It’s been a busy time for me, I’m setting up a mobile business as well as working full time. So unfortunately this blog has taken a bit of a backseat lately.
My aim this year has been to convert to only using eco-friendly products in our bathroom. The whole point of doing this is to make sustainable changes to our lifestyle and I felt concentrating on this area of our home-life first was going to be the easiest.
Did you know that every toothbrush you’ve ever used will be sat somewhere in landfill? They take so long to biodegrade and when you think most people use 4-5 brushes (if not more) per year, that is an awful lot of plastic from toothbrushes sitting and poisoning our environment.
There are loads of eco-friendly toothbrush companies out there and I spent a long time looking at them all. Some of them offer carbon bristles to supposedly help whiten your teeth, others have a natural bristle. However after a lot of thought I decided I didn’t want to compromise on oral hygiene and quickly realised that, unfortunately I would need to use a nylon bristled brush in order to give my teeth the care they deserve! So having looked at various alternatives I came across The Pearly White Club.
This is a British company and the brush handles are made out of bamboo and bristles made out of nylon 6 making it a 99% biodegradable toothbrush.
When disposing of them, the bristles do have to be removed first and thrown away, before the brush handle can then be put onto a compost heap.
It is a subscription service so we pay £5/month for 2 brushes to be delivered each month.
Each month the brush colours are a surprise- how gorgeous are these!!
For every subscription they donate a toothbrush to “new hope” a charity supporting the homeless.
The packaging is also all completely recyclable.
What’s not to love! I can be completely lazy and never worry about when I need to go and buy a new toothbrush, as they just come in the post. I’m looking after my teeth in a fun and environmentally responsible way. No brainer!
Also this rainbow brush is amazing and means I can support my LGBT+ friends by brushing my teeth! Good work Pearly White Club!
It comes in compostable plastic free packaging- sustainable refill bags which are made even cuter with your pets face & name put onto the bag. I’m a sucker for a personal touch & absolutely love this.
They also have a subscription service- I personally don’t use a lot of treats with my dogs so a £9 bag easily will last me 3 months or more.
5p from every bag is donated to the bumblebee conservation trust.
Taste testing committee members Hiccup & Stitch:
Committee comments: “absolutely love it, more please mum!” “I’m sure you gave an extra one to my brother, can I have another one to be sure”
Its a mine-field working out what dog food is the right one to buy for your dog, let alone worrying about it’s environmental impact. As a vet, this is something I would love to be clearer for consumers- other than making sure it meets the food standards set by the government, there is no regulatory body for pet food. So, in short, they can pretty much do and say what they want.
READ THE LABEL.
There are so many useful comparison sites out there to look at pet foods-
It is so important that you read the labels, but even if you do there is nothing to stop them changing the recipe batch-to-batch. Some of the cheaper brands will buy the cheapest source of meat at a time, be it chicken feathers or feet and they don’t have to state what cut of meat it is, just the percentage the food contains. There are brands that make up their wet food with a little bit of a few different proteins in, so they can package the exact same food as “chicken”, “beef”, “lamb” when in fact there is no difference in flavour to the pet.
Useful advice from pets.webmd.com:
Know the lingo. Certain words on a dog food label may not be as important to your dog’s health as you might think:
Premium. This has no official definition, says Cailin Heinze, VMD, an assistant professor of nutrition at Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. It means nothing in terms of quality or nutrition. The same goes for “super premium.” Heinze has received consulting fees from several pet-food companies.
Byproducts. A byproduct is part of an animal or plant that wasn’t a food maker’s original focus, Remillard says. Animal byproducts might be organs like liver, lungs, heart, or kidneys. These parts are very nutritious, and in the wild, dogs eat them first, Remillard says.
Natural. This generally means no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives.But the word “natural” doesn’t say anything about a food’s quality or nutritional value.
So before I start ranting on! My advice would be; when you buy a new dog food, check with your vet whether they feel it has good nutritional value and whether it is appropriate for your pet. The veterinary grade brands Royal Canin, Hills and Purina have studies to back up their claims and if in doubt, they would be the ones to go for. There are lots of non-veterinary brands that are brilliant, just be willing to take a bit of time to read the labels and find out what you are actually feeding.
