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In the process of moving this year I realized just how many bathroom products I have. And most of them: plastic. Do I ever recycle any of them? Usually not. I throw away loofas, razors, toothbrushes, you name it. Now that I am aware of how much plastic waste a bathroom produces, I am cleaning up my act so to speak, when it comes to bathroom plastics.

I’m making a grid out of this post because there was just too much info to share! So here’s how this works. I’ve listed a common bathroom item and two things you can do with it. You can either 1) try to reduce your use of plastic all together, in which case I have also provided alternatives. Or 2) you can choose to keep using the item (sometimes we don’t have much of a choice) and I provide ways you can recycle it.

How to Reduce and Recycle Plastic In Your Bathroom:

Item	How to Reduce Plastic	How to Recycle Plastic
Loofas	Quit using a loofa and use a sea sponge instead or even better, opt to use bar soap to clean yo’ self	There’s no way to recycle a loofa. Sorry!
Body Wash	Ditch the bottles of body wash and use bar soap instead. Extra points if you can find a bar with no packaging at all.	As long as it says #1 or #2 on the bottom you are good to recycle it but be sure to clean it out first!
Shampoo and Conditioner	Shampoo bars are now a thing.	As long as it says #1 or #2 on the bottom you are good to recycle it but be sure to clean it out first!
Toothbrushes	Switch to bamboo toothbrushes.	You can’t recycle toothbrushes in your normal recycling, but Terracycle will recycle them for you, so save them up and send them out.
Toothpaste	Look into toothpaste pellets that come in glass jars	Most tubed cannot be recycled.
Pumps (from hand wash, facial cleanser, and body lotion)	When buying hand soap, facial cleanser, and body lotion avoid bottles with pumps.	Pumps can’t be recycled so just avoid them as best you can.
Contact lenses	Opt for contact lenses that last for 2 weeks rather than dailys.	Recycle your plastic lenses and containers through terracycle.
Deoderant
Razors	Switch to metal	Recycle gillette products with Terracycle
Cosmetics	When buying makeup look for brands that use glass and metal packaging.	Terracycle will recycle: Burts Bees, L’Occitane, Welleda. MAC also has a recycling program if you take back your empty MAC containers.

My intention is never to shame people who don’t recycle perfectly (lord knows I am far from perfect) but give information on how to reduce or recycle the plastic you are using. Once I learned a bit about this and knew what to do, I realized it doesn’t take that much more effort than chucking it in the garbage.

TIP: Having simple systems in place like a small recycling bin in your bathroom either next to your trash or underneath your sink can make recycling your bathroom products so much easier. Because let’s face it, having the recycling bins out of sight are not going to encourage the habit.

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Here are some products to get you started with reducing plastic waste in your bathroom. Some of these products may use affiliate links which are at no extra cost to you. I just get a a small percentage of whatever you purchase when you go through my links. It is greatly appreciated, and helps me run this blog.