Sustainable habits for 2020 (for a low waste life)

Last year I moved from England to Scotland, which means I found myself in a totally unknown environment and finding sustainable products and alternatives wasn’t my priority any more. Learning from this I gathered 5 habits, which are going to help me live a more sustainable life, and hopefully, it is going to help you too!

refills instead of New ones

I live in a small(ish) Scottish town where I don’t have access to too much zero waste options. I recently found a shop, where they sell (Ecover) refills so instead of buying new ones, I’m going to try to refill my existing ones over and over to save plastic waste. As long as I know Ecover uses recycled materials and of course I recycle them too, but it’s still waste. I know there’s a conversion around Ecover products and it might not be as eco-friendly as they claim but I still have to do my research on that one.

DIY Cleaning Products

In the past I tried a vinegar based home made cleaning products which was good. After I finished it I started to buy new ones again. I guess it was convenient and easy. In 2020 I’d like to experiment with home made cleaning products again. I have my orange peels infused in vinegar to start with, so in a couple weeks they will be ready and I can make a multi surface cleaner again.

Update: I already shared a video with my natural and non-toxic all purpose cleaner recipe, check it out!

search for new products

If you finally find a good cleaning product or laundry detergent which claims to be eco-friendly it’s easy to stick with it instead of finding new options. I recently came across with Ecoegg which lasts for about a year. It is palm oil free, vegan, eco-friendly and not tested on animals. It’s really everything I’m looking for when I’m shopping. It is refillable and the egg lasts for 10 years. So long story short, when I finish my current laundry detergents I’d love to try Ecoegg as a low waste alternative!

do your research

Something that I really want to do in 2020 is do research more often. As I mentioned I discovered the Ecover refills only a months ago but I moved here 8 months ago. I could have done better, that’s for sure. So I’d like to search for zero waste and bulk stores and eco-friendly products because I’m sure there are a lot more options in my area which I don’t know about. Google is such a great tool I should really use it more often.

plan my shopping

I try to do one big grocery shopping a week, which means I have to plan my meals for the week in advance if I don’t want to miss something or I don’t want a whole bunch of food to go to waste… And that’s the part where I need to improve. I’m trying to get into the habit of making a list on Sunday of the meals I want to make and the ingredients I need and go shopping afterwards. This small habit will hopefully help me to be more organized and mindful when it comes to shopping and food waste.

In 2020 I’d really like to focus on sustainability and on learning more and building habits. This is something I’m really passionate about but sometimes I get excited and then life happens and I loose focus. My goals is to work on these habits this year. It is also important to accept, that we make mistakes when it comes to a sustainable and low waste lifestyle. But learning from the mistakes we can go further and further on this journey (and I'm trying not to be too hard on myself).