I personally wouldn’t feed raw to my pets or advise it to any of my clients, this isn’t to be controversial but I’ve seen it when it has gone wrong and for me the health risks far outweigh the benefits. It is a personal choice, and it requires a lot of research to make sure your pet is having a balanced diet. And obviously need to be very hot on hygiene and worming if you do go down that route.
A couple of disclaimers before I tell you about a couple of great products that I’ve found:
I have no affiliation with any product mentioned in my blogs – I am not being paid and I do not receive any benefits for mentioning any products here. I just genuinely love them and want to share my finds with everyone else.
If your pet is on medicated pet foods prescribed by your vet- stick to these and these only, its been prescribed for a reason!
I only feed dry food to all of my pets for various reasons; including portion control, hygiene in the house, teeth health etc. So if you feed wet, you’ll have to do a bit more research.
So, a complete doggy food that is good for your pet, good for the environment, no plastic waste from an ethical british company? Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it?
Yora, is an absolutely incredible product and I’d highly encourage you to take a look at their website: http://www.yorapetfoods.com
Stitch & Hiccup my fur-babies with their bag of Yora
Yora is a grub based dog food- yup, those wiggly bugs are an amazing renewable source of protein and nutrients, that doesn’t damage the environment.
So- what do all these nutrition-related words mean??
Each bag contains 40% protein- this is great and is what you should be aiming to feed to your carnivorous doggo. They also spell out exactly what bits of the grubs make up this protein- a breath of fresh air to me! The veg it contains, is all highly nutritious product- grown by the company itself in an environmentally friendly way. AND it already contains chondroitin & glucosamine- joint supplements that will help slow down progression of osteoarthritis. As a chronic pain & acupuncture specialist, this is something I have been DYING to see in an every day dog food.
The bag is compostable & there is no plastic in any of the packaging. They deliver straight to your door and the company themselves are lovely. I have bombarded them with questions and they’ve never failed to respond with helpful and useful advice.
Both my dogs love it- even the fussy chihuahua cross who I previously have always had to have 2 foods in stock incase he goes off one *face-palm*.
This is also a novel protein – so any dogs with allergies would be suited to doing a full allergy trial with this dog food (solely feeding this, with no treats) I wouldn’t be surprised if the allergy signs improve. It’s definitely helped both my pooches this summer, who were on a multitude of drugs this time last year and just the occasional 1/4 piriton this year.
Great for : all dogs, dogs with allergies- both skin or gastro-intestinal, dogs with potential for future or current osteoarthritis, dogs who want to save the planet, dogs who really want to try some grubs.
Taste-tester approved!!!
This food is a real game changer! So the big question is, when are they going to make a cat food? They have assured me this is on the cards, so for now this will be a watch this space!
Simba wondering when he’s going to get some grubs?!
Let me know if you get some, what your pooches think. They do a money-back guarantee if your doggo won’t eat it, but even better than that, they ask you to donate the bag to charity instead of sending it back. LOVE THIS!
We live in a consumerist society- we are constantly being encouraged to buy the latest thing without any worries about the long-term environmental consequences, leading to a huge amount of waste being produced from every UK household.
By 2020 the government’s aim is to only have 35% of waste going to landfill, which we are on track for, which sounds great right? But at the current amount of waste we produce from households alone, that is still 9,500,000 tonnes per year being dumped into our ground- an astonishing amount! As all this rubbish breaks down, it leaches into our soil and our waterways; causing harmful changes to the planet around us, to all the species of plants and animals and ultimately ourselves.
The good news- house hold recycling has increased as everyone is getting more and more aware of their own personal environmental impact.
“The recycling rate for households has increased overall across the UK to 45.7% in 2017 from 45.2% in 2016. The recycling rate for households has also increased in all UK countries – England is now at 45.2% (up from 44.9% in 2016), Scotland at 43.5% (up from 42.9% in 2016) Northern Ireland at 46.3% (up from 43.3% in 2016), and Wales at 57.6% (up from 57.3% in 2016). ”
The UK used to sell our recycling to China, but now sells to Malaysia where it is rotting on illegal dumpsites and ruining the environment there. The fantastic “war on plastic” documentary on the BBC truly is a must-see.
Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall on War on Plastic, BBC documentary
It takes a single piece of plastic 450 years to decompose.
There are 500 times more micro plastic particles in the ocean than there are stars in our galaxy
These are really terrifying facts- so what options do we have as individuals at home?
Be clever about the products you buy- this will make it easier for yourself when having to deal with the waste, but also will push consumer pressure towards eco-friendly products. The other companies will then have to keep up with the same standards to remain in business- what we buy has a greater effect than we realise.
Stop buying unnecessary items- ask yourself if you really want or need that piece of plastic in your life?
Composting- compost any appropriate household waste. This can be used in your garden or locally.
Reuse items- find other uses for the things you’d normally throw away.
Recycle- check what your local council can actually recycle and stick to this strictly.
Eco-bricking- if you have some non-recyclable softer plastics, there are many places collecting eco-bricks for building projects. This reduces the amount of plastic going into the environment. (But remember- it would be better to not have any of this plastic in the first place)
Okay, so not the most glamorous thing to blog about, but an essential to every day life.
One of the best and easiest changes at home has been buying toilet roll from the aptly named “who gives a crap” company.
I looked around for a while for different options of recycled paper but also at a reasonable price and this company worked out as having the best options. Not only that but the loo rolls are beautifully wrapped in decorative recyclable paper inside a cardboard box delivered directly to your door. No wasteful non-recyclable plastic.
I’ve never had compliments on loo roll before; but visitors often mention how lovely they look!
I bought a box of 48 double length rolls for £36 working out at 75p per roll. This is more expensive than buying from the supermarket where from my research you are paying approximately 45p per large roll. However, in our experience they have lasted far longer than a typical roll, we were ending up spending more in the same period of time and having to buy them more frequently. Their website states it works out at 18.8p per 100sheets.
The toilet rolls are made from recycled paper or bamboo and contain no inks, dyes or scents. So good for you and even better for our dwindling rainforest.
So, other than being a great product, attractive for the home and reasonable in price… why else should you buy these loo rolls?
The company donate 50% of their profits to their partner organisations that provide toilets to those without.
I would also like to state that I have no affiliations or monetary benefits for this glowing review- I just love the product, love the ethos of the company and really feel that this is something everyone should buy for their own homes.
My passion since a small child has always involved caring for animals and the environment. My parents live on a small-holding and growing up there, I was always rescuing wildlife, running around barefoot and having adventures with my sister in the Warwickshire countryside that we call home. This unsurprisingly, led to my career as a small animal veterinary surgeon and to a general unease at the state of the world we live in.
Cade lambs and a pet chicken, my parents garden in 2009
It is absolutely overwhelming to think of the scale of climate change, pollution and destruction of habitats that human beings are responsible for. Honestly, are the small changes that I am trying to do going to make a difference to this terrifying picture? Probably not, but i am a big believer in being responsible for my own actions and hopefully encouraging others to do the same. We don’t need a hundred eco-warriors living the perfect zero-waste zero-carbon footprint lifestyles, we need a million normal people doing their best to live in a less wasteful way.
BBC- climate change- the facts
Over the last couple of years, I have worked hard to make more conscious decisions about the products I buy and looking into reducing and better disposal of the waste we create at home.
I have to be honest though, it’s not been easy.
I have found this journey to living “an eco-friendly lifestyle” requires hours of research and a lot of commitment… and not necessarily that achievable for the normal working person. The ideal zero-waste lifestyle has so far alluded me, every sustainable living blog I’ve read has been written by someone who appears to have lots of time to achieve these great things, unlike myself. I’ve come across a lot of hurdles; time being the biggest- for example unable to get down to the pop-up shops to buy the plastic-free food shop I wanted to due to being called into work or finding a brilliant-sounding alternative product to the one i’ve been using but with an associated “brilliant” price tag that has made me reconsider.
Maybe by recording my journey to sustainability, the background work for other busy people will have already been done, and I can find a way to make this kind of lifestyle fit in better for working families.
I will be addressing all areas of my own life; from plastic use, trialling some eco-friendly products and working out better ways to reduce how much waste we have; whilst recording my absolute failures and (hopefully!) successes.
Me & FN2187 (Fin) my cat, at his annual booster this year!
Sustainable living for a working family 