At Balance Me, we take our duty to the environment seriously. Our mantra is ‘honestly natural’ and we live by that. Of course we could do more (and we will be: watch this space). In the meantime, here are simple changes we can all make to live a greener life.
By ‘honestly natural’ we mean our ingredients are sustainable and renewable. Kind to your skin – and to the earth. We will never test on animals or use parabens, DEA, mineral oils, sulphates, PEGs, petroleum, silicones, propylene glycol, microbeads, artificial fragrances and colours. Our SPFs will never harm sea life. We know that these things matter. That the future is in all of our hands.
Cotton wool: so useful, but also so very disposable, and environmentally toxic if you’re using non-organic cotton. The non-organic cotton farming uses a quarter of the world’s insecticides and toxic chemicals which are harmful to workers, wildlife and water (which is where it eventually ends up). Swap to organic cotton wool or, better still, washable cleansing pads from Love The Planet or Leave No Trace (Etsy is a good source of cotton ball alternatives). P.S. If you’re still using face wipes, swap them for a bamboo face cloth. Use with our Cleanse and Smooth Face Balm.
Need to do a bathroom cabinet cleanse to make way for your Balance Me products? Donate new, unused items (e.g. disposable razors, nappies, toothpaste, sanitary products) via Beauty Banks, a non-profit initiative set up by journalists Sali Hughes and Jo Jones. From here, they’re packaged and redistributed to their charity partners who will pass them to those who really need them (schoolgirls too poor to buy sanitary products; the homeless). You can donate at the drop-off point by post from just £3.49. Find all the information you need and a list of accepted items here.
Most of us brush our teeth without so much as a second thought, but all those discarded toothbrushes (we’ll each use an estimated 300 over the course of a lifetime; that‘s approximately 3.6 billion every year overall) add up to one thing: more plastic pollution. Approximately 80% of discarded toothbrushes end up in the sea and a plastic toothbrush takes – wait for it – a thousand years to decompose. It’s a sobering thought. Swap yours for a bamboo brush – try the Pearly White Club subscription, which posts out a new brush for every member of the family every six weeks or try The Humble Co or Mabboo for a budget option. (Word of warning: make sure to rinse bristles thoroughly and avoid leaving the brush in a warm, damp place.)
Ensure you drink more water but produce less plastic waste by switching to a reusable water bottle. 15 million of the 38.5 million plastic bottles we use every year in the UK are not recycled. Global Wakecup’s bottle isn’t just reusable, it’s sustainably sourced bamboo and it can be personalised. Plus 10% of the profits go to The Marine Conservation Society and Plastic Oceans. Healthier and altruistic.
Whilst you’re at it, switch to an rCup for your takeaway coffee. It’s made from used coffee cups, is BPA-free, leak-proof, dishwasher safe and totally recyclable.
TerraCycle might sound like the latest fitness craze, but is in fact dedicated to eliminating waste by recycling pretty much everything, from empty beauty products to used coffee capsules, baby food pouches, toothpaste tubes and goggles to everything in between. Think you can’t recycle it? Check here first.
Keep your food and your lunch fresh by ditching clingfilm and investing in reusable food bags. Pop your sandwiches into a reusable wrapper made from recycled materials from Keep Leaf and The Wrapper – the latter folds out into a mat, which makes it ideal for picnics and children’s lunchboxes. Stasher produce their multi-purpose food bags from platinum silicone, which is BPA/BPS free (available at John Lewis).
You’ve possibly already swapped to eco cleaning products (the Ethical Superstore has a wide selection) but make sure you’re using microfibre or bamboo cloths.
Replace your laundry detergent and fabric conditioner forever with the Laundry Egg. Simply pop it in on top of the clothes in the machine and go. The two natural mineral pellets in the Egg clean your clothes, even on cold water cycles (because we should be turning down the dial to 30 degrees). It’s almost like magic. One Egg lasts for 720 washes (i.e. a wash will cost the grand total of 4p) and you can buy refills.