With the release of Ireland’s Climate Action Plan, we thought it would be a good idea to share some of the eco-friendly products we use on a day-to-day basis. We hope that this blog will encourage you to take a look at where you can reduce the amount of plastic in your life. While small personal choices won’t work on their own when it comes to taking on the climate crisis, it’s a decent place to start!

eco-friendly products

Biodegradable / reusable straws

The past year has seen cafes and bars around the country ditching the plastic straw. With plastic straws estimated to make up around 4% of the plastic waste currently in the ocean, investing in biodegradable or reusable straws is an easy and inexpensive way to cut down on personal/workplace waste.

Say no to a straw the next time you get an iced coffee and ask your workplace to invest in eco-friendly options instead. We’re big fans of EcoStraws.ie. They stock a wide variety of eco-friendly products, with straws made from bamboo, stainless steel, paper, glass and even wheat!

Jo Browne Bamboo Toothbrush

When eliminating plastic from your life, it’s normal to first look to your food and its packaging. Smaller tools like a toothbrush go unnoticed but when you think about the amount of use it gets, it presents another great opportunity to invest in some eco-friendly products. Not only will you cut down on plastic usage, bamboo is naturally antimicrobial. Similar to cutting boards made from wood, properties inside a bamboo toothbrush eliminate bacteria. While there are many brands to choose from, we’ve had good results with Jo Browne’s toothbrush. It’s worth noting that the packaging is also recyclable. 10/10 for effort!

Lilly’s Eco Clean Washing Up Liquid

Let’s face it…nobody likes doing the washing up! Whether it’s at the office or at home, ‘doing the dishes’ is key to a clean kitchen. Our go-to washing up liquid is Lilly’s Eco Clean Washing Up Liquid. The reasons for going with this product are two-fold. Not only are the naturally-sourced detergents friendlier on the skin, the container is completely recyclable too!

(Shout out to Ecover, another hygiene brand making some fantastic eco-friendly products.)

24Bottles Water Bottle

Plastic bottles own the biggest market share when it comes to single-use plastics. Recent studies have shown that plastic bottles are the #1 culprit for waterway waste. Although much of what we hear concerns oceanic waste, 80% of this waste originally flows from rivers.

Investing in a high quality reusable water bottle will drastically reduce the amount of plastic bottles you dispose of. Another phenomenon we have noticed is that you begin to get more joy from drinking water and even hydrate more regularly! There are tonnes of reusable water bottles on the market. Which one you go for depends on whether you will be using it for the gym, hiking or simply everyday use. There are a wide variety of sizes and shapes to choose from. One brand we are loving at the moment is 24bottles. Their sleek design is certainly eye-catching, and they even double up to keep your coffee hot.

Reusable Coffee Cups

With more than 22,000 coffee cups disposed of every day in Ireland, investing in a reusable coffee cup is one of the more obvious ways to reduce the amount of waste in your day-to-day life. We have already professed our love for KeepCups and Frank Green in a previous blog post, but there are other great brands available too. Edamame are an Irish company who produce beautiful products. Their bamboo coffee cups are designed by Irish artists with some of the proceeds being passed on to charities such as CMRF Crumlin and Pieta House.

eco-friendly products

The Fruit People are an environmentally-conscious company, and we do our best to make the right, eco-friendly choices. We look forward to discussing this issue more in future blog posts so stay tuned!