper” cups, even those contain a layer of plastic and are not actually recyclable nor eco-friendly! To go greener, Kaffeeform manufactured coffee cups out of coffee grounds. We hope this idea catches on quickly.
Replacing plastic straws
If there’s one thing that has gotten a lot of attention during the past few years, it’s plastic straws. Such a little thing is making a disastrous impact on our planet. After thousands of petitions to replace them with an eco-friendly alternative, some companies brainstormed and found a few solutions!
For example, this restaurant started serving drinks at their place with dry pasta instead of plastic straws. How creative is that?! They might end up in the trash along with the rest of the waste, but at least the production of such straws is healthier for the environment.
Silicone storage bags
We now live in a world where almost everything is wrapped and served in plastic. We only need the item inside that plastic, so the wrapper is a completely useless waste that goes directly into the landfill. We do not realize how many plastic bags are littering the earth every second!
We use plastic wraps for our leftovers too! To end this, Stasher introduced silicone bags in which you can easily retain the freshness of your leftovers and make them last longer than they do in plastic wraps. Say no to plastic cling wraps and bags for food!
Paper-ware
Most restaurants provide their customers with cutlery and sauces, especially if it’s a takeout order. Of course, the spoon, fork, knife, and wrapper are all plastic! This is a lot of plastic for one person’s one meal in one day, isn’t it?
So, how about we think of something that doesn’t leave as much waste when we are done? Australia is in the lead on this one: an Australian restaurant came up with “paper-ware” instead of plasticware. Cardboard contents in a paper packet — go Aussies!
Reduce, reuse, recycle
What do you do when you finish your milk? You usually throw it away, right? Well, just like you, café and restaurant owners do the same. In fact, they do it more often than we do! One of the major trash contents from cafés is milk cartons, and none of them thought of reusing them…until now.
This café cut holes in their empty milk cartons and used them as serving trays — coffee cup holders — for takeout orders. The innovation peaked at this green café as they washed, reused, and reduced their waste and turned it useful for both customers and mother nature!
From plastic to beeswax
We have started using plastic almost every step of our way, and we don’t even realize how much plastic waste we produce in a day. We don’t even acknowledge these little plastic things that we get to use on a daily basis; it just goes right into the trash can and out in a plastic trash bag.
Like, when we want to save our leftovers, we often wrap the plate or bowl with plastic cling wrap. And those things can’t ever be reused! To save us all from the frustration of rolling out cling wrap and then throwing it away only a day later, beeswax wrap is now available as a reusable wrap alternative!
Pela phone covers
The more phones there are, the more protective phone covers are needed and used. We know some people have a collection of phone covers, even one for every occasion! And you won’t see a phone cover that isn’t made of tough-quality plastic — after all, its purpose is to protect your phone.
Pela recognized how these plastic phone covers were littering the earth without anyone noticing it. So, they introduced their first ever biodegradable phone covers! These are not only eco-friendly; they send a message to their users through their creative art to go green as well!
Stir it green
Everyone has a specific preference for how they take their coffee. Many aren’t able to get their firm, preferred taste of coffee everywhere they go; they have to add more cream or sugar to their drink after they are served. This leads them to use the coffee-stirrers, which are almost similar to plastic straws.
Plastic straws or stirrers add to the plastic waste and are among the top 10 beach trash items. Since people need something to stir their coffee with, this restaurant replaced their plastic stirrers with dry flat pasta. Go green while enjoying your perfect coffee!
To Infinity and Beyond
Within the last decade, there has been a pronounced increase in the number of people adopting a vegan diet. Since meat and dairy products significantly increase your carbon footprint, people opted for a better solution and changed their eating habits.
Alas, vegans don’t often get a wide menu at restaurants, with the options limited to a few salads at best. However, the company Beyond went beyond its creativity and presented a go-green “vegan burger,” which even waters the mouths of meat-eaters! They even started a trend as there are now a handful of meat alternatives!
Paper-perfect replacement
Lately, businesses have been taking a step back and looking at how much they contribute to pollution and climate change. Many of these companies are taking note of how much plastic they waste and have started looking for greener alternatives.
Not all items need padding, but companies still prefer to wrap the individual items. Instead of the typical plastic bags, this company used paper to wrap the vacuum cleaner parts. Even better, they printed information about the pieces on the paper itself!
