Jo Pearson

You’re seeing pictures of the ocean garbage islands. Then hearing about landfills in developing countries filled with plastic bottles you thought were going to recycling. Finally, someone pops up on social media reminding you that oil and gas giants invented personal carbon footprints to pass responsibility for saving the planet on to you. Sometimes it seems like individual consumer choice isn’t enough.

Image: Justin Dolske from Cupertino, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

At EcoMart cleaning we recognise that we need sustained government action to ban harmful chemicals, reduce packaging and ensure clean energy transition. But that doesn’t mean that changing consumer behaviour isn’t part of the solution.

Here are our top four reasons to be cheerful that your cleaning choices make a difference.

1. Every mass movement is a patchwork of individual actions.

A protest march is made up of hundreds or thousands of people each deciding to show up. A petition can contain millions of signatures. Elected representatives get the message to act when they are contacted by many constituents. Every electoral majority is built by thousands of people turning up and casting their vote. Momentum has to start somewhere. Small changes you make to how you shop contribute to wider progress on sustainability.

A picture of women in front of a chain link fence holding up cardboard signs calling for people to take care of the planet and reduce plastic use. — Image credit: https://www.freepik.com/

2. Customers shape markets

If people don’t buy what a company is selling it stops being profitable. The company making it either goes bust or has to change what they make or sell. Each shopper that changes to a more sustainable product helps that business to thrive. That in turn makes sure the products are available for more people. Every success story helps convince investors that ethical products are the future.

3. It’s all about alignment

If you care about the environment, buying from businesses that share your values and avoiding those that don’t is probably important to you. It feels hypocritical to sign-up to a cause without aligning your actions in the rest of your life. Every time you buy or use a sustainable item you are living by your principles. Each ethical purchase will give you a little mood boost because you’re doing the right thing at the macro and micro level.

4. Maximise your impact

You can help maximise your impact by telling others about the eco friendly products and services you love. Recommend your favourite micro-plastic free scouring sponge to a friend. Give a shout-out to your top concentrated refillable cleaner <link to blog>. Make a social media series about your eco-cleaning journey. To encourage you we’re offering a discount code to our champions. Simply follow us on Bluesky or Instagram and tag or mention us in a post about your favourite eco-supermarket product in February and we’ll DM you a 10% discount code.

Follow us on Instagram @EcomartUK or Bluesky @ecomartuk.bsky.social

This blog post is part of a coursework assignment for The College of Media & Publishing

If you’re trying to make more sustainable choices around cleaning, you’re probably already using refills. Concentrated or rehydratable refills take things a step further reducing plastic waste and emissions. Here’s our guide to why you should consider switching.

Smaller Packaging

Rehydratable refills don’t need big boxes which means it takes fewer materials and less energy to package them. This further reduces the overall environmental impact of the product. They don’t take up as much room in your home helping reduce clutter and giving you more space in your cupboards for snacks.

Picture of ocean saver spray refills. From left to right Glass, Daily Shower, Antibacterial, Bathroom, Antibacterial & Disinfectant, Multi-Purpose. — Image: https://www.ocean-saver.com/collections/cleaning-spray-bundles

Less plastic

Some refills like Ocean Saver don’t use plastic at all. The concentrated liquid comes in a soluble cellulose sachet packed in a card box. You just fill up your spray bottle with water, pop in the refill and shake. Other concentrates like Splosh come in returnable pouches that are refilled as many times as possible before being recycled into something else. Most products come with a reusable bottle for life or you can rinse out and reuse an old spray bottle.

Water Is Heavy

The big refill bottles at your local supplier still need to be transported. One litre of water weighs one kilogram. Transporting a on litre package 1000 km by road produces 0.1 Kg C02e¹. If your refill only weighs 20g, 50 refills can be transported for the same emissions. Diluting with tap-water also means that you don’t have to carry heavy bottles home from the shop. You can pop a concentrated cleaning refill in your pocket or get it posted through your letterbox.

What rehydratable refills are available?

The most commonly available rehydratable products are cleaning sprays. You can get all the usual suspects including antibacterial surface cleaner, daily shower sprays and specialist glass cleaners. Washing up liquid is more of a newcomer and is available as concentrate or crystals. Laundry sheets are a great alternative to bulky powders and liquids.

Find out more about our range of small but mighty refills <link>

https://www.co2everything.com/co2e-of/freight-shipping

This article is posted as part of an assignment for the College of Media and Publishing.