Alternatives to Plastic

Looking for options for replacing products that are typically delivered in plastic packaging? Members of Zero Waste Melrose and the Melrose community at large are offering this list of suggestions:

Product Categories

• Dental floss. Instead of purchasing those individual, plastic-encased rolls of floss, try companies like CocoFloss (https://cocofloss.com), which offers refillable floss subscriptions. You have a single, refillable dispenser rather than a new plastic casing when you purchase new floss products at the store. The floss is made of wood cellulose, not nylon, and CocoFloss claims that the refill packages are compostable.

• Toothpaste: As a substitute for traditional toothpaste, Bite (https://bitetoothpaste.com) offers “toothpaste bits,” or tablets, that come in glass jars. Bite also offers bamboo toothbrushes (which are becoming increasingly available from other vendors, such as WooBamboo, hello, Isshah, OLAS, and The Humble Co., and in retail stores like Target). Also offering a tablet-based tooth-cleaning product is ruut Goods (https://ruutgoods.com). You fill a small glass with water (ruut also provides a 5 oz. shot glass), dissolve a tablet of the teeth-cleaning or mouthwash product in the glass, and then swish the solution in your mouth for about 30 seconds.

• Deodorant: Some deodorants are available in bar, cream, or paste form, in glass jars or paper/compostable packaging, rather than the plastic dispensers we’re used to. For example, one product used by a ZWM member comes from  P3 Pure, LLC (https://P3Pure.com), which offers a paste-based product in glass jars, available online or at retailers like Whole Foods. You put some of the paste on your finger-tip, soften it into a pea-size bead,  and then apply. Sustainable Jungle (https://www.sustainablejungle.com) offers a list of similar deodorant products with zero waste packaging, from vendors such as Booda Organics, Bottle Green, Ethique, Fat & the Moon, and Katie Mae Naturals. 

• Shampoo/shaving soap: There are many alternatives that come in bar form rather than plastic containers or pressurized aerosol cans. Chagrin Valley Soap & Salve Co. (https://chagrinvalleysoap.com) offers both products and more, in paperboard packaging.

• Cleaning products: A company called JAWS (for “Just Add Water System”; https://jawsclean.com/products) offers a number of refillable, non-toxic products for cleaning a variety of surfaces, including counters, sinks, bathtubs, toilets, floors, and windows.

• Laundry/dishwashing products: Many laundry detergents and dishwashing solutions come in tablet form rather than plastic containers. Dropps (https://www.dropps.com) provides tablet-based laundry and dishwashing products that are shipped to you in paperboard packaging.

• Toilet paper: Bamboo can be used not only to make toothbrushes, but also toilet paper! Reel (https://reelpaper.com) offers a 100% bamboo toilet paper product. Rolling Panda (https://rollingpandagoods.com) is one company that offers bamboo-based toilet paper. Who Gives a Crap offers bamboo and recycled toilet paper and donates 50% of profits to build toilets to people around the globe in need of sanitation (https://us.whogivesacrap.org).

• Tealight/tea light candles: Tealights, aka tea lights, are available without a plastic or metal cup. Searching for either term plus the word refill on Esty (www.etsy.com) presents a range of options (quantity, color, candle material, etc.). Amazon (www.amazon.com) also offers refills for these candles, including a package of six 100% Pure Beeswax Tea Lights Candles Organic Hand Made Refills (no Cup) from BCandle and bulk options; use the term “tealight candle refills no cup.”

Multi-product Vendors

• Unpacked Living (https://www.unpackedliving.com) offers a variety of products, from dishwashing blocks to floss, deodorant, and soaps, that come in “zero-waste” packaging options. The company is run by Sabrina Auclair, who also administers the Zero Waste Massachusetts Facebook group. The Unpacked Living website also provides a guide to places in Massachusetts where shoppers can find retailers offering products that come in recyclable or no packaging.

• Etee (pronounced “Betty” without the “b”; https://shopetee.com) is, according to one Melrose resident, “responsive to feedback, always adding new products, selling many items in bulk, and truly ‘zero waste’ down to the tape they use to seal their shipping boxes.”

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