Bread tie
Bread doesn’t take much time to get stale or grow some mold if it is left out in the open for long. Some people just twist the bread bag and assume that the bread will last another day, except it doesn’t because it wasn’t tied properly. This is why bread ties were invented.
However, this invention, too, was made out of plastic: an unnecessary plastic addition to the landfills. But this company replaced these plastic ties with similar cardboard ones to make them recyclable! We hope they find an alternative for plastic bread bags too.
A bonus gift inside
Who doesn’t love pizza? It wouldn’t be an exaggeration that we buy more pizza than clothes. We order at least two to three pizzas per week, but unless you eat a pineapple pizza, we won’t try to lecture you on eating less junk food.
Every pizza has its little plastic table inside that keeps the yummy mozzarella away from the cardboard box. Sadly, that’s extra plastic waste in each meal. But this pizzeria decided to replace this inedible, single-use item with a garlic knot. It’s a win-win for us and the environment!
Go green and guilt-free
Using makeup has become a daily habit for many people. From applying a simple mascara and some highlighter to wearing a full glam look, we love it all. People don’t hold back when shopping for new makeup sets with a variety of colors and shades.
Unfortunately, makeup sets don’t usually contribute to the go-green mission and leave harmful waste behind after they are used up. However, companies like Mineral Fusion have started offering refills for their makeup pallets. That means you don’t need to buy a whole new set when one shade runs out. Go green and guilt-free!
Sticker or laser?
The little plastic things that we don’t even pay much attention to are adding up to be the greatest source of destruction of our mother nature. We see people addressing plastic bags and boxes, plastic wraps, and bubble sheets, but what about plastic stickers?
They may seem insignificant, but they play the same role as plastic bags. Portugal paid attention to the disaster it was bound to cause, so they started labeling information on the items with a laser instead of printing them on a small plastic sticker!
Dish clothes, the new go-to
Our go-to is the roll of paper towels for messy, dirty kitchen or drink spills in the lounge or the bathroom. Since they are used only one time — often several of them at once — and are disposable, they are not considered an appealing item in our go-green mission.
Well, if you are contributing to going green, you better get these Swedish dishcloths right now. They are eco-friendly, reusable, and recyclable. They clean your mess way better than a giant roll of single-use paper towels. All you need to do is give them a quick wash along with your laundry!
Reuse before you trash
Sometimes, we decide to keep things with us for reuse, for example, plastic boxes, bottles, cups, etc. But we may have a hard time thinking of ways to reuse plastic bags — mostly because we see them as garbage and immediately throw it into the trash can without a second thought.
Well, if your plastic bag is still in tact — no rips — it can still be useful. Heck, even torn it could still get another chance. This plastic bag company listed a bunch of things that their customers could reuse this bag for if they can’t think of one on their own.
A green consultant
Companies have to make a huge arrangement — introduction of new policies and materials — when they decide to go green and get their consumers eco-friendly products. The thought may seem like a small step, but its execution is a whole process.
That’s when most companies give up because they don’t know where to start. And well, what better than a business company helping out another business company? Wipro EcoEnergy took this responsibility and aimed to work with others for a greener future!
Introducing wool balls
In case you don’t know or haven’t done your laundry yet, you probably aren’t familiar with dryer sheets. They are little fabric sheets, like tissue, with a coating of lubricants and softeners on them. When we do our laundry, dryer sheets are there as our go-to to help keep static out of our clothes.
However, they are single-use and are trashed when your clothes are clean and dry. So, for the go-green purpose, this company introduced wool balls that serve the same purpose but can be reused again and again! On top of that, it reduces the drying time and saves you energy.
Samba Sol, the savior
After going green in the clothing aisle, the food items, and the accessories aisle, we’d like to bring up the idea of going green in the footwear aisle! Footwear isn’t covered in the mission of going green. Rubber is one of the most littering trash types on earth right now.
Most companies decide to make new rubber for shoes instead of recycling the old ones. Except for Samba Sol, which makes beach flip-flops out of recycled and biodegradable rubber without using any chemical processes. And, they give a huge portion of their proceeds to the Amazon rainforest!
For the nature-loving folk
Nature enthusiasts are usually quite loving and friendly and rarely complain or hold a grudge. But one thing you’d find them complaining about is buying expensive hiking, climbing, or skiing gear and having to throw them away the next day due to some accidental damage.
Patagonia understands the trouble of their nature-loving customers as well as the addition of unnecessary litter it adds to the planet. So, they offer easy repair for the damaged part of their items of gear to the folks who appreciate and enjoy nature as Patagonia does!
Imperfect food is still food!
One of the saddest truths on this planet is that people live for aesthetics rather than reality. It is the same with foods: companies often pack only the food items which are the closest to perfection (i.e., ripe and juicy, with no apparent flaws) in their looks.
The more aesthetically pleasing a food item is, the higher the chances are for it to get sold. This is why most of the food goes to waste, sadly. This is where Imperfect Produce comes in: they sell “ugly” food products just so perfectly edible food doesn’t go to waste!
Going green with toiletries
Going green with everything seems possible and applicable, except for the bathroom essentials. There is no more plastic usage in any area of life than the bathroom! How do we replace the plastic containers of our shampoos and face wash and massage oils when they are sold in plastics?
We have the answer to that: soap bars! There are dozens of companies that now offer bars for all sorts of beauty and cleaning products. Shampoo, body soap, conditioner, and even dish soap and laundry detergent can all be found in bar-form.
Hello, Go Green shoes!
No matter how much you love a pair of shoes, they suffer degradation eventually. That pair of Vans that you skate with, or that pair of stilettos that make you look fine as heck, or those sandals which make your feet look nice — none of them stay with you forever.
It’s time to go green and have them recycled! Most shoes contain harmful chemicals that pollute the earth when you get rid of them. So, the next time you buy a new pair, make sure it is from Native Shoes! They use the least amount of chemicals. Also, they just introduced their first biodegradable shoes!
Wheat for straws
Wheat united humanity against one enemy: plastic waste. When there is a common enemy, even the worst of enemies call it a truce and plan an allegiance together to fight the battle against their true enemy. The creativity shines through in those dark times!
Another company came up with another game plan and decided to make the dry wheat straws their go-to instead of dry pasta. They served their customers — and their home —– with these eco-friendly, green wheat straws, thus defeating the plastic straws in this battle!
Good for your bum, great for the world
Toilet paper is the bathroom necessity that we can’t bear to live without. Even at the start of the pandemic, toilet paper rolls were one of the top five things that people got wild over and left the racks empty within the blink of an eye! But it, being disposable, leaves an insane amount of trash behind as well.
So, to go green, we need to reduce this waste somehow. This company called Who Gives a Crap announced their eco-friendly toilet papers that are either made of recycled paper or bamboo pulp! Also, their packaging involves paper wrappings instead of plastics! Go green for your bum and the world!
Greener toys, happier earth
Children’s toys, whether you like them or not, are one of the worst sources of plastics on this planet. But we can’t keep children from buying doll houses, toy cars, and dinosaurs, now can we? Especially when you are trying to go green as much as you can, buying plastic willingly may make you feel pretty guilty.
How about we tell you about this amazing company that sells green toys? Well, it’s called Green Toys, and they make toys solely out of recycled plastic! Even the ink they use on the toys is soy ink which is eco-friendly and cruelty-free. It makes the kids happy, parents happier, and the earth the happiest!
Better than Twizzlers
When we talk about the common enemy, everyone comes up with a unique strategy to win the battle. We’ve already seen some people take on plastic straws with pasta and straw, and now we bring you something new…and very yummy!
Edible wafer straws are our favorite so far! So, when you’re done sipping on your fruit-ilicious drink, you can enjoy the crunchy, fruity-flavored wafer straw. We bet a commotion is going to rise among friends stating, “who ate my straw?”
Deep cleansing with Seventh Gen
You can stop using plastic bags and replace them with paper bags, but you can’t simply eradicate the use of chemicals from your lifestyle. You can’t stop doing your laundry or cleaning your house just because chemicals are harmful to the earth. That’s just absurd.
You need chemicals to deep cleanse your house every once in a while. The step you need to take is to get the products with the least amount of harmful chemicals in them. Seventh Generation understands your needs. This company puts out products that are eco-friendly and health-friendly as well!